Fresh Faces in CEA Spaces: Sara Rostampour
December 6, 2024 In our 2024 Fresh Faces in CEA Spaces series, we’re talking to young professionals in CEA about their work and where they see the industry going in the future. CEAg World recently chatted with Sara Rostampour, director of horticulture at Green City Growers, an organization that brings farms and gardens to urban areas in Boston.
CEAg World: You originally got your bachelor’s degree in nutrition from the University of Minnesota and then your master’s in Horticulture from Cornell University. What first drew you to CEA specifically?
Sara Rostampour
Sara Rostampour: I’ve always loved agriculture. My bachelor’s degree is in nutrition, but it’s from the college of agriculture. In my classes, we would go on field trips to farms and learn about what a diverse field it is. I found that more interesting than telling people what to eat.
My nutrition degree has a strong biological sciences background, including biochemistry and organic chemistry, which is directly applicable to horticulture. My master’s degree at Cornell focused on vegetable production, and the technical background was invaluable.
Because the University of Minnesota and Cornell are land grant universities, I was familiar with doing this type of work and being part of a team. After graduation, I worked in nonprofit farms for 10 years in a variety of capacities.
Our purpose at Green City Growers is to involve people in growing food locally and expose them to the magic of it. We’re trying to bring agriculture to as many people as possible. CEA just makes sense for our products and services because we’re in Boston, and you can’t grow outdoors all year round here. CEA is so important to Green City Growers – it makes it possible to connect people year-round to the joy of growing food. Not a simple task in New England.
CEAg World: You’ve grown both vegetables and vibrant cut flowers, which are two very different crops. Can you tell us more about that?
Annual cut flowers are fun because they grow very quickly. They’re also bright so they draw people in. I think flowers are an opportunity for engagement because people are drawn to the colors. A kid can tear up the petals and throw them around like confetti, or they can make art with them.
It’s a nice accent to vegetables if you’re able to grow both, because flowers are more immediately engaging than vegetables. With vegetables, you have to cook them or do something else with them before they’re sensorily pleasing.
Sara Rostampour maintaining one of Green City Growers’ hydroponic units. | Photo: Green City Growers
CEAg World: Can you describe Green City Growers’ “Farming as a Service” system?
Sara Rostampour: People get really excited about growing and what can happen when you have a garden or a hydroponic unit on-site. They usually have a lot of energy when they first start growing, but with vegetables, you need regular maintenance. It has to be done very, very consistently or it doesn’t work. Successful vegetable gardens need someone that can tend to any fixes with the infrastructure and troubleshoot.
Our “Farming as a Service” model means that we design, install, maintain, and engage around urban farming systems. What we’re doing is making sure we set up a growing system to be successful year after year, season after season.
For our garden beds, this means building the infrastructure in-house where we can ensure the quality of the beds and make sure they get good irrigation. For our hydroponic units, this means choosing products that we know work well. We then provide consistency with weekly maintenance visits from our urban farmers, making sure they’re successful and keeping our vegetable gardens looking beautiful and full.
The last thing that you want is for kids to start up a garden only for it to not be lush and productive. Then, their only memory of growing food is that it doesn’t work. I see a beautiful production space as a really great way of getting people involved and seeing that people of all ages can grow themselves. It’s a magical thing to understand what it takes to grow food – it’s an experience that can connect people with nature, with their neighbors, and even themselves.
CEAg World: What are your future plans for Green City Growers?
Sara Rostampour: We plan to expand access to these gardens and get even more people involved in growing. As climate change causes unpredictable weather, I think there’s a lot of interest in diversified agriculture and getting our food from different places to keep our food supply secure. I love seeing people’s eyes light up when a garden thrives.