OKO FARMS MUST MOVE

Oko Urban Farms (Oko Farms) is NYC’s only Aquaponics Farm and Education Company located in Brooklyn, New York. Yemi Amu is the Founder and Director, a black female leader who is passionate about merging education and environmental stewardship.

We are dedicated to increasing food security by promoting aquaponics as a sustainable farming that mitigates the impact of climate change while spreading the knowledge/skills required to practice aquaponics. 

Our 2,500 square foot aquatic farm is an urban oasis that features a wide variety of vegetables, herbs, and flowers growing in water, along with freshwater fish in a recirculating ecosystem that saves water. 

Due to change in policy and licensing requirements, we can no longer operate sustainably at our current site.

Sustainable operations include:  offering paid workshops, tours, intensive training programs, and farm to table events.

New regulations will put a stop to all our existing programs.

This regulation comes at a time when Covid-19 has impacted New York City in devastating ways. The pandemic left thousands without work, searching for rental assistance and resources to put food on the table for themselves and their families. This brought about extreme pressure for Oko Farms team during an already pivotal time of transition. Through this pandemic, it became even more evident the importance of this work as it relates to teaching people how to sustain themselves when our food chain is interrupted. 

As the only publicly accessible aquaponics farm and education center in NYC, Oko Farms needs to move in order to sustain the organization and its essential programs. 

The following list explains some of Oko Farms activities:

- Hosting approximately 400 visitors per year.
- Donating produce to community members and local food pantries.
- Implementing NYC’s only Adult Intensive Aquaponics Training Program
- Providing workshops on aquaponics farming, culinary education, and herbal medicine.
- Implementing holistic education grounded in food production, culinary education, and plant medicine.
- Providing internship opportunities for high school and college students.
- Serving as a research facility for NYU's Environmental Studies' Fish Welfare Research Program. 

In order to continue and expand our programs we need to move to a different site. 

Your donations will allow us to - 

- Expand to year-round food production.
- Increase the number of school groups and visitors we host.
- Operate an onsite farmers' market. 
- Develop and implement an Aquaponics Training/Entrepreneurship program for low-income youth.
- Provide year-round aquaponics education workshops.
- Increase our culinary and medicinal workshops.
- Expand our Adult Intensive Aquaponics Training Program.
- Engage the community through farm-to-table events and other activities.
- Hire members of our dedicated volunteer team, many of whom are BIPOC women and LGBTQIA+

Oko Urban Farms, Inc., a 501(c)(3) non-profit