Hurricane Sandy has not only ruined homes in New York City and New Jersey, but has also ruined urban farms which will now face crop losses that could potentially take years to recover.
And it’s not just crop loss and farm destruction: Farms could also be possibly facing pollutants that have been washed in with the storm water. According to a press release, “if pollutants exist, farmers will create remediation plans that could include inoculating the soil with fungi spores, saturating the land with compost tea, or even removing it all and starting over with new top soil.”
“For more than 30 years urban farms have been helping to feed New Yorkers, especially lower income residents and Sandy’s effects could create challenges for affordable fresh fruits and vegetables,” says Phil Lempert, founder of Food Nutrition & Science and CEO of The Lempert Report and SupermarketGuru.com, in a press release. “With 80 percent of the U.S. population living in cities, urban agriculture matters and helps with feeding Americans.”
