Trees (and Crops!) Grow in Brooklyn

Who’d a thought it, but Brooklyn is going green. OK, it’s not exactly rolling hills of waving wheat, but the planned, 45,000 square foot rooftop farm will supply honest to goodness edible food to local shops, restaurants, and other folks. And not just edible, but organic for goodness’ sake.

Andrew Kimball runs the city’s Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation with its current 275 businesses renting space there. Kimball explained that, “We were looking to be creative, and we found a perfect use for this underutilized roof.”

Kimball was lucky to find Ben Flanner, co-founder of Brooklyn Grange and its head farmer, to invest in the rooftop with his innovative inner-city farming methods. Currently Brooklyn Grange is based in Long Island City (despite its name.) Flanner is “very excited” to be expanding into the borough whose name his wholesome enterprise bares. He said that the rooftop farm “will be covered in a lightweight soil about a foot deep with almost every square foot used to grow fruits and vegetables.”

Learn more about this innovative farm and its Brooklyn local at Flushing Avenue and Cumberland Street.