Cork Rooftop Farm: urban agriculture taking root on Coal Quay

In metropolitan areas around the world, waste lots, abandoned spaces, empty buildings, and rooftops are being repurposed to grow fruit and vegetables. Joe McNamee visits one in Cork.

Brian McCarthy on the Cork Rooftop Farm, which he developed, in part, to cope with the lockdown. Photo: Joe McNamee

One minute, you’re a businessman with a computer-science degree, running a successful family business, next thing, lockdown comes and you find yourself the owner-operator of a 6,400sq ft urban ‘farm’, three stories above Cork city’s iconic Coal Quay?

Quite the transition, but for Brian McCarthy, 34, it was most probably down to his bloodline.