Brooklyn Grange’s sliding-scale CSA returns to Sunset Park

Brooklyn Grange’s Harvest Share community-supported agriculture program, or CSA, is back for the summer, bringing rooftop veggies straight from its urban farm to the Sunset Park community.

Summertime routinely brings the highest levels of food insecurity in New York City. Although hunger has climbed steadily since pre-pandemic levels, it spikes sharply in August as school summer lunch programs end. The citywide average of food insecurity is 37%, while Sunset Park’s rate is 43%. Thirty percent of Sunset Park households receive SNAP benefits, compared with 21% citywide. This month is especially crucial for many households in the neighborhood. With food insecurity affecting close to half of neighborhood adults, access to fresh local food is more vital than ever.

Now back at peak season, the farm has reopened its annual Harvest Share CSA. While produce shares are valued at $25 per week, residents are encouraged to pay only what they can. The CSA includes four payment tiers, ranging from $7.50 to $31.25. The sliding scale intentionally cross-subsidizes the program across different economic backgrounds so that everyone has access to the food they need.

Rhyden Dowd, program project manager for the farm’s CSA and Equitable Distribution Program, has worked at Brooklyn Grange for 10 years.

“We have folks who are paying at a market rate, which covers the cost of the food, [and] folks who are at our upper income wealth tiers, paying for the cost of food and labor plus, depending on where they fall on that scale,” Dowd said. “There's always a delta there, because our goal really is to increase access to our lower income neighbors. That is our prioritization.”

While part of the program’s funding comes from sponsors and grants, its core strength relies on a shared commitment among neighbors to keep food accessible. The farm has established a system where everyone continues to look out for each other.

Dowd described the model as a mutual buy-in from each member to “pay into a more equitable system.”

“We’re being really transparent about the inequities that exist in our food system, and asking our members to acknowledge that, to take a look at where they are and how they identify and choosing how they're gonna participate,” Dowd said. “What that means for our upper income wealth members is to adopt a solidarity model.”

With this model, Brooklyn Grange distributes nearly 60% of its total annual harvest to neighbors at low or no cost. This is especially needed in the age of inflation, which is driving up the cost of basic grocery staples. Dowd was the first to admit, “This year's been tough.”

“Food inequality is increasing, and we're seeing far more community members needing access to support, including folks who have lost SNAP benefits,” Dowd said. “So that's really been our initiative, to identify which communities have been impacted the most. Which crops, or what food are we seeing that’s no longer available, and how can we step up and provide that?”

While fresh produce brings people in, participants say the distribution’s impact goes even deeper.

“I only really started to understand how great it is to have the farm here when I started doing the CSA last year,” Allison said. “It’s amazing to come up here once a week with the veggies and get to experience this view and nature. I love the CSA because it lets me be creative every week with the food that I make and to incorporate fresh produce.”

Similarly, Weizheng said the CSA “improves his quality of life.”

“There's not many farms here,” Lindsey said. “So it's cool to have a resource in the city where you know exactly where things are being grown, where they're being handed off to and getting them fresh.”

For Ricardo, fresh produce is “non-negotiable.”

“It's amazing having organic fresh fruits and vegetables,” he said. “It's always a better option because they contain less chemicals and less exposure to harmful bacteria.”

While rooftop farming has become a popular phenomenon in the city, it’s not readily available to most organizations because of capital constraints. Brooklyn Grange maximizes the space it has to make a collective impact every summer.

Though operating on a smaller scale, strong community partnerships help lift the entire neighborhood.

“We're not a rural farm that has sprawling acres. We're working with under five. And so I think that part of our impact is not just the produce, but the relationships that we're building and the ability for people to feel this closeness to their local food system,” Dowd said.

The CSA runs every Tuesday and Friday from 3 to 7 p.m. at Brooklyn Grange Farm, on the rooftop at 850 Third Ave., through Nov. 13, 2026.