“New York State is home to over 36,000 farms and 7 million acres of farmland. We rank 2nd in apple production – growing more than enough to meet our local demand.. Yet we still import apples from Washington and apple juice from China.” -Speaker Quinn
Goal 1: Preserve and increase regional food production. Many northeast regional agricultural producers are at a competitive disadvantage compared to large producers in other areas of the country because they lack the ability to tap into mainstream distribution channels. Even farms that have been extremely successful at farmers markets through out the city are frequently not large enough to sell wholesale to retail stores, food service establishments, institutions, or processors. Meanwhile many farmers in our region continue to face difficulty aggregating and transporting their products throughout the urban market. To address this issue, the city will pursue the following two strategies.
• Reorient federal farm subsidies to support healthy, sustainable food production.
• Improve the New York State Farmland Protection Fund.
• Encourage new farmers.
• Build a permanent wholesale farmers market.
• Expand and support farmers markets.
• Expand the electronic benefits transfer (EBT) program and acceptance of the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) benefits at farmers markets.
• Expand and support community supported agriculture (CSA).
Strategy: Leverage the city’s economic power to support regional producers. Proposals:
• Track and encourage regional food procurement.
• Support farmers in upstate watersheds.
Goal 2: Increase urban food production. Property ownership is out of reach for the vast majority of New Yorkers and open space is a precious-and sparse- resource. Even so, the most recent agricultural census reports as many as 20 farms in the five boroughs. Additionally, the city is home to hundreds of community gardens that grow food. While these efforts are not sufficient to feed nearly nine million residents, they provide opportunities to lean about growing food, healthy eating, and our environment. They also provide a small but important source of food for some New Yorkers. Some organizations have even begun experimenting with commercial food growing enterprises in the city. These urban gardeners and farmers need stable spaces to grow food, as well as technical assistance. To address these issues, the City Council will pursue the following strategies and proposals.
Strategy: Better use existing space for urban food production. Proposals:
• Protect community gardens
• Ensure urban farms are counted in the Census of Agriculture.
• Create a searchable database of city-owned property.
• Identify city-owned properties with roofs suitable for urban agriculture.
• Waive the Floor to Area Ratio (FAR) requirements and height restrictions for certain rooftop greenhouses.
• Change the state green roofs tax credit to exchange food-producing green roofs.
• Change water rates to encourage green roofs.
• Streamline the green roof permit application process.
Strategy: Restore food and horticultural knowledge. Proposals:
• Ensure garden education is available citywide.
• Support urban agriculture technology development.
