About 600 urban farmers say they were suddenly evicted from their Williamsburg property and can't even harvest the last of their crops.
Volunteer gardeners at Oko Farms, which provides fresh produce to low-income Brooklyn residents, were warned by Two Trees Management in August that they needed to wrap up their hippie business by November.
Sustainable farmhouses have been building along the East River between Metropolitan Avenue and North Third Street since May 2021 as real estate companies awaited approval to break ground on the final piece of the luxury mega-development. I was renting a vacant lot from a real estate company.
As part of the deal, Oko Farms was given free rent, but Two Trees retained the right to evict it with just three months' notice.
“While we understood that this site was not permanent, we are disappointed in the sudden termination of our contract.” The Oko leadership wrote in an online statement:
“However, this is neither surprising nor unusual as far as urban farming is concerned. Access to land has been one of, if not the biggest hurdle for urban farms since its inception. It was a constant challenge for us.”
Oko is asking Two Trees to reconsider its sudden eviction and allow the group to survive the winter so they can reap the benefits of the harvest and find new homes for their volunteer gardeners. .
Makeshift farmers use a unique aquaponics system that uses fish waste as fertilizer for plants. These plants help filter water for fish in a closed loop system that uses 80%. It requires less water than traditional soil cultivation.
But Two Trees says the requested extension is out of the question. The company instead offered to stay on site for an additional week and store the group's equipment in a nearby building until March.
“Two Trees has a long history of providing space for temporary community use at construction sites, and we were able to host OKO for free for four years, longer than originally planned.” a representative told the Post.
“We are currently preparing to begin construction on Domino’s final building, which will provide over 250 units of affordable housing and require use of the site.”
The new building will be the second site in the Rivering development and will consist of two luxury waterfront apartments with a beach and expansive nature trail.
Most of the 1,000 units planned for the project will be sold at market rates. This means that in trendy areas, a one-bedroom pad can net you around $7,000 a month, and a two-bedroom pad can net you $11,000 a month. According to the StreetEasy listing.
The group said the farmers' eviction marks the second time in 10 years that Oko Farms has been forced to relocate. The farm operated at its original location in Bushwick for 10 years before permanently relocating to the Williamsburg property last year.
