BROOKLYN — AN INTERACTIVE MAPPING TOOL launched in January. The NYC Urban Agriculture Data Explorer Hub, documents over 2,500 urban agricultural spaces across New York City. Of these, 972 are located in Brooklyn, making it the borough with the highest concentration of urban farms and gardens.

This data comes at a pivotal moment in the climate fight in NYC. Brooklyn farmers and gardeners have had to adapt to climate change — promoting practices such as composting, rainwater capture, and biodiversity to help mitigate the effects of a warming globe. 

“There’s a section of folks who might like to think that we can do fancy experiments to mitigate climate change while also still continuing with endless expansion and endless growth. Spaces like this, and all the green spaces in the City, need to be scaled up,” said East New York Farms! incoming Project Director Ariella Riapos. “There’s study after study that shows that even the smallest green space within an urban environment punches far beyond its weight — the benefits to the local ecology are so much greater than really anything else that they could think of to do.” 

Looking forward, the Mayor’s Office of Urban Agriculture’s new NYC UA Data Explorer Hub aims to assist in policy changes surrounding gardens and farms in Brooklyn — maybe providing incentives to preserve or grow these community spaces through their documentation.