Barry Benepe, Who Gave New York Its Greenmarkets, Dies at 96 - The New York Times

He brought farm-grown produce to the city’s streets, creating the largest network of farmers’ markets in the country and helping to revive neighborhoods. By Trip Gabriel Barry Benepe, an urban planner who in 1976 conceived of inviting farmers to truck their ripe tomatoes, peppery arugula and fresh corn to forlorn patches of New York City, delivering bustling markets and excitement to the city along with flavorful and healthy food, died on Wednesday at his home in Saugerties, N.Y., in the Hudson Valley. He was 96. His son Adrian Benepe, a former parks commissioner of New York City, announced the death. New York’s popular Greenmarkets, the largest farmers’ market network in the country, helped start a national farm-to-table culinary movement. They are credited with saving thousands of acres of farmland in the region from development and reviving urban neighborhoods. Renowned chefs who discovered the bounties of fresh strawberries and zucchini blossoms were soon buying much of their seaso

He brought farm-grown produce to the city’s streets, creating the largest network of farmers’ markets in the country and helping to revive neighborhoods. By Trip Gabriel Barry Benepe, an urban planner who in 1976 conceived of inviting farmers to truck their ripe tomatoes, peppery arugula and fresh corn to forlorn patches of New York City, delivering bustling markets and excitement to the city along with flavorful and healthy food, died on Wednesday at his home in Saugerties, N.Y., in the Hudson Valley. He was 96. His son Adrian Benepe, a former parks commissioner of New York City, announced th