The indoor farming industry has been rapidly expanding. With that, we are seeing innovations in design, technology, and products. A principle of indoor farming is around how food can be grown while using land, space, and resources efficiently. In New York City, space is certainly limited and we’ve seen urban farms utilize space in innovative ways. Some examples include rooftop farms like Brooklyn Grange, indoor usage of small spaces like Farm One, and floating demonstration farms like Swale.

Cities that are surrounded by water have been constructing their coastal areas to build structures that are resilient to storm surge. Aqua Ark, an experienced developer for building commercial and residential water-borne structures, believes in the concept of floating cities. Aqua Ark’s most recent water-borne venture is constructing the largest farm in New York City. The developer is building a 158,000 square foot floating farm structure located off the Hunts Point food distribution center in the Bronx. The facility provides up to 4 acres of horizontal growing area, a scale otherwise unattainable in NYC. This is a unique opportunity for farm operators to grow food in such close proximity to the largest food distribution center in the world. The proximity to Hunts Point reduces the impact of transport costs and environmental costs for produce deliveries.