Oko Farms Vacating River Street Location at End of November and Looking for New Site

Oko Farms, currently located at 105 River Street, announced that the farm must relocate after next month. 

Oko Farms began in Bushwick in 2013, and moved to Williamsburg and signed a lease with Two Trees in May 2021. The new site had been vacant for decades, so the farm had the opportunity to “transform an under-utilized space in Brooklyn into an urban aquatic oasis that produced food for the community and improved ecological biodiversity.”

This past August, property manager Two Trees notified the Oko Farms team that their lease would be terminated at the end of November because Two Trees was granted a construction permit from the city earlier than expected. 

“While we understood that this site would not be permanent, the abruptness of the termination of our lease is unfortunate,” Oko Farms wrote on Instagram, adding that land access has been a constant challenge. 

“We are grateful to Two Trees for our four years in this space and the opportunity it provided to expand our programs and increase capacity,” Oko Farms wrote. 

“Two Trees has a long history of providing space for interim community use at its construction sites, and we have been able to host Oko rent-free for four years, longer than initially planned,” Two Trees’ David Lombino told Greenpointers.

“We are now preparing to begin construction on the last building at Domino, which will deliver more than 250 units of affordable housing, and require use of the site. The temporary use of construction sites for art, community space and indeed urban farming makes the city a better and more livable place, but it only works if the users understand it will inevitably end,” Lombino said.

Oko Farms is now in need of a new farm site, and Lombino told Greenpointers that Two Trees has been working with Oko to help them find a new location.

Oko Farms did not respond to our request for comment.