urban farming

JetBlue adds a farm at JFK Airport

We can’t quite call it a trend yet, but the urban farming movement is making headway at airports.

First there was O’Hare International’s aeroponic garden:

Aeroponic Garden/

Created in 2011, O’Hare’s aeroponic garden grows more than 1,000 plants – without soil – in 26 towers, producing herbs and vegetables used by some of the airport restaurants, including Tortas Frontera.

The indoor garden is on the mezzanine level of the O’Hare Rotunda Building, in Terminal 3 over the corridor to Concourse G.

Now JetBlue has joined the movement with a large outdoor garden in front of Terminal 5 at John F. Kennedy International Airport:

In addition to potatoes, JetBlue's T5 farm is growing herbs and produce for T5 restaurants and for local food pantries

The 24,000-square-foot T5 farm is growing produce, herbs and blue potatoes, the kind used to make the Terra Blues potato chips JetBlue offers as complimentary snacks to passengers.

Blue potatoes actually look purple when freshly picked

Potatoes, plus a wide variety of herbs and vegetables, are planted in raised beds made out of milk cartons bolted to the concrete.

The food grown will be used by restaurants in T5 and donated to area food pantries. And some of the blue potatoes may someday make it across the river to the New Jersey factory where the Terra Blues chips are now made out of blue potatoes grown on an organic farm in Maine.

Here are some more snaps from opening day at JetBlue’s T5 farm, which is located curbside, way to the left of the departure level doors. And here’s a link to a story I wrote about the farm for USA TODAY.

Helpful signs tell garden visitors what's growing in the milk crate beds.

JetBlue T5 farm manager Katrina Ceguera tending to the arugula

Shawn Connell, GrowNYC's program manager, with some of the first potatoes picked at the T5 farm.