How many miles does your lettuce have?

How many miles does your lettuce have? How about your cucumbers, peppers or tomatoes? These may seem like odd questions, but with gas prices rising and world oil production peaking, they are more relevant than ever. Here in Denver, where we typically see 12-15in of precipitation in a year, most of the produce we see can come from thousands of miles away.

English cucumbers from Mexico? Irony aside, the answer is "yes."

Brightfarms, a new company based out of New York City, may have the solution. Specializing in greenhouses, Brightfarms hopes to bring locally grown produce to your local grocery store rooftop . The above ground greenhouses, which could be the size of your local supermarket, will produce all of the staple vegetables you would find in your local store without using any extra land. Lettuce, bell peppers, hot peppers, cucumber, tomatoes, varieties of leafy greens, and multitudes of herbs are all included. The produce is completely organic, can be grown year-round, and will use 95% less water compared with a standard farm. The vegetables will also remain fresher for longer as they do not have to endure vast shipping distances. This will all be done without turning on a fossil-fuel powered engine and therefore, prices will not be tied to world-wide oil prices.

photo credit: http://www.ediblemanhattan.com/topics/food-dining/hyper-local-produce-this-manhattan-company-wants-supermarkets-to-raise-on-the-roof/

Sounds great right? It gets even better...

Brightfarms also aims to build their greenhouses on large-scale housing projects. For example, their Forest Houses garden has added a 10,000 square foot greenhouse to the top of a low-income housing project.  The greenhouse uses leftover heat from the building and collected rainwater to sustain the produce and will provide the annual vegetable needs for over 4500 people. For many low income neighborhoods, especially this one in the South Bronx, high produce prices leaves many without their daily vegetable needs. This project aims to fix this situation by providing fresh and affordable produce to thousands.

   photo credit: http://www.good.is/post/new-company-brings-produce-from-the-roof-to-the-supermarket-aisle/


While they are definitely not the only answer to stabilizing food prices, Brightfarms has created a wonderful business plan and will surely help thousands of people eat healthier. Lets hope the idea catches on and rooftop greenhouses become more common. Then, when you ask yourself "how many miles does this lettuce have?"

... you can answer "ZERO!"



For additional information check out www.brightfarms.com

Check out Venture Architecture's website here