Science Barge

Docked at North River Pier 84 in 2007

Closer view of the wind turbines in 2008

The Science Barge is a floating urban farm and environmental education center that has been docked in Yonkers, New York, USA since late 2008.^[1] The Barge grows crops using a hydroponic greenhouse powered by solar panels, wind turbines, and biofuels. The crops in the greenhouse are irrigated by captured rainwater and desalinated river water. Food is grown without carbon emissions, no agricultural waste is discharged into the watershed and no pesticides are used. The Science Barge is also a public education tool and hosts school groups from Westchester, New York City and the greater New York area visiting during the week, and the general public on weekends. From 2006–2008, the Science Barge docked for periods of two months at each of six stops along the Manhattan waterfront with the goal of educating the public on urban sustainable agriculture.

In 2015, Nathalie Manzano-Smith and Ted Caplow won the Knight Cities Challenge grant competition from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation with a proposal to build a Miami Science Barge and moor it in Museum Park in downtown Miami, FL. The Miami Science Barge opened on Earth Day, April 22, 2016. The following April, the Barge was gifted to Frost Science Museum. Compared with the original Science Barge, the Miami Science Barge places more emphasis on marine science, conservation, and sustainable aquaculture, while also updating many of the urban agricultural systems featured on the original.