Are Container Farms The Future of Urban Agriculture?
Are Container Farms The Future of Urban Agriculture?
Launched in 2015, the start-up company Agricool, which grows strawberries in diverted shipping containers, today goes to the assault in Dubai. This type of urban agriculture project is a positive complement to conventional crops ....
Fabrice Pouliquen | Posted on 16/05/18
Agricool has one of its contents installed in the park of Bercy. - / Photo Agricool
In three years, the start-up Agricool, which grows strawberries in containers, has grown well. It has four containers that each produce seven tons of strawberries a year.
- Since it works, Agricool wants to deploy abroad in cities where his project makes sense. As in Dubai forced to import the strawberries that its population consumes. A first container Agricool is on the way and must arrive in the coming weeks.
- It is unlikely that these urban agriculture projects will ever be able to feed cities alone. But this complement to conventional farming is more and more welcome.
We had left Guillaume Fourdinier in December 2015, at the foot of a 30 m² maritime container just laid in the park of Bercy in Paris. This farmer's son, with his counterpart Gonzague Gru, had just turned him away to launch a first strawberry crop in the middle of Paris .
From a container to 1,500 m² of workshops
Three years later, Agricool , their start-up, grew up well. It is enough to realize to put a foot in the rear base of the company, 1,500 m² of workshops and offices at the bottom of a business area of La Courneuve (Seine-Saint-Denis). Agricool employs 55 people, including a team of agronomists, designers, and developers to further improve both the containers and the quality of strawberries produced.
"In December 2015, we were at the beginning of a bet, says Guillaume Fourdinier. We were happy with the taste of strawberries produced in this first container, but we had only a very low yield. Just enough to take out a tray a day. We still had a lot of technology to invent. "
Since then, Agricool has gleaned some certainties and spread its containers in the capital and its surroundings. "We have four in operation now, says Guillaume Fourdinier. At Parc de Bercy still, but also at Station F (13th) , Stade France and Asnières (Seine-Saint-Denis). In these boxes 12 meters long and 2.5 meters wide, strawberries grow vertically along towers placed in front of low-power LEDs (LEDs).
In these containers, the strawberries grow vertically along towers placed in front of light-emitting diodes (LEDs). - / Photo Agricool
Productivity, a settled business ...
Strawberries grown above ground and without seeing the light of day will tick some. "But strawberries with high nutritional value and very low carbon output", Guillaume Fourdinier replies. Agricool does not use any pesticides. "Just organic fertilizers and optimized LED technology that we have developed ourselves," he says.
The containers are supplied with electricity by Enercoop, a renewable electricity supplier. As for the water, it follows a closed circuit. Stored initially in a large tank, it is taken to drips placed above the towers, flows along the roots to be collected in gutters. She then arrives at a pump that takes care of bringing the water back to the tank of departure. "In other words, the water goes completely strawberry, we have very little loss, says the urban farmer. We use even less water here than in a greenhouse for example. "
As for productivity, it's a settled matter. The four containers make it possible to take out seven tons of strawberries each year. "Or 60 trays of strawberries a day," explains Guillaume Fourdinier. Until then, they had only been sold directly at the foot of the containers. But since this spring, they are also sold in two stores Monoprix, Beaugrenelle and Asnieres.
In short, it's a business that rolls. Agricool probably says it can still improve its technology. "But we will surely be working on other fruits and vegetables soon," he says.
And now strawberries produced in Dubai
Above all, Agricool wants to expand its horizons and not be limited to Paris and its suburbs. One of its containers went to sea last week. Head to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates where it should arrive within three weeks. "We thought for some time to develop abroad but we wanted to choose a city in which our mini urban farms would really make sense, says Guillaume Fourdinier. That is to say in a region where it is very difficult to produce locally, either because of the climate or because of the lack of space, and where most of the food consumed must be imported. In Dubai, strawberries come for most of the United States, France and Japan. The carbon footprint is deplorable and the prices exorbitant. "
This new container will take place in The Sustinable city , a futuristic neighborhood project in Dubai where already 2,500 inhabitants live. "They have all designed to have a carbon footprint closer to zero, says Guillaume Fourdinier bluffed by his visit. They are self-sufficient in energy, the sewage is filtered by plants, they produce fruits and vegetables locally in biodomes, bioclimatic greenhouses ... "
The perfect place for Agricool. The Parisian start-up is not putting pressure but hopes ideally to taste the first strawberries to the local population by the end of the year. And if this first experience abroad works, why not decline it in other parts of the world that import until now all the strawberries that their populations consume. For example, Guillaume Fourdinier cites Iceland and most major Asian cities, starting with Singapore.
Maybe not feeding the cities of tomorrow ...
Agricool is not the only start-up to have sniffed this vein of agricultural production in containers. In the Rennes region, Urbanfarm cultivates salads and aromatic herbs . The ECF company is also on the spot in Berlin as well as the vegetable box in Laval (Quebec) to name a few. The ADEME (Environment and Energy Management Agency)classifies these projects in the category of urban technological agriculture , one of the parts of urban agriculture, alongside vertical farms, greenhouses on roofs, aquaponics, above ground crops ...
Ideas abound but Jérôme Mousset, head of the service "forest, food and bioeconomy" at the Ademe, remains cautious. "For every project, it is important to make a global environmental assessment, objective, and analyze the strengths and weaknesses according to the local context," he says. Environmental analyzes show that the impact of transport is often lower than that of production when it is done out of season. In addition, technological urban agriculture alone will not be enough to feed cities one day. There will always be the question of volumes and this urban agriculture does not cover the entire category of food products. There are many vegetables, but few products of animal origin and cereals. As such, the preservation of agricultural land remains a priority issue. "
... But start-ups who have their place
If urban technological agriculture has no answer to everything, "it still has its place today, continues Jérôme Mousset, especially in regions of the world where climatic conditions or available space are not conducive to urban development. 'Agriculture. It can also recreate the link between consumers and producers, and because of its location, have a pedagogical vocation. "
A role on which also insists Luc Smessaert, vice-president of the FNSEA, first agricultural union, a farmer in the Oise and responsible for the #agridemain platform . "Many of the urban agriculture projects have a social dimension, either through direct sales or through the involvement of neighborhood residents or school groups," he observes.
Luc Smessaert also points to another reason for satisfaction in the development of urban farming solutions. "They bring start-ups to take an interest in agricultural issues," he says. Often, they are launched by young agronomists in teams with specialists in new technologies. These duets regularly lead to innovative solutions that benefit all agriculture. "
KEYWORDS: Planet Paris Agriculture startups innovation city dubai