One of the most well-known and successful urban farming projects is Brooklyn Grange located in New York City. Brooklyn Grange spans two rooftop farms, one in Long Island City and one in Brooklyn, totaling over 2.5 acres of hydroponic and soil-based greenhouse farming. They grow a wide variety of vegetables, herbs and flowers year-round. Brooklyn Grange uses sustainable practices like rainwater collection, soilless farming methods, and composting to maximize productivity in an urban environment. They are profitable and provide fresh, local produce to grocery stores, restaurants and direct to consumers through their Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program. Brooklyn Grange shows that large-scale commercial urban farming is viable even in a dense,expensive city like New York.

Another highly successful urban farming operation is FreshFarms in Newport News, Virginia. They operate a 40 acre rooftop greenhouse farm on top of a big box retailer. FreshFarms utilizes a Dutch-style greenhouse architecture with automated systems to carefully control the environment, lighting, irrigation and nutrients to crops. This precision growing allows them to produce exotic greens, herbs and vegetables all year long with several harvest cycles per week. FreshFarms distributes its produce locally as well as ships nationwide, proving urban controlled-environment agriculture can be done on a massive scale. They have expanded to several other major metropolitan areas showing the model can be replicated successfully elsewhere.

One great example of how urban farming positively impact communities is Growing Power located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Founded in 1993, Growing Power operates urban farms, greenhouses, and sells produce and provides job training. They pioneered techniques like aquaponics and have demonstrated highly productive year-round production in cities. In addition to fresh food, they sell fish and provide educational programs for thousands of youth and adults annually. Growing Power shows how urban agriculture can empower communities and be a platform for job skills and nutrition education. Under the leadership of Will Allen, Growing Power helped inspire a movement of hundreds of other urban farms across the United States.

In Seattle, Washington the local non-profit Food Connect operates several successful urban farms including the Beacon Food Forest. Food Connect runs a 1.5 acre organic farm on city owned land that uses permaculture principles to produce an abundance of fruits, nuts, berries and edible landscaping. All harvest is free for the public and contributes to food security in the city. They run extensive volunteer programs to educate the community and get more people engaged with urban agriculture. Food Connect also operates smaller pocket farms interspersed in the city, demonstrating how limited spaces can still productively grow food. Their model shows how public-private partnerships and permaculture techniques enable efficient urban food production in the temperate climate of Seattle.

One of the most innovative urban farming operations can be found in Singapore – a small, dense city-state. Sky Greens operates the world’s largest hydroponic indoor vertical farm, cultivating over 6,500 pounds of greens per day in a eight story 100,000 square foot facility. Using hydroponics, LED lighting and precise automated control systems, Sky Greens is able to grow an abundance of leafy greens with a 99% reduction in water usage compared to traditional agriculture. All production takes place within the urban confines of Singapore, using minimal land but high technology to maximum yields. Sky Greens supplies Singapore’s major grocery chains as well as exports to other Asian countries. It demonstrates how controlled environment agriculture can revolutionize urban food production internationally.

As urban populations continue to swell globally, these successful models show urban farming is a viable way to increase local food security, impart economic development opportunities and improve quality of life. When integrated into the urban fabric utilizing techniques like hydroponics, aquaponics, greenhouse production, permaculture and rooftop farming, cities have enormous potential to mass produce nutritious foods for their residents. The examples above prove that with entrepreneurial innovation and community partnerships, urban agriculture projects of varying scales have become staples around the world to feed our growing cities sustainably.