Eat Up: The Inside Scoop on Rooftop Agriculture

By Lauren Mandel

From roof to table – urban food has reached new heights.

Soaring prices and concerns about chemical-laden fruits and vegetables increasingly drive us to grow our own healthy food close to home. In cities, however, vanishing ground space and contaminated soils spur farmers, activists, and restaurateurs to look to the skyline for a solution. The hunger for local food has reached new heights, and rooftops can provide the space that cities need to bring fresh, organic produce to tables across North America.

The first full-length book to focus entirely on rooftop agriculture, Eat Up views this growing movement through a practitioner's lens, explaining:

• Structural, access, and infrastructural considerations
• Zoning and building codes
• Proven growing techniques
• Business and marketing strategies

This graphically rich guide provides inspiration and advice to aspiring growers through photographs of successful rooftop farms and gardens and interviews with industry professionals. Easy-to-use checklists and a decision tree are included to help gauge the viability of each unique rooftop opportunity. Essential reading for home gardeners, entrepreneurs, restaurateurs, policy makers, academics, and designers, Eat Up takes urban agriculture to a whole new level, proving that rooftop farming is not just pie in the sky—it is the future of urban food.

Lauren Mandel holds a master's degree in landscape architecture from the University of Pennsylvania and a bachelor of arts degree in environmental science. She is a project manager and rooftop agriculture specialist at Roofmeadow, where she designs green roofs and oversees green roof and rooftop agriculture projects around the country.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Apr 1, 2013
• ISBN: 9781550925302

Book preview

Praise for

EAT UP

A smart, comprehensive guide for ambitious beginners written by a woman with extensive expertise in her rooftop field. If we’re going to see gardening spread atop our skylines, it’ll be led by farmers with this book in their backpack as they navigate the intersection of people, plants and policy. This guide suits all cities, roofs and styles of farming: once read, you can no longer ignore the possibilities above us. Two green thumbs up!

   — Annie Novak, farmer and cofounder, Eagle Street Rooftop Farm

Equitable access to food is a global concern. Landscape architect Mandel has given us an important book that provides a glimpse into the burgeoning world of rooftop agriculture to meet this formidable challenge. EAT UP is an engaging and informative resource loaded with empowering information for individuals and communities on the possibilities for creating our own multi-scalar rooftop food systems.

   — Lucinda Sanders, FASLA, CEO, Olin

Lauren Mandel offers a practical introduction to the exciting potential as well as the challenges associated with rooftop agriculture. EAT UP is a must-read for designers, urban planners and agriculturalists who are thinking seriously about how our cities can accommodate the pressing needs of the 21st century. This book offers useful case studies of successful projects which serve a wide range of values, including building community, promoting social justice and bolstering public health.

   — Charlie Miller, president, Roofmeadow

EAT UP is an inspirational look at the future of food gardening in cities. This book will expand your notions of where gardening is possible and just how much food you really can grow right at home.

   — David Greenberg, Executive Director, Growing Gardens

Developing a resilient, diversified food system presents an amazing opportunity to revitalize communities while simultaneously bringing social, economic and environmental benefits. Rooftop agriculture undoubtedly presents an underutilized piece of this puzzle. Anyone interested in bringing the benefits of a localized food system to cities will gain from EAT UP’s clear and concise information on how to capture the relatively untapped potential presented by urban rooftops.

   —Beth McKellips, Director, Cornell Cooperative Extension Agricultural Economic Development

Rooftops may be America’s greatest unused resource, and Lauren Mandel’s book gives an exciting, but realistic assessment of the opportunities and challenges involved with turning these forgotten spaces into productive sources of food. We want to empower Americans from all backgrounds to get outside and build community. What better way than if everyone could traverse the skyline?

   — Stacy Bare, director, Mission Outdoors, Sierra Club

EAT UP

The Inside Scoop on

ROOFTOP

AGRICULTURE

LAUREN MANDEL, MLA

Copyright © 2013 by Lauren Mandel.

All rights reserved.

Cover design by Diane McIntosh.

City image © iStock (albertc111); Vegetable images: © iStock (Keith Bishop)

All interior photographs © Lauren Mandel unless otherwise indicated.

Author photograph by Geoffrey Goldberg Photography.

First printing April 2013.

elSBN: 978-1-55092-530-2

Inquiries regarding requests to reprint all or part of EAT UP

should be addressed to New Society Publishers at the address below.

To order directly from the publishers, please call toll-free (North America) 1-800-567-6772, or order online at www.newsociety.com

Any other inquiries can be directed by mail to:

New Society Publishers

P.O. Box 189, Gabriola Island, BC V0R 1X0, Canada

[phone]

New Society Publishers’ mission is to publish books that contribute in fundamental ways to building an ecologically sustainable and just society, and to do so with the least possible impact on the environment, in a manner that models this vision. We are committed to doing this not just through education, but through action. The interior pages of our bound books are printed on Forest Stewardship Council®-registered acid-free paper that is 100% post-consumer recycled (100% old growth forest-free), processed chlorine free, and printed with vegetable-based, low-VOC inks, with covers produced using FSC®-registered stock. New Society also works to reduce its carbon footprint, and purchases carbon offsets based on an annual audit to ensure a carbon neutral footprint. For further information, or to browse our full list of books and purchase securely, visit our website at: www.newsociety.com

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Mandel, Lauren

Eat up : the inside scoop on rooftop agriculture / Lauren Mandel.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

1. Roof gardening. 2. Urban gardening. 3. Urban agriculture. 4. Local foods. I. Title.

SB419.5.M35 2013635.9’671C2013-900850-0

For Leah (1980-2009)

and her pursuit of food justice.

Contents

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

INTENT

CHAPTER 1 | THE BACKDROP

What is rooftop agriculture?

Who’s doing it?

A brief history

Today’s rooftop farms and gardens

CHAPTER 2 | WHAT’S IN IT FOR ME?

Health benefits

Environmental benefits

Economic benefits

Food access benefits

CHAPTER 3 | SEED TO PLATE

Containers

Raised beds

Row farming

Hydroponics

Integrated approach

Milk eggs + wool

Beekeeping

Holistic building design

CHAPTER 4 | ROOFTOP GARDENS (SMALL-SCALE)

Inspirational rooftop gardens

Garden Checklist

CHAPTER 5 | ROOFTOP FARMS (MEDIUM-SCALE)

Inspirational rooftop farms

Farm Checklist

CHAPTER 6 | ROOFTOP AGRICULTURE INDUSTRY (LARGE-SCALE)

Inspirational rooftop networks

Industry Checklist

CHAPTER 7 | POTENTIAL HOTSPOTS

Chicago, IL

Philadelphia, PA

Portland, OR

San Francisco, CA

New York, NY

Vancouver, BC, Canada

Toronto, ON, Canada

Montreal, QC, Canada

Regional Synthesis

CHAPTER 8 | THE PATH TO MARKET

GLOSSARY

ENDNOTES

BIBLIOGRAPHY

INDEX

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Acknowledgments

First and foremost, thank you to the countless rooftop farmers, gardeners, educators, volunteers, CEOs, chefs and other industry leaders whose willingness to collaborate made this project a reality. Thank you also to the editorial, production and marketing teams at New Society Publishers, in particular, Ingrid Witvoet. A very special thank you to Caroline Dlin and Eric Cohen whose guidance and generosity helped shepherd me through the manuscript development and contract negotiation processes. Thank you also to my coworkers at Roofmeadow whose professional support made this book possible. Thank you to my advisors at the University of Pennsylvania — Karen M’Closkey, Charlie Miller, Domenic Vitiello and Anita Mukherjee — who provided valuable feedback during EAT UP ’s fledgling stage.

Thank you to the photographers who contributed their work to this collective effort: Geoffrey Goldberg, Michael Mandel, Jake Stein Greenberg, Ari Burling, John Q. Porter, Allen Ying, Trenton Barnes, Karen Jacobson, Luke Mitchell and Anastasia Cole Plakias.

Thank you also to Michael Miller, Karen Lutsky, Alexa Bosse, Aditi Sen, Harley Cooper, Sue Van Hook, David Gouverneur, Andee Mazzocco, Nic Esposito, Bill Shick, Geoffrey Dlin, Bret Betnar, Jessica Henson, Gavin MacIntyre, Emily Mastellone-Snyder and Aaron Kelley. Lastly, thank you to my family — Paula Mandel, Richard Mandel and Michael Mandel — for their relentless support, and to my dog Suka, to whom I owe many walks.

Eagle Street Rooftop Farm, NY

Eagle Street Rooftop Farm, NY

PHOTO BY ISAIAH KING

Intent

From warehouse roofs in Brooklyn to the tops of churches in San Francisco, urbanites across North America are rolling up their sleeves, reaching deeply into the soil and taking back our food system. Rooftop agriculture is real. It’s happening. Every day the movement’s energy infiltrates further into schools, restaurants and office buildings — captivating people’s stomachs and their souls. The power of these spaces can be seen and heard and tasted as skyline farmers deliver fresh kale and strawberries to our tables. Their power can be felt as rooftop gardeners spread the word of community initiative and healthy eating. It’s happening.

In 2009, I began exploring the viability of rooftop agriculture — an unconventional method of food production at the time. In a few short years, a constellation of new farms and gardens across our city skylines reveals the industry’s extreme growth, and unparalleled potential for expansion. This movement is ripe for harvest. EAT UP provides the tools you need to turn your dreams of rooftop farms and gardens into actual spaces that feed people. With collective insight from the leading rooftop farmers, gardeners, educators, volunteers, CEOs, chefs, designers and green roof professionals, EAT UP is the most comprehensive resource to date on rooftop agriculture. Don’t just read the book; use it to cultivate your own rooftop expertise, and feed your friends along the way.

Now climb up there and get started!

1 | The Backdrop

Rooftop greens basking in the sun, Uncommon Ground, IL

Rooftop greens basking in the sun,

Uncommon Ground, IL

what is rooftop agriculture?

Soaring food prices and obesity rates increasingly prompt North Americans to grow their own fruits and vegetables close to home. In cities, forgotten parcels such as vacant lots, sidewalk strips, and park fragments historically served as prime poaching grounds for urban farmers and gardeners to plant their seeds. During recent years, however, land insecurity and contaminated soils demand creative solutions that allow urban agriculture to creep up walls and balconies, and onto rooftops. Broadly speaking, rooftop agriculture is the cultivation of plants, animals and fungi on rooftops for the purpose of human use and consumption. This includes foodstuffs, fibers, animal products and medicinal plants. The hunger for local food has reached new heights, and you truly can’t get more local than your own roof!

The hunger for local food has reached new heights.

urban agricultural niche

Rooftop agriculture is one cog in the greater urban food system. The practice should not be viewed as a cure-all for hunger, nor should the assumption be reached that it will dominate food production in all cities. Rooftop agriculture works in concert with community gardens, farmers’ markets, grocery stores and, of course, rural agriculture to feed hungry cities. A key principle of ecology states that diversity in any system breeds resilience. If one strand of the web fails, the others will hold the web together. Food systems are no different. Rooftop agriculture is powerful in its ability to enhance the diversity, and therefore resilience, of the greater urban food system. Farmers and gardeners pursuing all types of urban agriculture, from planting sunflowers along abandoned railways to raising fish in basements, have the potential to learn from one another. Rooftop agriculture similarly absorbs lessons from other forms of urban production, and in turn contributes to the collective knowledge. There’s always more to learn.

Rooftop agriculture is powerful in its ability to enhance the diversity and resilience of the greater urban food system.

gardening vs. farming

The boundary between gardening and farming is a blurry one. Practitioners, academics and even policy makers qualify the distinction in varying ways, and no one can seem to agree upon a universal definition. One common and relatively compelling opinion describes gardening as the production of agricultural products for self-consumption, charity or gifting. Farming is often defined as the production of these same goods in exchange for money. EAT UP embraces this distinction and highlights inspirational gardens and farms on rooftops around North America. The book also explores the rooftop agricultural industry, as this scale of production encompasses both gardening and farming which involves rooftop farms and gardens with multiple locations.

who’s doing it?

As rooftop farms and vegetable gardens sprout up in cities across North America, restaurant patrons, community groups, individuals and families get to savor the bounty. But who’s actually up on the roof growing all this food? Lots of people — that’s who! People of all different ages and ethnicities, with varied skill sets, and dozens of reasons for growing food.

In North America, rooftop farmers tend to be between the ages of 22 and 55, with men and women equally engaged. Most skyline farmers migrate to rooftops from ground-level farms, some in urban areas, others in more traditional rural settings. Farmers who land these highly prized rooftop positions are generally very knowledgeable about their agrarian genre — whether it be row farming, beekeeping, hydroponics or some other form of production. It’s rare that a newbie finds herself in charge of much on the skyline, as these farms can require large initial investments, which leaves little room for error with day-to-day operations. Less experienced apprentices, interns and volunteers often assist rooftop farmers, as do teams of directors, volunteer coordinators, marketing personnel, publicity coordinators and technical specialists. Other professionals that are critical during the rooftop farm’s design and construction may include a landscape architect, green roof consultant, structural engineer, mechanical/electrical/plumbing (MEP) engineer, architect, waterproofing membrane provider, greenhouse designer, hydroponic system designer and construction contractors from various trades. It takes a village.

Rooftop gardening, on the other hand, attracts enthusiasts with all levels of experience. Novice gardeners may enjoy planting rooftop containers with herbs, while a master gardener may forge an entire community garden by himself. Kids play an important role in rooftop gardening as well. From school and after-school gardens, to family plots, to community gardens, kids spark enthusiasm and soak up knowledge about rooftop gardening. They even teach their friends and parents! Other parties that may be involved during the inception and construction of a rooftop garden include a structural engineer, architect, carpenter, plumber, and possibly an electrician.

Whether well-seasoned or completely green, urbanites from all backgrounds increasingly seek out rooftop farming and gardening opportunities. As the trend continues, more and more individuals, communities and entrepreneurs will look toward the roof for a food solution.

This book highlights North American rooftop agriculture professionals and enthusiasts from Canada, Lebanon, India, France, Sweden, Australia and all corners of the US.

Volunteer harvesting herbs, Eagle Street Rooftop Farm, NY

Volunteer harvesting herbs,

Eagle Street Rooftop Farm, NY

a brief history

urban agriculture

The earliest record of food production within cities dates back to 3100 BCE, when home vegetable gardens were commonplace in China.¹ Some historians believe that in addition to providing food, these gardens were built as outlets for recycling organic waste generated by the household. Early Latin American communities may also have practiced urban agriculture, predominantly as a means of promoting food security within cities. Throughout the rest of the developed world, urban populations commonly relied upon locally produced food until the Industrial Revolution of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. This age of mechanization and industry changed everything for food production, as factories and urban development began taking the place of agricultural plots. The result? Agriculture moved outward from city centers to form rural belts. Urban agricultural planner Jac Smit suggests that this agricultural migration away from cities directly leads to a need for food importation into cities.²

Since the Industrial Revolution agriculture has periodically reentered cities, most notably, perhaps, with the planting of Victory Gardens during World Wars I and II to supplement the public food supply. Currently, the urban agriculture trend is gaining steam, as cities around the globe recognize the benefits of food localization. The Netherlands, for example, produced 33% of its domestic agricultural needs within urban areas in 2000,³ and the Institute for Food and Development estimated that in 1999, 14% of the global food supply was produced in cities.⁴ As cities densify, expand and multiply in number, agriculture’s reoccupation of urban space will continue to spread.

rooftop agriculture

As with urban agriculture, rooftop agriculture possesses a lengthy history, which likely dates back to 600 BCE Babylon (present day Iraq). Geoff Wilson, a noted authority on urban agriculture, believes that the Hanging Gardens of Babylon were likely the world’s first rooftop farming project.⁵ Archeological evidence suggests that these terraced roof gardens were used to produce fruit, vegetables and possibly even fish! During the 1500s, the Aztecs may have also built sophisticated rooftop farms, which incorporated waste management strategies. The current trend in rooftop farming is predominantly fueled by Canada, the US and Singapore. Other countries around the world, such as Australia, Senegal, Russia, Italy, India, Egypt and Hong Kong, are also beginning to explore rooftop food production within cities. The agricultural methods used within each country reflect local climatic, culture, socioeconomics and building characteristics.

Rooftop agriculture’s lengthy history ... likely dates back to 600 BCE Babylon

today’s rooftop farms + gardens

Today’s rooftop farms and gardens address more than just subsistence. They are built to foster healthy eating, community building, stormwater management, business development and the occupation of underutilized space. Many of these skyline gems fulfill multiple goals at once, such as an educational rooftop garden that teaches kids about nutrition while supplying the cafeteria and improving local food security.

Rooftop farms and gardens address more than just subsistence.

From schools to roof decks, churches to restaurants, apartment buildings to warehouses, rooftop farms and gardens sprout up in all types of neighborhoods and engage people from all walks of life. They occupy industrial zones, high-rent districts and even financial centers. Rooftop farms and gardens appear in various shapes and sizes, and consequently produce