bk farmyards is a new Brooklyn-based farming network providing locally-grown healthy & affordable food to Brooklyn residents and education opportunities for youth and adults interested in food production.
Bk Farmyards started started through converting backyards into a productive farm, creating the first CSA grown entirely in Brooklyn.
Last year, we started the Youth Farm at the High School for Public Service and our chicken operation at the Imani Garden. The Youth Farm is integrated into school curriculum and includes a CSA, farmers market and youth programs.
This year we are expanding our adult education and apprenticeship programs, including the backyards farming, farm and chicken apprenticeship programs and the compost, market and CSA internships.
Additionally, we work with local, developers, land owners and organizations interested in transforming underutilized land
Our Philosophy
Last year, we started the Youth Farm at the High School for Public Service and our chicken operation at the Imani Garden. The Youth Farm is integrated into school curriculum and includes a CSA, farmers market and youth programs.
This year we are expanding our adult education and apprenticeship programs, including the backyards farming, farm and chicken apprenticeship programs and the compost, market and CSA internships.
Additionally, we work with local, developers, land owners and organizations interested in transforming underutilized land
Our Philosophy BK Farmyard reconnects farmers and consumers as co-producers of the foodscape. The strategy transforms private yards into farms and inserts neighborhood dinner party structures for the celebration of food. Residents pay for organic yard-farming and produce delivered to their doors; others without yards pay for produce cultivated in these farmyards.
After cars, the food system uses more fossil fuel than any other sector of the economy, between 19 and 37 percent depending on the study. Contributing to the fossil fuel costs of the food system are: gas-powered farming equipment; chemical fertilizers made from natural gas; pesticides made from petroleum; gas-powered food processing machines; oil based packaging materials; and refrigerated transportation. Our food system is at a critical point: we either reconnect to local resources, or we risk the health of ourselves, our c
ommunities, and the land. As an additional issue, chronic disease due to the subsidized production of corn and soy products has been needlessly on the rise in our children for years, and has put a strain on our medical system. Our economy is linked to agri-business’ dependence on oil and pharmaceuticals for the cheap production of food-like substances: we need education regarding the real price of sustainable, healthy food.
ommunities, and the land. As an additional issue, chronic disease due to the subsidized production of corn and soy products has been needlessly on the rise in our children for years, and has put a strain on our medical system. Our economy is linked to agri-business’ dependence on oil and pharmaceuticals for the cheap production of food-like substances: we need education regarding the real price of sustainable, healthy food.
The rituals of preparing and eating meals are the foundation of culture: it is how we celebrate the gift of life, and how trust is established in a community. BK Farmyard provides local jobs, local economic growth, and a sense of stewardship and pride in the community: it educates, organizes, and mobilizes new social relations around food. Integrating a new farming model into the existing urban fabric is a radical approach without taking a wreaking ball to the city and without massive investments. If applied across all the urban centers in the United States, BK Farmyard is a lean strategy to overhaul the food system.
Vertical farms are costly ventures: whether they are dedicated buildings or façades for existing towers more energy is required to fight gravity and cultivate a vertical surface. High real estate costs and building maintenance add significant costs to the produce as well. Production and distribution logistics are more efficient when farming a horizontal surface at street level.
Cultivating a network of existing private yards not only defrays the real estate costs but also encourages teamwork between the farmers and consumers. The organization of these private yards already provides necessary air and light contributing to a community’s health: BK Farmyard gives these existing green spaces the additional use of food production. As a network, these farmyards are reproducible, cost effective, and safer than large central urban farms.
BK Farmyards does not totally discount the use of rooftops for farming, but this is a costly venture as well: there are often necessary structural upgrades to buildings as they are not designed to carry the additional wet soil load. In urban areas, rooftops are often small with mechanical equipment making it difficult to find enough farming space to make the logistics of farming a raised surface efficient.
Unlike most urban farming proposals, BK Farmyards presents an additional element, the dinner party structures. These social nodes provide a space for spontaneous or planned neighborhood groups to share food, recipes, and stories. The dinner party structures give power back to the communities to decide what kind of collective food culture they would like to cultivate.
The market is ripe for this venture: all CSAs in Brooklyn were full for 2008 with waiting lists almost as long as their members. Many already support local, organic farming practices for the long term health and environmental benefits despite higher prices. However, for people living in lower income areas, the biggest challenge will be to offer produce at a price comparable to the artificially low price of food at the supermarkets. Several strategies will be developed to distribute farming services regardless of income level.
Longer term, if this food distribution model flourishes, farm tax laws need to be revised to give lower income areas more incentives yet. The US already gives deductions for providing alternate energy: a farmyard should be recognized as reducing our nation’s carbon footprint as well.
