Economics of Urban Rooftop Agriculture – Grey to Green Conference, June 1-2
Posted: May 12, 2015
Categories: Events / Food in the News
Grey to Green: A Conference Exploring the Economics of Local and Regional Food Systems and Resilience, which takes place on June 1-2, 2015 in Toronto, is offering a webcast option that is eligible for continuing education and professional development credits. Learn more and register.
Conference organizers Green Roofs for Healthy Cities have also announced another plenary session on the economics of urban rooftop agriculture. Mark Winterer of Recover Green Roofs, Lauren Mandel of EATUP LLC, and Ben Flanner, Head Farmer and President of Brooklyn Grange will be speaking about the economics of rooftop farming and how to improve the bottom line.
Mark Winterer of Recover Green Roofs LLC will discuss the economics of urban agriculture and how and why Whole Foods built a 17,000 square foot rooftop farm in Lynnfield, MA. With a background in landscaping, operational logistics, supply-chain management, and customer service, Mark is an accredited Green Roof Professional, a licensed General Contractor, and Recover’s Director of Operations.
With a passion for productive infrastructure, Lauren Mandel, ASLA works as a Project Manager and Rooftop Agriculture Specialist at the Philadelphia-based green roof firm Roofmeadow (formerly Roofscapes, Inc.). At Roofmeadow Lauren designs green roofs, oversees green roof construction around the country, and is integral to every rooftop agriculture project the firm encounters. In 2013 Lauren founded EAT UP, LLC to offer “roof-to-table” speaking engagement and journalism services.
Ben Flanner is a trained Industrial Engineer with a background in business and marketing. In 2009 Ben co-founded Eagle Street Rooftop Farms, the first rooftop farm in New York, and is widely recognized as a leader in rooftop urban agriculture. His expertise in systems optimization and unwavering drive to increase efficiencies across the farm are balanced by his passion for sharing his knowledge, and the keen desire to help raise urban agriculture as an industry to a higher level.
Join Ben, Lauren and Mark at the conference for their talk on The Economics of Urban Rooftop Agriculture. Ben will also be teaching the Introduction to Rooftop Urban Agriculture session on June 2nd from 8:30 am – 12:30 pm.
See the full conference program and speaker list at www.greytogreenconference.org. See our previous blog post for a conference overview.