NEW YORK — Gotham Greens, which operates a hydroponic greenhouse facility on the rooftop of an industrial building in Brooklyn, announced that it has started harvesting and delivering pesticide-free vegetables and herbs to New York food retailers, including Whole Foods Market, FreshDirect and D’Agostino’s.
“We are dedicated to providing our customers with the freshest and best-tasting products available on the NYC market, year-round,” said Gotham Greens founder Viraj Puri, in a statement. “Gotham Greens also addresses many of the growing ecological and public health concerns surrounding conventional agriculture, including high resource consumption, long distance food transportation and food safety.”
The company said its recirculating hydroponic methods use 10 times less land and 20 times less water than conventional agriculture, while eliminating pesticide use and fertilizer runoff and minimizing the risk of such foodborne pathogens as E. coli and Salmonella.
“Gotham Greens embraces New York’s entrepreneurial tradition at its best — and demonstrates that going green is a smart business strategy,” said New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.