Harlem Grown demonstrates the future of farming with new shipping container grow house
NEW YORK - CBS2 #BetterTogether community partner Harlem Grown cut the ribbon on its 13th site Wednesday morning. The shipping container grow house outside the PS139 Senior Center demonstrates the future of farming.
Evident excitement opened the doors to a 40-foot box bringing kale to the community.
"The average head of lettuce in the U.S. is traveling 2,500, 3,000 miles. This one's traveling 25 feet," said Frank Sharp, principal technical leader at the national nonprofit Electric Power Research Institute, which oversees 20 such sites across the country.
"Urban farming is hard, but we realize our need is bigger than our capacity," admitted Harlem Grown founder and CEO Tony Hillery.
Hillery started Harlem Grown 11 years ago to harvest fresh food for families facing hard times. For the first time, a site finds its home at a senior center, with the New York Power Authority paying for the $250,000 project. An additional traditional soil garden will join the container on the lot in the spring.
"We have to be a good neighbor," said Lisa Payne Wansley, a Harlem native who now serves as NYPA vice president of environmental justice. "We can't just do business in community. We have to be part of the fabric of those communities."
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As the greenery grows, researchers will collect data on energy consumption and food production.
"Sun is free, water is free, but it's also seasonal and you are impacted by climate and temperature," said Sharp, "so this allows you to create 365 perfect days of grow year round, but you're now using electricity to do that. So we want to understand the sustainability impact of that."
After the first year, Harlem Grown gains control over their choice in crops. By then, though, Hillery believes kale will become a dietary staple for neighbors.
"Once they start it and they see it like this, they'll taste it as a baby kale, which is very tender and delicious," Hillery said. "They're more apt to try it when it's more mature."
Twice a week, neighbors also benefit from free farmers markets.
"We'll incorporate the regular produce with the kale," Hillery reassured. "It's not going to be a steady diet of kale. OK, we're not cruel. We'll add other produce, but we'll highlight the kale."
Eventually each one of the rotating walls within the container will be filled, producing up to an acre of produce every year. Seniors will work alongside neighborhood kids to cultivate the crops, building bonds across generations.
"This week we've learned that there's over now 8 billion people," Sharp said, "so we've already used the vast majority of our arable farmland. So because of that, we have to think of new ways to feed the new mouths coming on to the earth. So this is one of the solutions. It's part of the solution."
The governor's office also notes that this project helps the state move closer to its requirement to reduce greenhouse gasses by 40% by 2030.
Harlem Grown is hosting its own Thanksgiving giveaway for thousands of families Tuesday, Nov. 22, at their flagship garden on West 134th Street.
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