Last Monday the class went to the Brooklyn Grange which is a sustainable rooftop garden in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The farm grows “over 50,000 lbs of organically-cultivated produce per year” which is then sold to CSA members, restaurants, and to the public. The Brooklyn Grange also operates an apiary and egg-laying hens, the honey is sold to the public. The Hospitality Garden Club from City Tech has an association with the farm, it teaches club members the basic skills of sustainable gardening. During club hours members maintain a neat and clean garden while they grow flowers and vegetables for the pastry and culinary labs at City Tech. The farm’s compost consists of food waste from individuals, restaurants and the garden itself in order to have a nutritious soil for the crops. There’s also no activity of pesticide use. The Brooklyn Grange mission is to produce healthier and nutritious crops compared to those sold in the supermarkets.

In the first episode of America Revealed “Food Machine”, Yul Kwon explores how the food is grown, processed, and transported in the United States in order to feed nearly 300 million Americans every day. The show displays how engineering has allowed 80% of California’s water to go to Central Valley farm which produces 50% of the entire country’s fruits, nuts, and vegetables. It also exhibits the use of antibiotics and growth hormones on animals just so it could provide a good amount of meat for a low price. All of these activities are affected by “craveability”, which is what Americans want and whatever is currently trending in the restaurant business. In order for all of the consumers to be satisfy, farms have to take different measures on how they operate from the use of more than 40 pesticides to hormones and antibiotics. Lastly, Kwon investigates Detroit where people can’t afford to get real food and it shows how urban farmer Will Gardner has been growing his own crops to eat and sell in a local farmer’s market. From the beginning and end of the show we see the great differences between both farming techniques and the impacts it has on the population it feeds.

Michael Pollan’s states in his article that President Obama did not address the broken food system like he should have and how quickly the Obamas were “outlobbied and outgunned” when poking at Big Food. Michelle Obama in the other hand did her best to promote a healthier lifestyle by focusing “on issues that resonated with ordinary Americans concerned about their children”. An accomplishment being the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 where she prioritized and raised “nutritional standards for the meals served in the Federal school lunch program” and eliminating the sale of junk food in public schools. Michelle Obama has set the start of the food movement, it is up to us to continue fighting for this movement to exist as a political force. At the end of the day we have to understand that it takes a lot of time to change the way agriculture has been operated in the past years, that’s one of the reasons why the Obamas didn’t make as much progress as we would have liked them to.

The Brooklyn Grange sets an excellent example of how farms/gardens should be operated and its interaction with the community by providing countless workshops and renting the area for yoga classes, wedding ceremonies and dinner parties. Farms that produce without the use of chemicals should be expanded to promote a healthier lifestyle since the other way of farming has caused several health issues. There should be more available resources like the Brooklyn Grange in necessary areas where it is not easy to afford organic products. Overall, sustainability should be reevaluated in our agriculture so there could be a balance in the foods that we consume.