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Bringing The Future To life In Abu Dhabi
A cluster of shipping containers in a city centre is about the last place you’d expect to find salad growing. Yet for the past year, vertical farming startup Madar Farms has been using this site in Masdar City, Abu Dhabi, to grow leafy green vegetables using 95 per cent less water than traditional agriculture
Amid the deserts of Abu Dhabi, a new wave of entrepreneurs and innovators are sowing the seeds of a more sustainable future.
Image from: Wired
A cluster of shipping containers in a city centre is about the last place you’d expect to find salad growing. Yet for the past year, vertical farming startup Madar Farms has been using this site in Masdar City, Abu Dhabi, to grow leafy green vegetables using 95 per cent less water than traditional agriculture.
Madar Farms is one of a number of agtech startups benefitting from a package of incentives from the Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO) aimed at spurring the development of innovative solutions for sustainable desert farming. The partnership is part of ADIO’s $545 million Innovation Programme dedicated to supporting companies in high-growth areas.
“Abu Dhabi is pressing ahead with our mission to ‘turn the desert green’,” explained H.E. Dr. Tariq Bin Hendi, Director General of ADIO, in November 2020. “We have created an environment where innovative ideas can flourish and the companies we partnered with earlier this year are already propelling the growth of Abu Dhabi’s 24,000 farms.”
The pandemic has made food supply a critical concern across the entire world, combined with the effects of population growth and climate change, which are stretching the capacity of less efficient traditional farming methods. Abu Dhabi’s pioneering efforts to drive agricultural innovation have been gathering pace and look set to produce cutting-edge solutions addressing food security challenges.
Beyond work supporting the application of novel agricultural technologies, Abu Dhabi is also investing in foundational research and development to tackle this growing problem.
In December, the emirate’s recently created Advanced Technology Research Council [ATRC], responsible for defining Abu Dhabi’s R&D strategy and establishing the emirate and the wider UAE as a desired home for advanced technology talent, announced a four-year competition with a $15 million prize for food security research. Launched through ATRC’s project management arm, ASPIRE, in partnership with the XPRIZE Foundation, the award will support the development of environmentally-friendly protein alternatives with the aim to "feed the next billion".
Image from: Madar Farms
Global Challenges, Local Solutions
Food security is far from the only global challenge on the emirate’s R&D menu. In November 2020, the ATRC announced the launch of the Technology Innovation Institute (TII), created to support applied research on the key priorities of quantum research, autonomous robotics, cryptography, advanced materials, digital security, directed energy and secure systems.
“The technologies under development at TII are not randomly selected,” explains the centre’s secretary general Faisal Al Bannai. “This research will complement fields that are of national importance. Quantum technologies and cryptography are crucial for protecting critical infrastructure, for example, while directed energy research has use-cases in healthcare. But beyond this, the technologies and research of TII will have global impact.”
Future research directions will be developed by the ATRC’s ASPIRE pillar, in collaboration with stakeholders from across a diverse range of industry sectors.
“ASPIRE defines the problem, sets milestones, and monitors the progress of the projects,” Al Bannai says. “It will also make impactful decisions related to the selection of research partners and the allocation of funding, to ensure that their R&D priorities align with Abu Dhabi and the UAE's broader development goals.”
Image from: Agritecture
Nurturing Next-Generation Talent
To address these challenges, ATRC’s first initiative is a talent development programme, NexTech, which has begun the recruitment of 125 local researchers, who will work across 31 projects in collaboration with 23 world-leading research centres.
Alongside universities and research institutes from across the US, the UK, Europe and South America, these partners include Abu Dhabi’s own Khalifa University, and Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence, the world’s first graduate-level institute focused on artificial intelligence.
“Our aim is to up skill the researchers by allowing them to work across various disciplines in collaboration with world-renowned experts,” Al Bannai says.
Beyond academic collaborators, TII is also working with a number of industry partners, such as hyperloop technology company, Virgin Hyperloop. Such industry collaborations, Al Bannai points out, are essential to ensuring that TII research directly tackles relevant problems and has a smooth path to commercial impact in order to fuel job creation across the UAE.
“By engaging with top global talent, universities and research institutions and industry players, TII connects an intellectual community,” he says. “This reinforces Abu Dhabi and the UAE’s status as a global hub for innovation and contributes to the broader development of the knowledge-based economy.”
UNFI Picks Up Living Greens Farm Products in Midwest Expansion
Living Greens Farm (LGF), the largest vertical, indoor aeroponic farm in the US that provides year-round fresh salads, salad kits, microgreens and herbs, announced the addition of significant new retail distribution of its products in the upper Midwest to independent, specialty, and co-op retailers
I|mage from: Living Green Farms
Living Greens Farm (LGF), the largest vertical, indoor aeroponic farm in the US that provides year-round fresh salads, salad kits, microgreens and herbs, announced the addition of significant new retail distribution of its products in the upper Midwest to independent, specialty, and co-op retailers.
Starting February 2021, LGF’s full line of products featuring ready-to-eat bagged salad products (Caesar Salad Kit, Southwest Salad Kit, Harvest Salad Kit, Chopped Romaine, and Chopped Butter Lettuce) will be carried by UNFI Produce Prescott (formerly Alberts Fresh Produce). UNFI Produce Prescott is a division of UNFI, which distributes food products to thousands of stores nationwide. Their focus is on independent, specialty and co-op retailers.
UNFI has eight warehouses nationwide. LGF’s products will be carried by their upper Midwest location, located just across the river from the Twin Cities in Prescott, WI. This distribution center services hundreds of retailers throughout Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, North Dakota, South Dakota, Missouri, Iowa and Nebraska. UNFI is the first national Certified Organic distributor, something they take a lot of pride in. Their produce and floral businesses are rooted in local farms and seasonal import growers.
LGF’s proprietary vertical indoor farming method yields the highest quality and freshest produce available. This is because there are no pesticides or chemicals used in the growing process. And because LGF’s growing, cleaning and bagging process significantly reduces handling and time to the retail shelf, consumers enjoy the freshest product on the market. These benefits continue to attract new users and new retail distribution as UNFI Produce Prescott is the second UNFI location to carry LGF. In December, UNFI’s Hopkins, MN location began offering LGF products.
For more information on why Living Greens Farm products are the cleanest, freshest and healthiest farm salads and greens available, go to www.livinggreensfarm.com.
Ensuring Singapore's Food Security Despite the Odds
As with most issues that impact national security in Singapore, it often seems that the odds are stacked against us. Food security — access to safe and nutritious food — is a challenge on several fronts. Singapore is a small city-state with limited resources, with only 1 per cent of land available for food production, and over 90 per cent of food is imported from an increasingly disrupted world. The Covid-19 pandemic has further amplified the gravity of safeguarding food security
Image from: Reuters
As with most issues that impact national security in Singapore, it often seems that the odds are stacked against us. Food security — access to safe and nutritious food — is a challenge on several fronts.
Singapore is a small city-state with limited resources, with only 1 per cent of land available for food production, and over 90 per cent of food is imported from an increasingly disrupted world. The Covid-19 pandemic has further amplified the gravity of safeguarding food security. The city-state has been proactively planning for long-term food security through the Singapore Food Agency’s (SFA) strategy of “three food baskets” — diversifying food sources, growing locally and growing overseas. This approach has served the Republic well in securing a supply of safe food.
DIVERSIFIED SOURCING IS KEY
Singapore’s food importers leverage the nation’s connectivity and the global free trade environment to import from multiple sources in about 170 countries and regions worldwide. Should there be a disruption to any one source, importers are able to tap alternative food sources and ensure supply remains stable. Lockdown measures brought about by Covid-19 underscored Singapore’s vulnerabilities to supply disruptions in food.
It was not by luck that the Republic’s food supply remained stable and market shelves continued to be promptly restocked — it was the result of a deliberate whole-of-government strategy to diversify food sources. To keep the nation’’s diversified food supply lines intact amid the Covid-19 global pandemic, SFA worked closely with the Ministry of Trade and Industry and Enterprise Singapore (ESG) to monitor Singapore’s food supply situation. Together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, these economic agencies worked with like-minded countries to maintain open trade links.
LOCAL PRODUCTION AN IMPORTANT BUFFER
SFA drives innovation in local farms with the ambitious goal of producing 30 per cent of Singapore’s nutritional needs by 2030 as part of our “30 by 30” plan. To meet this goal, we need a holistic and long-term approach to space-planning, boosting agri-food technology and developing local agri-specialists. To facilitate and support the establishment of high-technology and productive farms in Singapore, SFA tenders out land based on qualitative criteria such as production capability, production track record, relevant experience and qualifications, innovation and sustainability.
In addition, a masterplan for the greater Lim Chu Kang (LCK) region, spanning about 390ha of land, will be undertaken in consultation with stakeholders over the next two to three years. The redeveloped LCK agri-food cluster will produce more than three times its current food production.
Building on the above efforts to grow Singapore’s high-tech agri-tech sector, SFA will continue to partner with the Economic Development Board and ESG to attract best-in-class global agri-tech companies, as well as to nurture promising homegrown agri-tech companies into local champions and help them to expand overseas.
EXPLORING ALTERNATIVE, UNDERUTILISED SPACES
Urban food solutions are expected to play a key role in global food security. While there are progressive enterprises operating out of farmlands and industrial estates, some agricultural game-changers are also taking root in unconventional areas — indoors, on rooftops and in underutilised spaces.
SFA worked with the Singapore Land Authority to introduce an urban farm at the former Henderson Secondary School site, which was transformed into Singapore’s first integrated space comprising an urban farm, childcare centre and nursing home within a state property. The farm space within the site was awarded in May 2019 to social enterprise City Sprouts, and it has become a vibrant destination for the young and old to learn about urban farming and enjoy a relaxing day out.
Citiponics, the first commercial farm located on a multi-storey car park in a residential neighbourhood, harvested its first yield of vegetables in April 2019. In September 2020, another nine sites atop multi-storey car parks were awarded for urban farming.
The successful bidders included proposals for hydroponic and vertical farming systems with a variety of innovative features, such as the Internet of Things (IoT), blockchain technology and automated climate control. These sites have the potential to collectively produce around 1,600 tonnes of vegetables annually.
Image from: Ciitiponics
TAPPING TECH
The Agriculture Productivity Fund (APF) supports local farms in their capability development and drive towards higher productivity. Through APF, SFA co-funds the adoption of farming systems to better control environmental variables, test-bed technologies and boost production capabilities. Between October 2014 and September 2020, a total of almost S$42 million has been committed to 115 farms.
The Covid-19 pandemic presented greater impetus to speed up local food production capacities. In September 2020, SFA awarded S$39.4 million to nine companies under the 30x30 Express Grant to quickly ramp up food-farm outputs over the next six months to two years. With advanced robotic and digital systems increasingly being used in farming, Singapore’s vegetables farmers have also become innovative agri-engineers and specialists in their own right.
With support from the 30x30 Express Grant, urban farming engineering solutions firm Indoor Farm Factory Innovation will set up an indoor vegetable farm with a vertical integration growth system up to 8m in height in a fully controlled and pesticide-free environment. The farm will leverage artificial intelligence farming systems integrated with IoT monitoring, dosing irrigation and an advanced environmental control system to achieve optimum growing conditions all year round.
Seng Choon, a chicken egg farm that has been in business for more than 30 years, has also proved itself a modernist in its operations. The company uses a computer that scans eggs to ascertain if they are clean; while feeding systems, temperature controls and waste cleaning systems have been automated with SFA’s support. Singapore’s efforts at ensuring food security would not be complete without support from consumers. To boost recognition of local produce among consumers, SFA brought the industry and public together to create a new “SG Fresh Produce” logo.
Farmers have been using this emblem on their packaging since August 2020. A website was also launched to provide a trove of information on locally farmed food. While the Covid-19 pandemic has led to import restrictions, it also helped to accelerate support for local produce. With public support for local farmers and other key measures, Singapore can beat the odds in ensuring food security in this ever-evolving, ever-disrupted world.
Warehouse Becoming Vertical Farms — And They’re Feeding New Jersey
New Jersey's vertical farms are transforming agriculture by helping farmers meet growing food demand. New Jersey Agriculture Secretary Doug Fisher said that while conventional farming in outdoor fields remains critical, vertical farming has its advantages because of its efficiency and resistance to pests and thus less need for chemicals
Image from: New Jersey 101.5
New Jersey's vertical farms are transforming agriculture by helping farmers meet growing food demand.
New Jersey Agriculture Secretary Doug Fisher said that while conventional farming in outdoor fields remains critical, vertical farming has its advantages because of its efficiency and resistance to pests and thus less need for chemicals.
Vertical farming is the process of growing food vertically in stacked layers indoors under artificial light and temperature, mainly in buildings. These plants receive the same nutrients and all the elements needed to grow plants for food.
Vertical farms are also versatile. Plants may be growing in containers, in old warehouses, in shipping containers, in abandoned buildings.
"That's one of the great advantages — that we can put agriculture in the midst of many landscapes that have lost their vitality," said Fisher.
ResearchandMarkets.com says the U.S. vertical farming market is projected to reach values of around $3 billion by the year 2024.
The one drawback is that its operational and labor costs make it expensive to get up and running.
Image from: AeroFarms
In the past decade, however, vertical farming has become more popular, creating significant crop yields all over the state.
AeroFarms in Newark is the world's largest indoor vertical farm. The farm converted a 75-year-old 70,000-square-foot steel mill into a vertical farming operation. AeroFarms' key products include Dream Greens, its retail brand of baby and micro-greens, available year-round in several ShopRite supermarkets.
Kula Urban Farm in Asbury Park opened in 2014. Vacant lots are transformed into urban farms and there's a hydroponic greenhouse on site. That produce is sold to local restaurants.
Beyond Organic Growers in Freehold uses no pesticides and all seeds and nutrients are organic. There's a minimum of 12,000 plants growing on 144 vertical towers. On its website, it says the greenhouse utilizes a new growing technique called aeroponics, which involves vertical towers where the plant roots hang in the air while a nutrient solution is delivered with a fine mist. It also boasts that by using this method, plants can grow with less land and water while yielding up to 30% more three times faster than traditional soil farming.
Vertical farms in New Jersey help feed local communities. Many are in urban areas and are a form of urban farming.
Fisher predicts that vertical farms will be operational in stores and supermarkets around the state.
"It's continued to expand. There's going to be many, many ways and almost any area in the state has the opportunity to have a vertical farm," Fisher said.
President Biden & The Future of Regenerative Agriculture In The US
With a new administration in Washington, the next few years could be interesting for efforts to improve agriculture production while addressing environmental issues at the same time
February 5, 2021
Editor’s note: Steve Groff is a farmer, a regenerative agriculture consultant, and the founder of Cover Crop Coaching, which educates farmers and farm advisors about effective cover crop use. The views expressed in this guest article are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of AFN.
With a new administration in Washington, the next few years could be interesting for efforts to improve agriculture production while addressing environmental issues at the same time.
President Joe Biden has expressed support for climate-friendly farming practices, but there are questions about what that ultimately will mean. Will helping American farms be a high priority for the new president or will it get lost amid other pressing concerns, including the Covid-19 pandemic? And just how open is a good portion of the agriculture community to the government getting involved in what they do?
Among other proposals, Biden has vowed to pursue policies that would expand and fortify the federal Conservation Stewardship Program. One desired result of this effort would be to make more money available for payments to farmers who reduce their carbon footprint through a variety of methods, including the use of cover crops.
While the big-business side of agriculture has been more willing to use government programs, grassroots farmers involved in regenerative agriculture tend to be leery of government programs and handouts. Most of them, in fact, suggest getting out of government-related programs – particularly the use of crop insurance.
Invest with Impact. Click here.
Those in the regenerative agriculture movement come from the perspective that we have ruined the resiliency of our soils and if we ‘regenerate’ them, they can better handle weather extremes brought on by climate change.
But one challenge for the regenerative agriculture movement is getting farmers educated on how to use these practices. That is a huge reason why I wrote my book, The Future Proof Farm. I wanted not only to educate but to inspire farmers to take their first step in that direction.
I firmly believe regenerative agriculture is scalable, as we now have large farms with thousands of acres that are successfully using these practices with little to no inputs such as fertilizers and pesticides.
And yes, most of those farms are doing it with no government help.
But on the other side are farmers drooling over the potential to get paid to use cover crops, no-till, and other soil health practices that can sequester carbon. Farmers are primed like never before to try those practices due to rising awareness over the past 20 years or so. In any business, it’s ‘all about the money’ – so if a farmer can get paid to engage in a good practice, it’s a favorable thing in their minds.
How do farmers feel about cover crops? We asked a cover crop coach – read more here
I am biased toward letting the market work, as we know there is a demand for food and fiber grown using regenerative agriculture – and we can accomplish what we need to without government help. With regenerative agriculture, we can lower our costs of production.
That being said, there are not enough resources to help farmers learn these methods. I believe we have an education hurdle – not a need for another handout. I also believe we need to take a deeper look at how regenerative agriculture actually leads to a more nutritious or nutrient-dense food product, whether it is fed to livestock or ends up on the kitchen table.
I do see some merit in the government helping farmers for a few years to get started in these carbon-sequestering practices, but more important are educational efforts to help farmers be effective in using those practices. The old adage applies: give a person a fish and you will be giving them fish for a lifetime; teach each person to fish, and they will meet their own needs for a lifetime.
If the Biden administration can somehow capture a holistic approach by supporting the education necessary for farmers to grow healthy food, it will be a win for producers, a win for the people, and a win for the planet.
Regenerative Agriculture Could Save Soil, Water, And The Climate. Here’s How The U.S. Government Actively Discourages It
Cover crops and other regenerative agriculture practices are still pigeonholed as conservation practices, not as good farming practices. But if farmers want crop insurance, they have to play by the rules.
By Jessica McKenzie | Read more
Top 4 common Soil Types
To find out the difference among clay, sand and silts, humus, and loam soils; look broader into types. Three basic particles: sand, silt or clay compose all soils
Top 4 common Soil Types
January 29, 2018
The next time your stuck on a growing question, open up our blog post, and you'll be well on your way to becoming a master grower.
Introduction
To find out the difference among clay, sand and silts, humus, and loam soils; look broader into types. Three basic particles: sand, silt or clay compose all soils. Vast size variations among these particles affect the properties of your indoor garden. Coarse and largest, sand particles are clearly seen and felt in your hand. Smaller silt particles have smooth, flour-like texture. smallest of all, clay particles can be seen through a microscope. The amounts of these different particles determine whether your soil type is primarily clay, sand or loam.
Clay
Clay is stiff, fine grained earth consisting of hydrated aluminosilicates that become flexible when water is added. Clay is commonly mixed with other soil types to create a medium suitable for lettuce.
Top 10 plants that love to grow in clay:
Broccoli - Brussels Sprouts - Cabbage (red & green) - Cabbage (Napa & Savoy) Cauliflower - Kale - Bean - Pea - Potato - Radish
Humus
Humus is the organic constituent of soil, formed by the decomposition of plant materials, and can be bought in bags at local gardening stores. Most of these products claim to be free of bugs and other living matter, but sometimes this is not 100% true. Don't be surprised if you find a worm or green fly in the package. Humus is also sometimes known as compost, but compost is the final mixture of manure, loam soil, and some other media, with added organic matter. Humus is that added organic matter. Humus mixing is a step towards a more natural soil when mixed with clay, and sand and silts.
Sand and silts
Sand soils can be pure sand or a mixture of sand soil. The problem with sandy soil is that it drains water and minerals out too fast. It is a very dry soil and is not suitable for the lettuce grower's needs on its own. Silt soils are nearly the same as sand soils, expect they have a consistency more like clay and darker in colors. Silts hold nutrients well but do not hold water very well. Like sands, they are prone to quick drainage. Like we said, sands and silts are rarly used on their own to grow lettuce and mostly mixed with other types. Its important to know about them and how they are used.
Loam
Loam tends to be a mix of all of the above. The composition of the mix should be stated on the bag. In fact, in most cases, normal soil purchased in shops has humus, sand, silt, and clay already mixed in. When you buy a bag of soil it is nearly always going to be a loam. Loam is a very fertile soil and for control over the ratios you can even mix your own loam soils.
Loam is soil that contains:
less than 52% sand
28-50% silt
7-27% clay
If you enjoyed this, you might also enjoy these post about grow media:
"How to choose the right grow media for microgreens"
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Tags: soil clay humus sand and silt loam indoor farming growing tips
Blue Hill Farm Owner Launches VC Firm with $30m Fund
The co-owner of Blue Hill Farm and Blue Hill at Stone Barns restaurant in upstate New York has launched Almanac Investments to extend the values of regenerative agriculture into venture capital
Blue Hill Farm Owner Launches VC Firm with $30m Fund
JANUARY 23, 2018 EMMA COSGROVE
The co-owner of Blue Hill Farm and Blue Hill at Stone Barns restaurant in upstate New York has launched Almanac Investments to extend the values of regenerative agriculture into venture capital. The firm’s launch is backed by $30 million, which founder David Barber says will be invested in consumer packaged goods (CPG), experiential retail, and agriculture and hospitality technology companies.
Regenerative agriculture, a method of farming based around soil restoration and overall land health, is the main focus of Blue Hill and the Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture, which Barber co-founded with his brother chef Dan Barber. Almanac Investments will align with many of the values of Stone Barns.
Though the fund is seeking investments supportive of regenerative agriculture and the circular economy, David Barber says that the term “impact investor” does not apply. Barber does not believe “impact” needs to be the primary driver because he already links sustainability with financial returns.
“These businesses will, in our view, be the best long-term investments and the ones where we can contribute the most value over time,” Barber explained. “It’s a very different role for capital because it’s not just aspirational investment.”
Almanac has already made three investments, including packaged soup brand Nona Lim, food business incubator network Pilotworks, and Blue Cart, which is a wholesale order management software platform for buyers and sellers in the hospitality industry.
Barber has been investing in food and agriculture startups for years as an angel investor and has worked closely with like-minded venture firms like S2G Ventures. With Almanac, he hopes to compound the support he has been able to give to startups.
“To really help these businesses, I needed to professionalize the advice we’re giving and the help we’re offering and to really coordinate resources in a way that benefits the entrepreneur,” Barber said.
Specifically, Almanac is looking to support early-stage CPG products that are intentional about their supply chains, as well as experiential retail in the quick-serve restaurant space, an area in which players increasingly compete on the transparency of their sourcing.
“It’s about a moment in time where capital can play a real role,” he said. “The role we want Almanac to play is to ensure that the capital is used to support the future food system we aspire to. Opportunistic capital that intends to use the food system purely for the purposes of generating more capital, will be leaving the greatest long-term value creation on the table.”
Almanac is targeting investments in the ballpark of six figures, with the possibility of larger follow-on investments down the road — a strategy that Barber says is a response to the funding landscape for food businesses right now.
Barber also says that he’s not married to the traditional venture capital timelines, seeking to be a long-term investor on a “very selective basis.”
Zoe Feldman, a former intern at Stone Barns who spent the last ten years in R&D and venture strategy at PepsiCo and Chicago-based VCCleveland Avenue, has joined Almanac as managing director.
Green in the Desert: Local Farmer Captures Carbon to Grow Food, Feed Community
Green in the Desert: Local Farmer Captures Carbon to Grow Food, Feed Community
Shahid Mustafa, Taylor Hood Farms founder, picks lemon cucumbers at his farm near Old Mesilla.
Guest Columnist October 7, 2017
Shahid Mustafa is the first to admit his farm might not look as orderly as those you see while driving down the highway.
At Taylor Hood Farms, you won’t find manicured rows or flood-irrigated fields. Nor will you notice bed after bed of a single crop like alfalfa, commodity cotton or chile peppers.
To hear Mustafa say it, there’s a little bit of chaos in nature. Some of that chaos reflects in the appearance of his farm, where red amaranth grows tall and sweet carrots fill beds near lemon cucumbers and artichokes. But embracing nature’s way, according to Mustafa, could offer key solutions to some of the region’s most urgent environmental and health difficulties—even if some chaos is part of the package.
“The regenerative way is to work with nature, instead of against it,” he said. “Our philosophy is that the best food comes from the best soil, so most of our focus and attention is on enriching or enhancing the soil that we have.”
In the Paso del Norte region, Mustafa is pioneering an innovative approach to farming called regenerative agriculture. The practice could help restore topsoils degraded by conventional farming techniques, to say nothing of its implications for ensuring residents have consistent access to healthy foods.
The Regenerative Way
A tractor sits before a container with a mural on it at Taylor Hood Farms.
Mustafa runs two farms in the area—one in La Mesa, near Old Mesilla, and the other in Socorro. His mission is twofold: to make fresh produce available to all families in the region and to demonstrate the power and promise of regenerative farming.
In most respects, Mustafa said, the two are mutually inclusive: it’s hard to care for the community if one deprives the land on which it relies.
Regenerative agriculture refers to farming and grazing techniques that rebuild organic materials in soil, a ground-up approach that pays dividends in terms of clean, nutrient-dense produce, water-retention rate, native-species habitat, ecosystem health, soil fertility, biodiversity and even climate change.
The practice walks hand-in-hand with carbon farming, which harnesses the power of photosynthesizing plants to actually capture carbon dioxide and sink it into the nutrient-rich soil.
Stored safely in the earth, Mustafa said, the carbon becomes a proactive part of the crops’ life-cycle, rather than trapping heat in the atmosphere as a greenhouse gas—the primary driver of global warming.
When Mustafa goes about farming, his mind is on setting the stage for nature to take its course, then gently aiding the production along the way.
“We do that through composting, crop rotation and reduced tillage,” he said. “That means we’re not cultivating every year; every year, we’re not creating new beds. In fact, we like to keep the same beds and keep building on those beds, because that lets the soil generate natural beneficials.”
Those beneficials, as he describes them, are microbiotic life forms that feed on the decomposition of organic material, passing nutrients into the growing food. In this way, even the nutrients in the food itself are reliant on soils.
“In terms of the value of the food,” Mustafa said, “that, to me, is the most logical answer. If the food is not feeding from a source [the soil] that’s rich in nutrients, then where else is it going to get the nutrients?”
Childhood Food Insecurity
Local farms such as Mustafa’s play a pivotal role in providing nutritious foods to the community, and their importance—given the demographical statistics—can hardly be overstated.
In El Paso County, nearly one in four children is listed as food-insecure, meaning they lack reliable access to nutritious foods.
Shahid Mustafa, Taylor Hood Farms founder, cleans produce at his farm near Old Mesilla.
Surrounding counties—many of which are mostly rural—rank even worse in child-food-insecurity ratings.
For example, Hudspeth County’s child-food-insecurity rate is about 32 percent. Luna County’s is 33.6 percent. Poverty and unemployment frequently precipitate food insecurity in the U.S., according to Feeding America, a hunger-relief organization.
Additionally, food insecurity is associated with chronic health problems like diabetes, heart disease, obesity and depression. But local farms can help assuage these problems simply by providing healthy, inexpensive produce, said Leah Whigham, executive director of the Institute for Healthy Living, an organization dedicated to fostering healthier communities in the Paso del Norte region.
While some nutrients remain in certain foods for long after they’re picked, other crucial nutrients found in fruits and vegetables tend to reduce as they move through the long industrial-shipping process.
“Really what you want to emphasize is, as often as you can, buy the local produce,” Whigham said, “because some of the kinds of nutrients that you can only get from the fresh fruits and vegetables do dissipate if they’re shipped on a truck.”
Additionally, buying local can help take the guesswork out of whether the food is healthy, organic and ethically sourced.
Most of Mustafa’s food, for example, is available in El Paso True Foods boxes, a community-supported agriculture (CSA) venture. The True Foods program aggregates food from numerous different farmers in the region and packs it into boxes.
Each week, customers who sign up for the program can pick up their boxes at various locations throughout the city.
Farmer Shahid Mustafa delivers El Paso True Foods boxes to city offices in downtown El Paso. The boxes contain food grown from various farmers in the region.
True Foods Co-founder Adriana Clowe said the program supports both local farmers and community health. On the one hand, local farmers get a consistent market from residents who buy the weekly boxes. On the other, customers get healthy food right from the region—food that hasn’t degraded during the course of long-haul shipping.
“As consumers, we vote with our dollars,” Clowe said. “Wherever we decide to put our money—that’s what we’re supporting. With True Foods, we hope that the social interaction with farms and farmers…can open people up to that larger world of making mindful choices.” Giving the people the tools Mustafa has hopes for his efforts as well.
By farming here in the Chihuahuan Desert, he thinks he can help address issues of food insecurity and land deprivation, not only by offering nutritional produce straight from the farm, but by re-connecting people to the inherent value in the land and the food it produces.
“One of the answers to food deserts and food inequality is really to show people how to do it themselves, to become self-reliant,” he said. “If I had my way, I’d set this [farm] up as a perfect demonstration site and always be out showing somebody else how to replicate what we do.”
“Empowerment comes from the community,” he added. “Once they know how and are given the tools, they can do it themselves.”
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Editor’s Note: Green in the Desert is a new column exploring sustainability and conservation efforts in the El Paso/Juarez area. Previous Columns can be read HERE.
Writer Chilton Tippin is project manager and communications coordinator for Wondor Eco:Nomics. He likes to write, bike, ski, climb and explore. In 2015, he walked across America.