What’s new at JetBlue T5 JFK?

How About the First Blue Potato Farm at an Airport!

JetBlue and Terra have revealed the Experimental Farm at Terminal 5 (T5) at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport. The potato farm and a produce garden has sprouted pre-security on the departure level, along the west side of the terminal.

This new space will promote New York Agriculture, thanks to the partnership between JetBlue and TERRA, with the support from GrowNYC partners and the Port Authority of New York.  The Blue potatoes that will grow in the farm are the same type that TERRA uses to make JetBlue’s official snack on every flight, the TERRA blue chips. Amazingly, JetBlue distributed more than 5.7 million bags of the chips in 2014. That’s a lot of potatoes to grow!

“An airport seems like an unexpected place for a farming experiment, but what better way to explore JetBlue’s role in the food cycle that to harvest right in our own back yard at JFK” said Sophia Mendelsohn, head of sustainability, JetBlue.

The 1,000 pounds (454kg) of potatoes JetBlue plans to grow with each crop  will not be used to make the TERRA blue chips, but rather be distributed to some of the T5 restaurants and eateries, and for donations for local food pantries.

The 24,000 square feet T5 farm will also include more then 1,000 herbs and vegetable plants including arugula, beets, mint, fennel, rosemary, sage, basil and kale… and sometime in the future, those potatoes may even be used to make TERRA blue chips which you can enjoy on your next JetBlue flight.