Brooklyn Grange Rooftop Farm

The Brooklyn Grange farm in the Brooklyn Navy Yard is the largest rooftop farm in the world. Brooklyn Grange hosts an open house every Saturday mid-May through October at their Flagship farm in Long Island City, Queens. Ticketed tours of the farm in Long Island are held on Thursdays and in Brooklyn on Mondays every week from May-October with tours starting at 10:00AM and 11:30AM. Tours must be booked in advance and cost $10 per person.

In The Farm On The Roof, the founders of Brooklyn Grange share their inspirational story of changing the world through entrepreneurship.

In their effort to build the world’s first and largest commercial rooftop farm, the founders of Brooklyn Grange learned a lot about building and sustaining a business while never losing sight of their mission — to serve their community by providing delicious organic food and changing the way people think about what they eat. However, their story is about more than just farming. It serves as an inspirational and instructional guide for anyone looking to start a business that is successful while making a positive impact.

The team behind Brooklyn Grange tells the story of how their “farmily” made their dream a reality. Along the way, they share valuable lessons about finding the right partners, seeking funding, expanding, and identifying potential sources of revenue without compromising your core values — lessons socially-conscious entrepreneurs can apply toward their ventures. Filled with colorful anecdotes about the ups and downs of farming in New York City, this story is not just about rooftop farming. It’s also about utilizing whatever resources you have to turn your backyard idea into a sky-high success.

Video [Click graphic below to watch video]

The video shows a 7-month time lapse documenting the first full growing season at the 65,000 square foot Brooklyn Grange farm (1.5 acres) in the Brooklyn Navy Yard which harvests 500,000 pounds of organic food annually. The site says:

"Brooklyn Grange’s farmers manage our rooftop farms with great care and adhere to organic standards. We divert organic waste from dozens of different channels to create compost which continuously replenishes and brings fresh biodiversity to our soil.

We’re particularly proud of our crisp, colorful, ever-evolving salad mixes spring through fall, our sweet heirloom tomatoes in the peak of the summer season, and our flavorful, elegant microgreens grown year-round in our greenhouse.

Every year, we experiment with a few new crops, while nurturing our reliable perennials which come back every spring. Year-round, our urban farms are covered with greenery and provide an edible oasis for local nature lovers and foodies."

Tour of Brooklyn Grange

The New York skyline is visible all around Brooklyn Grange. The tour guide explains many facets of the farm and shows off the chickens and the bees. At the end of the tour, visitors can buy Brooklyn Grange honey, hot sauce, a bag, and the book.

The huge greenhouse allows Brooklyn Grange to continue growing from Novemer through April until the outdoor growing season starts again in May. The wide variety of plants are stored on two levels as shown in the photo further below.