GrowNYC operates New York City’s Union Square Greenmarket, which was founded in 1976.
The market was created to connect regional farmers directly with city residents and to improve access to fresh food in Manhattan. Its early stalls demonstrated that farmers could sell produce in a major city while retaining a larger share of the final price than they might receive through traditional wholesale channels.
GrowNYC, originally known as the Council on the Environment of New York City, manages the market and many related programs. Its work includes farmers’ markets, community gardens, environmental education, and food-access initiatives. Union Square Greenmarket became the organization’s most recognizable public marketplace.
The market is not a permanent retail store or a supermarket chain. Vendors are generally regional farmers, fishers, and food producers, and the market’s rules emphasize direct producer sales. That producer-to-consumer structure is why it is frequently cited in discussions of urban food systems and local economies.