How One Rooftop Farm Could Make Your City Better // Presented By BuzzFeed & Hyundai

- Imagine that instead of white, gray or black roofs you see a green sea that extends to the horizon. That's really our long-term vision. We are Up Top Acres and we grow food on

rooftop

s. We turn underutilized spaces into productive, vibrant

farm

land and use this

farm

land to try to drive the conversation to create

better

cities. Convert them from concrete jungles into living, breathing ecosystems. - 80% of the US population lives in cities right now and we transport food an average distance of 1,500 miles from farm to table. - So instead of traveling miles, we try to measure the distance our products travel on flights of stairs. - It's much more than growing food on

rooftop

s.

It's also about how we can create the

city

of the future and

make

it a reality now. The end goal is really just to create a

better

city

. This year we aim for around 70% of the produce grown on rooftops to be distributed to the buildings on which those farms are located. And then the other 30% will go to the farmers market and then also to some neighborhood restaurants. I wanted to start Up Top Acres because I wanted to combine the two things that I really like, which are farming and living in the city, and I think deep down all three of us really wanted to try to

make

our city that we grew up in. , that we truly love a better place.

We will be delivering to a cafe in the market called Little Red Fox. They are some of our oldest customers and we love them. - Up Top Acres is one of the local suppliers we work with. Having ultra-fresh produce is much more exciting for customers to simply be able to know that it was grown downtown and delivered this morning. We are here on harvest day and we are about to harvest some of our star lettuce mix. And it will be distributed to our CSA members in the lobby of the building later today. - I'm going to go cook. - See you, enjoy! - Thank you! - Everyone benefits when we install the system.

You're reducing

your

energy cost, you're reducing stormwater runoff, you have access to fresh food, and it's a benefit to the surrounding community because these are unique natural spaces that don't typically exist in cities, but we're on top of that. of a subway station. One of the biggest things that sticks with me is that every time someone goes up on the roof they always have the same kind of reaction. Why isn't this done in all buildings? When I hear that, what really motivates me is to make this a reality in every new building we build.