This building sits directly across from the building that currently houses my studio. It is being renovated as I write. Incidentally, there is much license taken with this BQE viewpoint, which shows it quite apart from the building. The BQE westbound is three lanes and one sidewalk away from those windows.
It is told that this building will support an enormous rooftop greenhouse. BrightFarms, pretty much the only rooftop greenhouse game in town, is looking to monopolize the NYC market. Much as I suggested in this post, soon we'll be complaining that corporate farms look like rooftop greenhouses instead of mega-tractors on 100,000 acres. It is hard for me to imagine, at this early stage, how this transformation could go terribly wrong, but I can very much see the demise of local dirt agriculture that focused on similar crops -namely those that grow well in hydroponic greenhouse environments -tomatoes, basil, peppers, cukes.
Isn't farming more than fast and easy food. Has "locality" taken to the extreme missed the point of the local foods movement? Or am I just a sentimentalist with a taste for the culture and landscape of the farm. Hydroponics have always seemed to me more like science than great food, like a preparation for our inevitable flight through the light years of space. I don't mean to be negative, but understand, it's just that I have a great affinity for dirt (that's NYer for soil). What do you think?
I may elaborate on your post a little more later, since I am so busy playing in the dirt too, but I always thought of hydroponics advocates as the Willy Wonkas of the gardening world. I am old school as well, and I understand its benefits, just as I understand vertical gardening's benefits. But I agree, it seems more like a science project and I just cannot justify the high cost of electricity, as well as all the additives and special mixes etc. to make 1 pound of basil.
ReplyDeleteIts seriously industrial. I hope they recycle the unused liquid nutrients. Definitely not for me.
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