The day has finally arrived and there is a palatable buzz in the air. You’ve worked hard alongside dedicated colleagues and your community for today’s Grand Opening. We hired Raleigh Limousines to pick you up at 8am sharp and you felt like a rock star.
Secretly, you hoped that all the neighbors were peering out their windows when the shiny black, chauffeured town car pulled up to the curb. You know the work you’ve done to see this project to completion will benefit thousands of people for years to come.
The lim was a nice touch. You couldn’t have imagined anything else making the debut of the roof garden anymore spectacular, but the organizers thought of everything.
Following the lead of Paul Lightfoot, CEO of Bright Farms and retail food giant Kroger who together have joined forces, you celebrate the first fresh food delivery system on the rooftop of your local King Soopers grocery store.
It started when you came across an article published in the New York Times in February 2014 on an innovative company called Bright Farms. You learned that Bright Farms takes a pioneering approach to urban farming which grows fresh herbs and vegetable directly in the communities where they are consumed.
Bright Farms will put a greenhouse directly on the roof of the supermarket. Yes, if logistics allow an entire greenhouse, growing organic vegetables, herbs and some fruits can be built and sustained just upstairs from where the produce is sold to the consumer.
With fresh produce being so readily available the shopper gets food that is harvested that very day. This process cuts the distance it has to travel, food waste, time and labor expenses throughout the supply chain.
Despite the work and expertise to maintain the grow house, costs are lower and those savings are passed along to the shopper. The farms are specifically designed around water conservation, waste water augmentation and land conservation.
Other bonuses range from avoiding greenhouse gas emissions from transport trucks, supplying green collar jobs to local farmers and keeping that money circulating within the community.
Thousands of pounds of food is grown every year without the interruption of weather, drought or mishandling. Using technologies that enhance the natural growing cycles, it’s possible to produce and harvest crops to grow year round. The consumer can count on their favorite, fresh flavorful food daily.
Originally the idea of a group of visionary farmers from the non- profit New York Sun Works headed by Dr. Ted Caplow, Bright Farms Systems was created as a for-profit company in response to public demand.
The first prototype of a sustainable urban farm environment was the now widely respected Science Barge on the Hudson River. With its success came more interests in placing urban farms in uncommon places and in 2007 Bright Farms, a greenhouse consultancy was officially born.
Two of the earliest projects include the rooftop greenhouse at the Forest Houses in the Bronx and the Manhattan School for Children. Since then rooftop greenhouses are thriving all over the country.
There are hundreds of projects solving hundreds of problems going on as you read this article. Never underestimate the creative and inspired minds who devote their lives to making our world a better place. If you want to learn more about Bright Farms Systems and how they can impact your community they are easy to locate.
Maybe you’ll get picked up by a limousine one morning on your way to your local supermarket’s Grand opening of their rooftop greenhouse and do your grocery shopping in style.