Written and published September 2015 by Olivia Engel, Green Dining Alliance Program Coordinator
A new kind of urban farm has opened its doors to the St. Louis public. Urban Harvest STL (UHSTL), which received crowd-sourced funding from Rally Saint Louis in 2012, is a 10,000 sq.ft. rooftop space with raised beds, a year-round greenhouse, and plans for a beehive and chicken coop, too.
UHSTL operates with a triple bottom line – balancing people, planet, and profit to create a successful, sustainable business that enriches the community.
Their ‘social sustainability’ is demonstrated with their new classroom element and community garden space, encouraging the neighborhood to grow produce for the home (they’re located north of the Delmar Divide, where many residents are low-income and do not have access to local food or fresh groceries). The majority of the farm’s tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, squash, chard and basil is donated to 4 star GDA-certified McMurphy’s Cafe of St. Patrick’s Center, which doubles as an employee training program for St. Louis’ homeless.
In terms of environmental sustainability, UHSTL goes beyond growing and distributing healthy, local food. The rooftop design excels at storm water collection and energy efficiency, conserving vital resources and cooling the city’s ‘heat bubble.’
And to keep their operation financially sustainable, UHSTL has plans to sell to area restaurants and continue to transform more rooftops to add to their company’s output. Currently, UHSTL utilizes their greenhouse to provide starter plants for their farm and grow microgreens for a few high-end restaurants that are walkable from their site.
This exciting space has blown up in the press, including non-local media features in Huffington Post and the New York Times.
