Even when tragedy happens close to home, we tend to distance ourselves from it. New Orleans is divided between people with that privilege and those forced to confront disaster. In New Orleans East, communities do not have the privilege of turning the other cheek to the constant threat of climate change. Since Hurricane Katrina devastated the region, environmental disasters and issues have plagued people’s lives. But with the help of people from all over the city, New Orleans East is remaining perseverant. The new farming co-op in Village de l’Est is the quintessence of this teamwork.
Green companies all over the city, including LifeCity, are coming together to create a sustainable farm in New Orleans East. This farm will reduce flooding, pollution and economic instability in Village de l’Est, a rich community that is the home of generations of Vietnamese immigrants.
Sprout is a local business focused on uplifting sustainable farmers in New Orleans. They are helping fund the Veggi Farmer’s Cooperative as a green infrastructure project to improve sustainability and economic security in the area. This inspirational group of people brings strategic, scientific, and educational intelligence together to make New Orleans more sustainable in order to preserve our beautiful home for future generations.
Batture, a sustainable engineering company in New Orleans, is teaming up with LifeCity to work on the project. Batture is sponsoring the 2022 Love Your City Awards Gala to focus on the Veggi Co-op. Batture specializes in green engineering to guarantee a safe future for New Orleans. Batture, with funds raised by the Love Your City Awards Gala, will design and implement sustainable structures in the Veggi Co-op.
Batture biologist Mark Schexnayder is working on the Veggi co-op by listening to what the community members need and offering his own expertise. Batture felt an affinity for the project, Schexnayder said. “They produce… and provide it back to the community,” Schexnayder explained. “They have a very serious water management problem on the property so they asked us to come up with solutions.”
Schexnayder and his colleagues plan to identify the drainage issues on the farm, which has experienced a lot of flooding during the storms and hurricanes that have ravaged New Orleans East. Then, the team of engineers and biologists will implement aquaponics on the farm, along with other sustainable farming techniques. “Aquaponics,” Schexnayder explains, “is raising fish and plants in the same system by feeding the fish, using the fish waste to fertilize plants, and clean the water.” This allows the farm to produce vegetables year-round.
The co-op is also an educational farm, and Schexnayder is excited for aquaponics to be introduced to the community. The myriad of sustainable solutions planned by Batture won’t only help the farm be more productive and secure, but they will be educationally beneficial to the Village de l’Est community.
Batture’s other ideas include composting, a water well, greenhouse, and other green engineering components to “make the property more useful, more productive, and expand the educational component of it,” according to Schexnayder.
The project’s capability depends on the funding from the Love Your City Awards Gala on March 31. The more people that attend the gala, the better job Batture can do, and the more New Orleans East becomes secure for the future. Please click below to support New Orleans East and attend the gala.
This blogpost is part of a series leading up to the 2022 Love Your City Awards. Every ticket sold for this edition will support a green infrastructure project in New Orleans East. To learn more about this project and purchase tickets please visit www.loveyourcityawards.com.