Rockaway Youth Task Force Urban Farm

Our community is being attacked on all fronts. Between losing countless lives to COVID-19 and the cancellation of the Summer Youth Employment Program - the Rockaways is facing a multitude of hardships. To fight growing food insecurity and help ensure that our community does not have to worry about where their next meal is coming from in these desperate times, we’ve acquired an additional half-acre of green space to bolster our food justice initiatives. Unfortunately, City Par...ks and GreenThumb made the cold and callous decision to not allow us to access our newly acquired growing space due to their vague urban farming guidelines. This has led to punishing our organization with punitive measures and resulted in our not being allowed to grow food. This space would be used by our organization to grow FREE, fresh, and healthy produce for the Rockaway Peninsula. In a community already facing high levels of poverty and labeled a food desert before this pandemic, we see this work as essential for the health and survival of our community today and into the future. Therefore, we are demanding that the City Parks Department and GreenThumb allow access to the space immediately to begin food production!

When a crisis hits, Black and brown communities suffer the most. This was the case during Superstorm Sandy and it is currently the case with the Coronavirus (COVID-19). Presently, 140 million people in the United States are below the poverty line and the Rockaways is no exception. Therefore, the impacts of shutdowns and closures from COVID-19 will exacerbate pre-existing socioeconomic conditions for residents within the Rockaways. As a result, our community will have difficul...ty accessing nutritious and healthy produce. When Superstorm Sandy struck the Rockaways, the government failed to respond in a timely manner. After witnessing our community struggle to access fresh affordable produce, we said never again. This is what sparked our advocacy around food justice and sovereignty within our community. Through our advocacy, we have secured an acre of additional growing space, which will allow us to strengthen food sovereignty within the Rockaways. Now that we have acquired this additional space, your support is essential to helping us enhance our critical work. We kindly ask you to support the build-out of our new growing space by donating using the link below!

This growing season was one of our most successful to date! Thank you to everyone who stopped by the farm this season to grow with us, volunteer or to say hello. Every year we look forward to improving our services to the community. Not only did we operate our weekly farm stand at the Rockaway Youth Task Force Urban Farm, we also operated a Youthmarket with our amazing partners GrowNYC in downtown Far Rockaway. Community gardens like the Rockaway Youth Task Force Urban Farm ...help strengthen senses of community, teach and empower neighborhoods, and provide healthy and affordable produce when no other sources are available. This growing season was successful in part due to the support of Small Axe Peppers Hot Sauce. Small Axe Peppers Hot Sauce, practices a business model that reinvestments in community gardens. The company donates seedlings to local gardens, buys them back as ripe peppers to make hot sauce, then sells the sauce to the community gardens at a discount. The gardens then sell the hot sauce to the public for profit, effectively turning the peppers into a reliable cash crop. We appreciate all of your continued support and involvement and look forward to seeing you next season!

Stop by the Rockaway Youth Task Force Urban Farm to checkout our brand new farm stand that was built by New York City District Council of Carpenters. Union apprentices were able to get hands-on experience all while advancing our food justice work by building our beautiful farm stand. This Saturday we will have the following produce for sale; Apples, Peaches, Plums, Watermelons, Beets, Broccoli, Carrots, Corn, Eggplant, Green Beans, Onions, Peppers, Potatoes, Tomatoes, Kale, Lettuce, Spinach, Mushrooms, Eggs, Honey, Hot Sauce and much more! The Farm Stand is open from 9:00am to 3:00pm every Saturday until November 23rd.

Check out our mosquito magnet at work!