Brooklyn Farm in Trouble

Photo: The Rev. DeVanie Jackson (l.) and the Rev. Robert Jackson, founders of Brooklyn Rescue Mission, stand among plants at their Bed-Stuy Farm on Decatur St.

By Elizabeh Lazarowitz
DAILY NEWS
July 29th 2009

Brooklyn Rescue Mission could lose half of it’s Bed-Stuy Farm property to developmment plans

They turned a vacant lot into an edible Eden that provides freshly grown food to thousands of needy Brooklynites.

But the Brooklyn Rescue Mission, an emergency food pantry in Bedford-Stuyvesant, could lose half of Bed-Stuy Farm – its 5,000-square-foot facility on a long-neglected lot – if plans go through to build on it.

“We have this really thriving, amazing farm that’s feeding people,” said the Rev. DeVanie Jackson, who runs the mission with her husband, the Rev. Robert Jackson. “They’re trying to get us to move it, but the other places they wanted to move it to, it wasn’t the same.”

The Jacksons began farming around the mission on Bainbridge St. in 2004, after seeing that much of the emergency food doled out to poor families was filling, but not healthy – canned and packed with sugar and salt.

Two years later, the couple adopted the lot on Decatur St., which had become a weed-clogged garbage dump and neighborhood eyesore. They turned it into a garden that produces 7,000 pounds of food a year, including zucchini, collard greens, tomatoes and broccoli.

A nonprofit housing developer, Neighborhood Partnership HDFC, had earlier bought the land from the city to renovate an old house into affordable units, but structural problems forced the developer to raze the building. The lot sat empty until the Jacksons started the farm.

Neighborhood Partnership now wants to sell the land, city officials said.

“The intent was always to do affordable housing on this site,” said Housing Preservation and Development Department official Margaret Sheffer. “The garden had essentially come in as a squatter.”

HPD has been working to broker a deal for the mission to buy the property, she said, but the Jacksons said they can’t afford to purchase it.

Alternative sites offered by the city have either been too small or too shady, they said.

HPD spokeswoman Catie Marshall said Neighborhood Partnership needs to recoup around $275,000 in costs.

“Ideally, we would like the see the Brooklyn Rescue Mission garden remain,” she said, adding that HPD was unable to find donors to buy the property for the mission, but is still trying to find a way to transfer the land to them.

The story with comments in the Daily News here.

Bed-Stuy Farm

Bed-Stuy Farm may lose half its land. A New York City wants to sell the lot to pay off a debt. Although there are many vacant lots in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, this one is appealing because it’s been cleaned up and the farm has helped the neighborhood revive.

About Bed-Stud Farm

It’s located on two sunny vacant lots on a residential block in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. It’s been there five years. It produces 7000+ lbs of produce a year. It feeds 3000 people a month. Produce is also sold to local restaurants and at a farmers market nearby. This is very important in Bed-Stuy, where residents have to travel to buy fresh produce (lots of fast food places and the few markets tend not to sell much produce). It’s also an educational center with courses in farming and nutrition. Kids who had never seen a fresh fig in their lives are reconnecting with the land and loving it. Not just kids either. The place is a magnet for filmmakers, food activists, and even a busload of delegates to a UN conference.

It was started five years ago by the two Reverends (Robert and his wife DeVanie) Jackson. They realized their emergency food program wasn’t helping the people who needed food if it didn’t nourish them. The donated food was mostly canned and over processed. The people were appreciative, but the processed food didn’t promote health. So the Jacksons started growing their own in the lot behind the Brooklyn Rescue Mission. They eyed the trash-strewn lot next door and started asking questions. No one could tell them who owned it. They contacted Green Thumb and got status as an urban farm, cleaned up the lot and started farming there too. They even got fined twice for illegal dumping when twice contractors popped the locks and dumped their trucks of debris into the lot. Each time the Jacksons had to start all over again – cleaning up the mess.

But there’s hope. The farmers have started an online petition and want to appeal to their elected officials to keep this land producing for the community. The other vacant lots are much better candidates for gentrification.

How People Can Help

Help the Jacksons bring attention to their farm. Show New York officials that people all over the country care about urban farms.
Can you post something to get people to sign the petition:

Petition: Save Bed-Stuy Farm here.

Rev. DeVanie Jackson’s speech at the Brooklyn Food Conference here.