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When I went to interview Jennifer

Nelkin, co-founder and green-

house director of GothamGreens, I had to reassure my cab

driver, twice, that I had given himthe correct address. He found it

peculiar to be picking up ayoung lady at a boutique hotel inManhattan and driving her to awarehouse in the industrial part

of Brooklyn.

I could see the massiverooftop greenhouse off in the dis-

tance, so I confidently told mycabbie that I was visiting a high-tech farm, and yes, that graffitied

old warehouse was exactly whereI needed to be.

Perched on top of that non-

descript building in Greenpoint,

Brooklyn, is Gotham Greens, aninnovative urban agriculture busi-

ness that’s growing over 100 tonsof fresh produce a year in a15,000-sq. ft. state-of-the-art green-

house. They reportedly take theprize for being the first commer-

cial-scale hydroponic rooftop

greenhouse in the U.S.

Behind Gotham Greens Gotham Greens is the brainchild

of a talented trio of friends, whobelieved they could build a com-mercial-scale urban farm capable

of growing safe, local produce ina sustainable manner for NewYork City residents—and make a

profit doing it. They were right.

They could. They did. And they’remaking a profit.

Jenn Nelkin is a bright younggrower with a solid education

and impressive resume in con-

trolled environment agriculture.Her growing and technology

skills combined with the sustain-

ability, marketing and financial

skills of co-founders, Viraj Puriand Eric Haley, is proving to be

quite the recipe for success.Just one year into production,

they can’t grow enough of their

premium produce to meet thedemand from consumers and are

already planning to expand their

prototype rooftop greenhouse

and business model to other New

York City locations. The new facil-ities will be in Brooklyn, Queens

and the Bronx and will be 20,000,

60,000 and 100,000 sq. ft., respec-

tively.

Landing a rooftopgreenhousePrior to harvesting their first crop

in 2011, the team at Gotham

Greens spent three years gettingtheir business off the ground, lit-erally. Finding an existing build-

ing to put a greenhouse on top ofis a challenging process. Andwithout other models to follow, it

was a process that GothamGreens had to figure out as theywent. The building needs to be

structurally capable of support-

ing the dead load of the green-house and the live load of its

contents; the landlord needs tobe amenable to allowing a hydro-ponic business (and all its waterand plumbing) on their roof; and

the local zoning regulations must

be navigable. The company worked closely

with Nexus Greenhouse Systemsto design and build a greenhouse

that honored the site constric-tions and also met their growing

needs. The biggest challenge was

figuring out how to connect thegreenhouse to the building. A

structural engineer had to guidethe greenhouse design, ensuringthat the greenhouse columnsjibed with the building columns.

Nexus custom-sized the green-house trusses based on the build-ing dimensions and a steel curb

was added to the perimeter ofthe roof to help land the

structure.

While chatting with Jenn at a

picnic table in Gotham Greens’

greenhouse, the sun began to

peek through the rain clouds and

I could feel the temperature rise.

As we continued to chat, Jenn

picked up her pink iPhone, and

within seconds, the roof vents

opened to adjust the tempera-

ture. With their automated system

from Argus Controls, Jenn canview and control the greenhousefrom anywhere and at any time

The Sky’s the LimitJennifer Nelkin, greenhouse director at Gotham Greens, represents

a new generation of greenhouse farmers. After studying controlled

environment agriculture and running greenhouses all over the

world, the young grower is building rooftop greenhouses in New

York City and growing food hydroponically for the local market.

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by ANNIE WHITE

19

with her smartphone or laptop.I asked Jenn if she would’ve de-

signed anything differently knowing

what she knows now. She said, “We’re

really happy with how this green-

house came out. So many things

could have gone wrong, but didn’t.”

With a smile she adds, “The only thing

we would have done differently is

make it a lot bigger.”

What’s growing at Gotham?Gotham Greens grows five products in

their nutrient film technique (NFT)

hydroponic system from American

Hydroponics. They harvest, pack anddistribute butterleaf, greenleaf and

redleaf lettuces, a lettuce medley and

basil five days a week. The majority oftheir produce is sold to Whole Foods

and Fresh Direct, an online grocery re-tailer.“Our products are in the store

the day or the day after they’re har-vested. It’s really the freshest produce

you can buy,” Jenn explained when

discussing how devoted local con-sumers are to their products. “We’ve

had times when we’ve sent a truck-load of produce down the street toFresh Direct, and before the truck iseven back here, our buyer will ask for

another truck.” As they expand, Gotham Greens

will continue to focus their efforts on

greens and basil, but will explore alarger diversity of greens. They re-

ceived a lot of requests for locally

grown tomatoes so they might con-

sider adding them to their growingline-up in the future.

1. Gotham Greens sits on a rooftop

in Brooklyn overlooking the sky-

line of Manhattan. The 55 kilowatt

solar panel installation supplies

over half their energy during the

summer months.

2. Hydroponically grown basil and

a variety of lettuces fill Gotham

Green’s rooftop greenhouse

3. Gotham Greens built their pro-

totype 15,000-sq. ft. greenhouse

facility atop an existing building in

the industrial neighborhood of

Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

4. Jennifer Nelkin, greenhouse di-

rector at Gotham Greens, pulls a

head of lettuce from their nutrient

film technique (NFT) hydroponic

system.

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Learning the art and science of growingJenn was barely out of her 20s

when she assumed the role of

greenhouse director at GothamGreens. Sure, she was young, butyou would’ve been hard-pressed

to find another grower with thelevel of education and the diver-sity of experience in controlled

environment agriculture as Jenn

had accrued in less than adecade.

It all began while Jenn was

working on a degree in plant sci-ences at Arizona State University.She attended a conference at the

University of Arizona that intro-

duced her to hydroponic grow-ing systems and would change

her world forever. “After the con-ference, I knew 100% that this iswhat I wanted to do. I called my

mom back in New York and toldher that I wanted to be a farmer. Ithink she cried.”

Eager to learn more about hy-droponic growing systems, Jennbegan graduate studies at the

University of Arizona’s Controlled

Environment Agriculture Center.She credits a lot of her technical

skills as a grower to the U of Aprogram and the experiences itgave her both in and out of the

classroom. “I learned just as muchoutside the classroom as I did init because there were so many

people running different proj-

ects,” explained Jenn. “I was run-ning my own greenhouse, but so

were all my friends, so we’d behelping and learning from eachother all the time. I’d help one

friend wire sensors and thenmove on to another greenhouse

and help another friend prunepeppers.”

Jenn’s own research was oncomputer control strategies for

retractable roof greenhouse pro-duction. She could’ve never pre-dicted that a decade later, she’dbe growing basil on a rooftop in

New York City, but serendipitously,

she chose to work with hydro-

ponically grown basil for her

graduate research. She admitsthat she still glances backthrough the piles of data she has

on basil production when mak-ing decisions about her crop at

Gotham Greens.

The relationships that Jenn es-tablished as a student at U of A’sCenter for Controlled Environ-

ment Agriculture continue to bean invaluable support system forher.

Growing aroundthe worldInspired by a talk given by Dr.Howard Resh, Jenn took a semes-ter off from her graduate studies,

and interned at the Cuisinartgreenhouse on the Caribbean

island of Anguilla.Working at

Resh’s state-of-art-facilities intro-

duced her to a variety of crops

and growing systems.

After finishing her master’s de-

gree, U of A hired Jenn to help

with their training programs and

also work on the South Pole

greenhouse, which was being

built at that time at the Con-

trolled Environment Agriculture

Center.

After the greenhouse wasshipped down to Antractica, Jenn

was offered the rare opportunityto make the long journey herself,so she spent six months at the

South Pole running both theSouth Pole and McMurdo Green-

houses, flying back and forth be-

tween the two in a ski plane.

Following her stretch inAntarctica, Jenn had the opportu-

nity to move home to New Yorkand help The Science Barge proj-

ect on the Hudson River come to

fruition. The Science Barge is aprototype, sustainable urban farm

and environmental education

center. The barge-based green-

house supports sustainable food

production and grows a variety

of vegetables hydroponically.During her time working on

the Science Barge, Jenn became

friends with Viraj and Eric, andthe dream of building a commer-cial-scale rooftop hydroponic

farm began. They incorporatedGotham Greens in 2008; in 2009,Jenn took a big leap of faith, quit-

ting her job to focus her energy

full-time on building the com-pany and making their dream a

reality.By age 30, the girl who told

her mom she wanted to be a

farmer had a master’s degree, ex-perience running greenhouses ina variety of environments (in-

cluding the most isolated and in-

hospitable continent on earth),and was planning the first com-

mercial rooftop hydroponicgreenhouse in U.S.

The experiences Jenn has ac-

crued as a young grower demon-

strate how diverse and exciting

the field of controlled environ-

ment agriculture is today. Pursu-

ing agriculture as a young personno longer means staying on thefamily farm; there’s a world of op-

portunities. (And I’m sure hermom is very proud to call her

daughter a farmer.)

What makes agreat growerWhen I asked Jenn what makes

her a successful grower, she ex-

plained candidly that she doesn’tconsider herself an extraordinary

grower, but believes she’s success-

ful at it because she’s detail-ori-ented and highly organized. “I

think I would have done well in

any professional environmentthat required a high level of or-ganization, but I happen to like

working with plants.”

Touring Gotham Greens,Jenn’s organization is readily ap-

parent, both inside and outsidethe greenhouse. Everything ismeticulously labeled, and Jennhas written a manual for every-

thing from food safety and opera-

tions to scheduling and stafftraining. An office wall is cleverly

organized with color photos of“good bugs” and “bad bugs” forher staff to become familiar with.

When hiring her growing staff,Jenn said she looks beyond aperson’s résumé. “When we first

started, there just wasn’t a skill set

in New York for this type of work,”she explained. “If they’re reliable,

organized and detail-oriented, Ican teach them everything else.”

As the company expands to

additional greenhouse facilities,they will hire some high-levelgrowers, but will also be promot-

ing from within their current

crew. “We’re really running ourown grower boot camp here,”

Jenn said. “They’re great anddoing such a good job.”

Jenn advises other young peo-

ple interested in a career in con-trolled environment agricultureto pursue a formal education inCEA, work for a greenhouse—or

both. She again stresses the needto be detail-oriented and organ-ized, but says that the technical

experience is also invaluable.

Looking aheadJenn’s doing what she loves inthe city that she loves, so when I

asked her about her future goals,her response was no surprise. “It’s

all about Gotham Greens. We’re

building out a lot more capacity

in New York City to be able tomeet our customers’ needs better,bring them more products, and

add more customers. Possibly,we’ll expand beyond New YorkCity.”

5. Using an automated system

from Argus Controls, Jennifer

Nelkin modifies the green-

house environment with her

smartphone.

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