Whole Foods w greenhouse on top-renderingWhole Foods Market has partnered with Gotham Greens to build the nation’s first commercial-­scale rooftop greenhouse for growing year-round local produce atop the store in Brooklyn.

The 20,000-square-foot greenhouse, currently under construction along with the forthcoming Whole Foods Market store in Gowanus, is scheduled to open later this fall. Gotham Greens will use the space to grow premium quality, pesticide-free produce for sale in Whole Foods Market locations throughout New York City.

Whole Foods also plans to offer educational opportunities for area school student to learn about greenhouses, farming and various environmental initiatives.

Gotham Greens is designing the indoor rooftop farm to include advanced irrigation systems that use up to 20 times less water than conventional farming as well as enhanced electrical equipment to reduce overall energy demand. The project will eliminate the carbon emissions associated with long distance food transport, while ensuring product freshness, quality and nutrition for thousands of customers in the area.

“Talk about local! This project takes the discussion from food miles to food footsteps,” said Viraj Puri, Gotham Greens Co-Founder. “Our greenhouse will provide Whole Foods Market shoppers with access to the freshest, most delicious leafy greens, herbs and tomatoes, year-round that will be grown right above the store’s produce department.”

“We’re thrilled with this partnership and to be part of the growing national movement of farmers and food producers committed to responsibly produced food.”

2 COMMENTS

  1. You cannot “get smart” by eating a book, just like you cannot “get healthy” by eating vegetables. All visible things around us are single SYMBOLS, or parts of symbolism.

    Vegetables are the symbol for fresh (new thought, from above), needing light (insight, understanding), thriving in air (symbol for invisible spirit), etc. pp

  2. um… really? Seems to me the first commercial-scale rooftop greenhouse (2X this size) was in Montreal – built and beginning operations more than 2 years ago – as I understand it, their second is about to be commissioned. See [url]www.lufa.com[/url].

    I suppose you could argue it’s the “nation’s” first — but even that seems a stretch since Bright Farms has announced (but has yet to build) a commercial scale rooftop farm in NYC, and Brooklyn Grange [url]www.brooklyngrangefarm.com[/url] has been operating an open rooftop farm since 2010 also.

    All due respect to folks putting farms on rooftops, let’s give credit where credit is due and cut through the hype.

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