Growing potatoes and other spuds on runway verges a good idea

Setting up a potato farm at an airport — in this case, New York's JFK terminal 5 — will certainly add a new dimension to the term greenfield airport. Or should that be brownfield? All those passengers who currently stare out of aircraft windows idly pondering about the vast verges between runways and taxiways given over to nothing but wavy tall grasses — and the occasional ungulate, in the case of Indian airports — can finally heave a sigh of satisfaction. Of course, the spuds are being grown in bolted-down packing crates in JFK so far rather than on grassy knolls, but even that is a better idea than handing over spare space to more parking lots or shopping arcades. Indeed, as the crop is meant to be utilised in the airport restaurants, the locavore-enhancing credentials of the initiative is an added attraction.

Even the choice of potatoes is significant, for this is not an ode to its ubiquity — as some Indian politicians might be inclined to assert. These tubers, along with radishes and mint, are crops that do not attract birds — creatures that airlineheavy areas definitely do not want to cultivate. Of course, given the volatile prices of many vegetables including potatoes in this country, duplicating such an initiative in India could be tricky as ensuring their safety in open spaces may prove difficult.