Farming In The Middle Of The Hudson...And On Your Roof Too

If you have been by the Hudson River lately, you might have noticed an ecological wonder floating out by the end of W. 44th St. The Science Barge was created by Ted Caplow, an environmental engineer that came into some money from his grandmother. First of all, the 50 foot barge is powered by wind, solar and bio-fuels so there is zero carbon impact. Then there is the hydroponic greenhouse in the middle, where an assortment of plants are grown year-round.

From WNYC:

...This is a hydroponic greenhouse. The crops thrive on rain water, which is collected off the slanted rooftop and re-circulated through a series of pipes. There’s no soil. The plants are kept in pots filled with a crunchy blend of rocks and straw that soaks up the water and passes along the nutrients. These crops are constantly well-fed. When the seedlings sprout this summer, Caplow says lettuce and strawberries will grow in the front of the room.

CAPLOW: And in the back we have the vine crops. So we have tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers and they grow in these buckets down on the floor and they’re trained up the strings, and they reach ten feet high. And in fact the tomato plants will keep going until the stems are 30 feet long. But because our greenhouse isn’t 30 feet high we have to lower the bottom part of the stem and wrap it around a pot.

Although the barge is a wonder in of itself, Caplow says that this is just the beginning and a way to show a better future for urban farming. One way we can add to the greening of New York City and other metro areas is to start widespread urban farming. Caplow estimates that there is about 10,000 acres of space in New York that can be farmed on rooftops alone. If it is all done in hydroponic greenhouses, the efficiency of that compared to a regular old farm would increase the output by several times.

I think this is a fantastic idea. I am one of the lucky New Yorkers with some space outside my apartment and I planted tomatoes last summer. It was such a thrill to grow my own produce, even if it was just a few beefsteak tomatoes. Whenever I told or showed friends about my mini-garden, they were amazed one could do such a thing in the middle of Manhattan. For the big picture, if landlords or tenants would start constructing greenhouses all over the city (with some city or corporate assistance) that would mean less trucks coming into the city with produce from upstate, Long Island or New Jersey. When it comes to the protection of our environment, every little thing counts.