Potato farm to open at JFK

MCR Development and JetBlue plan to invest $265 million into renovating the former TWA terminal at JFK, while building a pair of six-story hotels on the site. But something a little more unusual is also coming to Terminal 5: a potato farm.

JetBlue Airways plans to open a 24,000-square-foot farm with 3,000 crates of blue potato plants, as well as 2,000 herbs and other produce like arugula, beets, mint and basil, according to DNAinfo.

“An Airport Seems Like An Unexpected Place for a farming experiment, but what better way to explore our role in the food cycle than to harvest right in our own back yard at JFK,” Sophia Mendelsohn, the airline’s head of sustainability, said in a prepared statement.

It reportedly took the airline three years to receive approval for unusual project, which will partner with GrowNYC Partners, a nonprofit that promotes local agriculture, and chips producer Terra. The farm is expected to produce more than 1,000 pounds of blue potatoes per harvest, according to DNAinfo. [DNAinfo] – Christopher Cameron