New York City offers one major advantage, often overlooked, over more rural settings: no black bears. It was one of the reasons why David Graves, beekeeper, honey producer, and owner of Berkshire Berries, decided to place beehives on rooftops around the city. Another motivating factor was the demand he was seeing at the Greenmarket for local honey, which allows people to fend off allergies naturally. So in the spring of 1997, he set out a pack of live bees on his Greenmarket table, amongst the jams and jellies that make up the bulk of his business, with a little sign calling attention to the gentleness of the bees and asking for a home for them on people's rooftops. The marketing strategy worked, and today he has between 15 and 17 hives around Manhattan, Brooklyn, and the Bronx.

Linden, sumac, lotus, and other pollinating trees abound in New York City, along with flowers and plants on rooftops, parks, and gardens, making it a dream place for honey bees, Graves said, adding that he'd be much more reluctant to keep bees in commercial orchard in the country, where insecticides are sprayed liberally.

Beekeeping is only one aspect of urban agriculture, something that many overlook when thinking about New York City and its surroundings. Farms and community gardens are others, not to forget fisheries — a professor emeritus at Brooklyn College raises thousands of tilapia in the basement of a campus building. Alison Cohen, northern program manager at Heifer International in Brooklyn, defines urban agriculture as "essentially farming within the city limits," she said. "I put the emphasis on agriculture that is market-based, and that is predicated on income generation."

The National Agricultural Statistics Service gives a definition that can transform many more people into farmers though: "The census definition of a farm is any place from which $1,000 or more of agricultural products were produced and sold, or normally would have been sold, during the census year." Technically, this means that New Yorkers who wish to grow on their balcony or backyards what could retail for $1000, can call their effort a farm.

Interest in urban agriculture is such that New York University offered a course on the subject during its fall 2006 semester, in which adjunct professor Joy Santlofer, who is working on a book about the history of food production in New York City, took students around several sites. "I was very interested in opening students up to this aspect of the city, since so few people know about it," she said, explaining how she created the course. "A lot of students come from other parts of the country, and don't understand the different layers of New York City, the different boroughs, all the different activities that take place."

In addition to Graves, Gabrielle Langholtz, spokesperson for the Greenmarket, said that three Greenmarket farmers grow foods within New York City: one in Brooklyn, growing wheatgrass and salad greens, and two recent Latino immigrants on Staten Island, growing herbs and produce specific to Latin cooking, such as epazote.

Heifer, which sponsors four urban agriculture programs in low-income neighborhoods, clearly differentiate those projects from leisurely gardening, Cohen said. The intent is to generate income for communities who need it, as well as to teach young people in those neighborhoods how to generate income through farming.

The line between community gardens and farms is sometimes blurry, though, particularly because of the official definition. Jessica A. Chittenden, director of communications for the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets, said that there aren't many farms in New York City, but rather a lot of agriculture, citing the example of community gardens. According to the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, about 500 such gardens exist in the city, typically occupying between 1/6 and 1/7 of an acre. No such data exist for farms per se. Ian Marvy, one of the founders of Added Value, said he belies that his farm is the largest one around, at two acres. Its 30 beds are all raised, and grow produce sold at the Red Hook Farmers' Market and to restaurants. Some are managed by community groups.

Urban agriculture presents its own set of challenges to those who aspire to bring rural ideals closer to the asphalt. Paucity and cost of space are only two. "You also are not in an agricultural community," Langholtz said. "If you're upstate, whatever you need in terms of equipment, seeds, etc., you can get within driving distance. You can't do that in Brooklyn."

However, if the popularity of urban agriculture continues to grow in New York City, who's to say these services wouldn't become available. "There's big potential here, not just with honeybees," Graves said. "There are so many rooftops on which to show kids how to grow food. There is lots of unused space on rooftops. Schools need to get involved more. Kids are just looking for something to do."

Nearly every urban farm project, including Heifer's and Added Value, entails a major educational component, hoping to bring to the community resources that go beyond sustenance. "You can find fresh tomatoes and zucchini everywhere," Langholtz explained. "What you can't find anywhere is the experience of growing food. As our culture becomes alienated from how our food is grown, there's tremendous value in seeing this. To see things growing from seeds, that's the real ultimate thing that these urban farms contribute to us."

Santlofer concurred, talking about an experience she add when visiting a 30-year-old community garden in Harlem: "There is the most beautiful pear tree in that garden, which has incredibly fertile beds growing a tremendous amount and variety of food. But next door, seen through the chain link fence, was the derelict yard of the adjacent building filled with weeds and trash. The contrast of the bounty besides the wasted and ugly space was incredible and, to me, spoke volumes of people's remove from the earth."

-- Anne E. McBride