Zabar’s Urban Farming Future

By  by Bennett Gordon
Published on February 27, 2009
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Visitors to the Vinegar Factory market on Manhattan’s Upper East Side may not notice the enormous greenhouse perched atop the building, but environmentalists are paying attention. The greenhouse, owned by the famous Zabar’s company, is growing fruits and vegetables in their custom greenhouse, and then selling the food in the market below. The food miles on that transaction are about as close to zero as possible.

Zabar’s is “ahead of the curve” in farming the severely under-utilized urban landscape, according to Environmental Building News. The process isn’t cheap–Zabar’s was forced to build a steel superstructure on top of the Vinegar Factory building to support the greenhouse–but environmentalists see a bright future for urban farming.

Image by Jason Ferguson, licensed under Creative Commons.

Source: Environmental Building News

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