Crains New York - April 22, 2013 - (Page 13)

GREEN NEW YORK INSIDE Greenwashing Certifying ‘green’ businesses: How legit is it? REPORT BRANCHING OUT: ABC Home CEO Paulette Cole plans to add two eateries dedicated to local sustainable foods. PAGE 16 The List New York area’s largest engineering firms PAGE 17 Retailers stepping up green push Businesses find ecofriendly initiatives can provide boost to bottom line RAPID RISE NY member businesses in American Sustainable Business Council 25.474 17,450 BY ADRIANNE PASQUARELLI buck ennis These days, retailers are finding that green might be the most flattering trend out there. And while many local businesses have long incorporated sustainability into their corporate DNA, some are taking things a step further. Companies such as women’s clothier Eileen Fisher,furniture seller ABC Home and food maker Greyston Bakery are imbuing their operating practices with ever deeper shades of green. ABC, for example, is sharing the environmental origins of products with shoppers. Eileen Fisher is considering opening an apparel-making factory stateside, and Greyston is installing solar panels to help bake its brownies. The three companies have also joined the American Sustainable Business Council, a four-year-old national association of more than 165,000 firms that have pledged 6,908 917 2009 2010 2011 2012 Source: American Sustainable Business Council sustainability and a business approach called “triple bottom line”— people, profit and planet. About 25,000 members are in the New York area, a number that has grown by 15% in the past year, according to David Levine, chief executive and co-founder of the council. “These aren’t just nice things to do,” he said. “The reason there’s such an uptick [in membership] across the country—and in New York in particular—is because there’s a recognition that this has tremendous value for businesses.” See ECOFRIENDLY on Page 14 Farm School NYC: a different kind of urban growth Program teaches ag biz—from bees to peas— to city slickers BY DAVID KOEPPEL A typical week finds Petula Gay planting seedlings for fresh fruits and vegetables and canning hot peppers and sweet dumpling squash— not exactly the usual activities of higher-education students in the city. Ms. Gay, 52, is one of 15 certifi- cate candidates in the inaugural class of Farm School NYC, a hands-on program that trains its students in urban agriculture. She hopes to attain her certificate later this year. In an apprenticeship at the Snug Harbor Heritage Farm on Staten Island and in academic classes including animal husbandry, she learns about beekeeping and raising chickens, skills that she hopes will translate into a career that involves teaching urban farming to low-income women. Ms. Gay lives in the West Sayville section of Staten Island, and for many years has worked as a lactation consultant. She said her focus on nutritional health for women makes for a natural transition to the nonprofit founded in 1995 that farming. manages Farm School NYC. “We Farm School NYC sees itself as have more applications than we can more than just a training ground for accommodate, and we’ve enrolled a New York City residents like Ms. diverse group of students. We have a Gay to grow food. The school’s am- strong, clear vision of Farm School bitious agenda is to “build as a regional resource for self-reliant communities anyone who wants to learn and inspire positive local how to grow food in the action around food access APPLICANTS city.” and social-, economic- and for 15 slots in In its submission to the Farm School racial-justice issues.” USDA, the school cited It’s been an auspicious NYC’s certificate the three-year objectives program first two years, according to of teaching 3,000 to 3,600 the head of the school. students about sustainable “We’ve succeeded beyond our ex- urban agriculture, and to have bepectations,” said Jacquie Berger, the tween 1,600 and 2,400 students apexecutive director of Just Food Inc., plying their new skills “by growing, 127 preparing, distributing and/or marketing food.” Its goal is to have 60 to 120 students “securing income streams related to Farm School skills and training.” Ms. Berger said that while Farm School NYC has so far enrolled about 200 paying students, the nonprofit also runs a program called City Farms that has offered 2,300 students free agriculture-related workshops. In its second year, Farm School had 127 applicants for 15 slots in the certificate program and 272 applicants for 171 individual class slots. So far, eight students have graduatSee FARM SCHOOL on Page 15 April 22, 2013 | Crain’s New York Business | 13

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Crains New York - April 22, 2013

Crains New York - April 22, 2013
IN THE BOROUGHS
IN THE MARKETS
THE INSIDER
BUSINESS PEOPLE
CORPORATE LADDER
REAL ESTATE DEALS
OPINION
ALAIR TOWNSEND
GREG DAVID
REPORT: GREEN NEW YORK
THE LIST
FOR THE RECORD
CLASSIFIEDS
NEW YORK, NEW YORK
SOURCE LUNCH
OUT AND ABOUT
SNAPS

Crains New York - April 22, 2013