At the turn of the 20th century, Staten Island was known for its rich farmland. But like all other areas of New York City, the borough's large-scale farming has become a thing of the past.
However, Laura Adrian Wilton, the project director of Living Restoration -- a start-up focused on integrating nature, especially edible plants, into the "built" environment -- has spearheaded the planting of a vertical farm, which is cultivating plant life on vertically inclined surfaces on Staten Island.
The farm was planted in October on Bloomfield Avenue on underutilized property in the West Shore Green Zone owned by ADCO Electrical Co.
The West Shore, viewed as New York City's "final frontier" of vacant industrially zoned land, will also soon be home to seven new businesses.
A 7-WEEK PROJECT
Using 200 towers, Living Restoration planted kale, lettuce, Swiss chard, bok choy and more.
"We have been working with leafy greens right now because those are the types of perishables that go bad the quickest in transport, so it's the most difficult thing to deliver in agriculture," said Ms. Wilton.
"The plants were in the towers for about seven weeks. We had to get water delivery because there's no water on the site. So we used big tanks that were filled once a week from a company in New Jersey."
For the project, Ms. Wilton paired up with a company, the Bloomfield-based Nanoponics, that used a unique soil blend to plant the vertical farm.
"The soil has a slow release nutrient method so it lasts a really long time," she said. "You can totally taste the difference between this produce and the store-bought kind. I'm totally spoiled now."
This year, the 1,000-pound harvest was donated to Community Health Action food pantry; next year Ms. Wilton hopes it can be sold to the community.
"We intend to expand the project next year; we hope it will be much larger. We will start in the beginning of spring, ideally late March," said Ms. Wilton, whose group is also constructing the Living Roof, which utilizes emerging "green roof" technologies atop the Staten Island Ferry terminal.
The Staten Island Economic Development Corporation (SIEDC), which spearheaded the West Shore Green Zone, is hoping this is the start of an urban farming trend in the borough.
"I think this is something that can continue to grow and expand. We've even had discussions with other groups who are interested in doing similar projects ... The West Shore is such an ideal location for vertical farming," said Steve Grillo, SIEDC project manager.
BETTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT
Ms. Wilton noted that locally-grown produce is also beneficial for the environment.
"The produce doesn't need to be stored for a period of time, and it doesn't have to be shipped from California to New York. None of that gasoline that is used to bring that truck across the country needs to be used. It brings down environmental toxins and operating costs," she said.
In addition, vertical farms in the borough would create jobs.
"You don't normally think of vacant land as a means for creating jobs. But when you have a really interesting adaptive use like creating a farm on a vacant lot, you can create jobs in a very quick way," said Grillo.
No comments:
Post a Comment