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Up On The Roof, Residents at Allegheny General Hospital Tend Vegetable Garden
Up on the roof of the hospital’s Hemlock Parking Garage, doctors and residents have planted eight raised garden beds as part of an initiative designed to relieve stress for residents and provide food to patients in need.
By Anya Sostek
July 19, 2021
Fresh off a morning seeing patients in clinic, resident Deanna Huffman started her afternoon shift at Allegheny General Hospital with a list of tasks: sweep around the garden beds, prune the tomatoes, harvest the snap peas.
Up on the roof of the hospital’s Hemlock Parking Garage, doctors and residents have planted eight raised garden beds as part of an initiative designed to relieve stress for residents and provide food to patients in need.
“It’s pretty well known that there’s a burnout crisis in medicine, and we’re a residency program, training future doctors,” said Dr. Anastasios Kapetanos, director of the residency program. “It was an opportunity to get our residents outside the building, get some sunlight and some wellness benefits of gardening, and we could tangibly give something back.”
Dr. Kapetanos first proposed the idea in an email in February 2018. From there, it was a two-year journey to find the right spot in the hospital’s North Side campus. A courtyard that was identified — and even leveled during the wintertime — ended up being too shady during the summer. A rooftop that looked promising turned out to need tens of thousands of dollars in reinforcement to work as a garden.
“The chief operating officer would go on like, three, four hour walks with us, just on campus,” said Dr. Kapetanos, describing the search for a plot. “Finally he said, why don’t we go check out the parking garage, and that’s how we ended up here.”
Dr. Deanna Huffman, left, and Divya Venkat and other doctors at Allegheny Health Network harvest vegetables from their garden atop the Hemlock Street parking garage at Allegheny General Hospital on the North Side.(Post-Gazette)
For busy residents, the parking lot ended up being the perfect spot, he said, because they can park their cars on the top floor and check in on the garden as they come and go from work each day. And the vegetables couldn’t be happier.
In late June, residents had already begun to harvest lettuce and kale. Plump sugar snap peas hung from a trellis ready to go.
“It’s thriving even more than our home garden,” said Dr. Kapetanos. “I am so jealous,” added his wife, Dr. Yenny Cabrera-Kapetanos, who is also an internal medicine doctor at Allegheny General Hospital. Dr. Cabrera-Kapetanos was instrumental in developing the garden and planning out the plots, even starting seeds for the garden over the winter at the couple’s house in Cranberry.
Dr. Cabrera-Kapetanos gives a tour of the garden, pointing out zucchini, cherry tomatoes, melons, basil, and edible flowers to bring pollinators up to the top floor of the parking garage.
Dr. Huffman pulls peas and cuts lettuce with scissors, placing it in a bag that will be delivered to the hospital’s Healthy Food Center, which distributes food to patients along with nutrition lessons.
“I’ve seen so many patients who have told me they’ve gotten vegetables from our garden and they’ve been so happy about it,” said Dr. Divya Venkat, a physician with AHN’s Center for Inclusion Health. Dr. Venkat, who grew up gardening with her parents in Las Vegas, started a community garden plot on the North Side when she was a resident at AGH to grow vegetables with other residents.
Dr. Divya Venkat, left, and Dr. Yenny Cabrera-Kapetanos harvest vegetables from their garden atop the Hemlock Street parking garage Monday at Allegheny General Hospital on the North Side.(Post-Gazette)
The garden plot on the parking garage has now been formalized into a curriculum for the residents, where they learn not only about tending the vegetable garden but also about how to talk to patients about diabetes and hypertension.
They are also working with the Healthy Food Center to develop simple recipes to accompany the garden foods, such as a recent one for vegetable chili using garden zucchini.
“The plan is for residents to think of a patient they are taking care of in their own clinic and say, oh, this is a patient who has food insecurity. I would like to bridge that divide,” said Dr. Venkat, “and physically hand them the food that is grown here with an accompanying recipe.”
Other hospitals, such as Boston Medical Center and the Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, also have vegetable gardens that produce food for patients, although they are not run by residents.
In addition to producing vegetables and educating residents, the garden has had other benefits, helping to develop a new community within the hospital. “Once you start talking about gardening, all the gardeners come out of the woodwork,” said Dr. Kapetanos. “Like there’s a lady that works in cytology. I met her up here last week, and we’re exchanging seeds. She just emailed me and said I have those seeds, and I said, ‘I’ll get you my mom’s tomato seeds from Toronto.’”
Allegheny Health Network doctors, from left, Dr. Deanna Huffman, Dr. Divya Venkat, Dr. Yenny Cabrera-Kapetanos, Dr. Paige Langhals-Totino and Dr. Anastasios Kapetanos pose for a picture near their garden atop the Hemlock Street parking garage at Allegheny General Hospital on the North Side. (Post-Gazette)
And while it wasn’t in the plan when the garden was envisioned in 2018, it also became a sanctuary for doctors and residents during COVID.
“Indoors we were always wearing our masks and shields around the clock and spending long hours and taking care of COVID patients as well, which was very stressful,” said Dr. Cabrera-Kapetanos. “It’s therapeutic, sometimes, just to come and start plucking weeds or pruning some of the plants. It’s nice and quiet up here.”
As COVID intensified in the hospital, Dr. Venkat and other residents could take solace in the garden.
“COVID was so scary because you just watch so much death, right, there’s so much uncertainty,” she said. “I think everyone was pretty scared because no one knew what was going on with COVID, but this is a place that was outside, it was not contaminated, and no matter what, it is always living. It doesn’t matter if it’s raining, if it’s snowing, there’s always life in the garden, and it was a nice thing to have.”
GERMANY: New 'Supermarket of The Future' Has A Greenhouse On Top
It is the first supermarket with a rooftop greenhouse in Europe and it combines retail with a basil farm and fish farm
What will the shopping centre of the future look like? How do you build sustainably? According to REWE, it is one with a greenhouse on top. Last Friday, the German retail giant opened their first Green Farming pilot store in Wiesbaden-Erbenheim. It is the first supermarket with a rooftop greenhouse in Europe and it combines retail with a basil farm and fish farm. "Since 2009, we have already built over 200 Green Buildings in Germany. The new store with integrated rooftop farm is the logical next step for us," says Peter Maly, Divisional Director REWE Group and responsible for REWE stores in Germany.
Supermarket and production facility
"The Green Farming store is not just a supermarket, but also a production facility in the middle of the city. On the rooftop farm, which is operated by our partner ECF Farmsystems, 800,000 basil plants grow each year using aquaponics, which receive excrement from the fish that we breed on site as fertilizer. No pesticides are used in the process," shows Jürgen Scheider, Chairman of the Management Board REWE Region Mitte. Rewe is Germany's second-largest supermarket chain.
"Our vision is to provide people with sustainably produced food. That's why I'm pleased to be able to help realize the dream of a self-producing supermarket here in Wiesbaden," adds Nicolas Leschke, founder and managing director of ECF Farmsystems. The company created a technique to couple aquaculture fish production with the hydroponic production of leafy greens. "Perch and basil are part of two resource saving cycles. The fish fertilize the basil plants with their excreta. These in turn clean the water from the fish tanks, which can then flow back to the perches. The use of this cycle system enables food production with 90 percent less water consumption compared to conventional agriculture, as the water is used twice."
Basil supplied locally
The basil is already available at the opening and will also be delivered to 480 REWE stores in Hesse and parts of Rhineland-Palatinate. Around 14,000 pots of basil are packaged plastic-free on site every week and according to the REWE team, the sustainable packaging saves 12 tonnes of plastic per year.
At the same time, about 20,000 cichlids are bred in basins on about 230 square metres under sustainable conditions and processed on site. This produces about one tonne of fish meat per month. The fish is expected to be on sale by the end of 2021.
ECF Farmsystems uses LED lamps for their herb cultivation, supplied by Fluence. They've gained experience with these lamps in their urban farm ECF Farm Berlin, which they constructed earlier and currently operate and of which the products are also sold to Rewe. Their other projects include planning and construction of the rooftop farm ecco JÄGER in Bad Ragaz in Switzerland and the rooftop farm on the Ferme Abattoir in Belgium.
Construction and operating
"With Green Farming in Erbenheim, we are ushering in a new generation of green stores at REWE," says Peter Maly with REWE, adding that holistic sustainability not only includes product ranges but also construction and operation.
Wood is the core element of the supermarket: around 1,100 cubic metres of the renewable raw material were used here. "The indigenous coniferous wood stores more than 700 tonnes of CO2. In 30 years, the wood will have grown again and the CO2 balance will be balanced." Columns made of stacked wood form the supporting structure for the glass roof farm and form a vaulted structure that extends into the store. Inside, customers look out onto a glass atrium, the greenhouse on the roof. "A natural marketplace ambience with lots of daylight was created," Peter reveals.
A lot of daylight can be used through the glazed east and west facades and the atrium. In addition, intelligent cooling and heating technology, 100 per cent green electricity and the use of rainwater for the roof farm, sanitary facilities and cleaning of the store ensure that resources are conserved.
Also the assortment focuses entirely on freshness with a large fruit and vegetable section including a salad bar, many regional and organic products as well as a glass butchery with a show kitchen and meat from animal welfare farms. In front of the store, local suppliers can offer their products in specially produced market stalls.
"The new REWE store in Erbenheim is a milestone in the development of modern supermarkets. I am very pleased and also a little proud that this special project has been realized in our region," says Jürgen Scheider, Chairman of the Management Board of REWE Region Mitte. "We are particularly proud of the wide range of products from over 100 regional and local suppliers."
Publication date: Fri 4 Jun 2021
Author: Arlette Sijmonsma
© VerticalFarmDaily.com
Urban Farmers Captured On Canvas
“Re-Enchanting the City,” an exhibition in Chelsea, highlights the visual record of the many vibrant local farms, community gardens, and rooftop plantings around the city by the artist Elizabeth Downer Riker
An Exhibition by The Painter Elizabeth Downer Riker
Documents A Decade of Urban Gardening
April 26, 2021
“Re-Enchanting the City,” an exhibition in Chelsea, highlights the visual record of the many vibrant local farms, community gardens, and rooftop plantings around the city by the artist Elizabeth Downer Riker. About 10 years ago she started painting rooftop farms in Long Island City, Queens, and parts of Brooklyn, and then took her oils and canvas to other neighborhoods in the city, and even upstate. The exhibition features 20 of her works, and they are for sale, from $1,000 to $2,200.
“Re-Enchanting the City: Greening New York City,” April 27 through May 22, Ceres Gallery, 547 West 27th Street, Suite 201, 212-947-6100, ceresgallery.org.
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Florence Fabricant is a food and wine writer. She writes the weekly Front Burner and Off the Menu columns, as well as the Pairings column, which appears alongside the monthly wine reviews. She has also written 12 cookbooks.
Lead photo: “Bird’s-Eye View of Brooklyn Grange-Future,” a portrait of the Brooklyn Grange rooftop farm.Credit...Elizabeth Downer Riker
Three Ways Singapore Is Designing Urban Farms To Create Food Security
Securing food during a crisis and preserving land for a livable climate is changing the focus of farming from rural areas to cities
FARMING IN THE CITY
Urban farming in Singapore
How Singapore has stimulated innovation in urban farming on a massive scale
By Clarisa Diaz | Things Reporter
March 31, 2021
Securing food during a crisis and preserving land for a livable climate is changing the focus of farming from rural areas to cities. At the forefront of this shift is Singapore, a city-sized country that aims to produce 30% of its own food by 2030. But with 90% of Singapore’s food coming from abroad, the challenge is a tall order. The plan calls for everyone in the city to grow what they can, with government grants going to those who can use technology to yield greater amounts.
“This target took into consideration the land available for agri-food production and the potential advances in technologies and innovation,” said Goh Wee Hou, the director of the Food Supply Strategies Department at the Singapore Food Agency. “Local food production currently accounts for less than 10% of our nutritional needs.”
The food items with potential for increased domestic production include vegetables, eggs, and fish. According to the Singapore Food Agency, these three types of goods are commonly consumed but are perishable and more susceptible to supply disruptions. Alternative proteins such as plant-based and lab-grown meats could also contribute to the “30 by 30” goal. In 2020, there were 238 licensed farms in Singapore.
Only 1% of Singapore’s land is being used for conventional farming. That created the constraint of growing more with less. The government has put its hopes in technology, stating that multi-story LED vegetable farms and recirculating aquaculture systems can produce 10 to 15 times more vegetables and fish than conventional farms.
Since 2017, land has been leased in two districts on the edge of the city—Lim Chu Kang and Sungei Tengah—to large-scale commercial farm projects. While the optimization of these farms to produce at maximum capacity is being determined, the idea of growing food in the more urban spaces of Singapore has emerged: from carpark rooftops to reused outdoor spaces and retrofitted building interiors.
Urban farms in Singapore
Urban farms using hydroponics on parking structure roofs
Citiponics is one of Singapore’s first rooftop farms. The hydroponic farm is on top of a carpark, a structure that services almost every neighborhood in Singapore.
Read more: How a parking lot roof was turned into an urban farm in Singapore
Installing urban farms into existing buildings
Sustenir Agriculture has created an indoor vertical farm that can retrofit into existing buildings (including office buildings). The company grows foods that can’t be produced locally, displacing imports and cutting carbon emissions.
Read more: The indoor urban farm start up that’s undercutting importers by 30%
Building a better greenhouse for urban farms in tropical climates
Natsuki’s Garden is a greenhouse in the center of the city, occupying reused space in a former schoolyard. The greenhouse is custom designed for the tropical climate to allow for better air circulation. Yielding 60-80 kg of food per square meter, the greenhouse caters to a small local market.
Read more: How a Singaporean farmer is building a better greenhouse for tropical urban farming
High production urban farms still need to be sustainable
Open to applications later this year, a new $60 million government fund will provide funding for more agritech businesses. According to the Singapore Food Agency, the fund will assist with start-up costs catering to large-scale commercial farms, no matter the location.
But as Singapore tries to advance, there are some left behind. The traditional farms that do exist in Singapore are being displaced, their knowledge no longer valued because they are not seen as hi-tech, according to Lionel Wong, the founding director at Upgrown Farming Company, a consultancy that helps equip new farming business owners across Singapore. “While we are trying to increase production, the net result could actually be reduced production because the traditional growers are being removed from the equation in the long term.”
In the long-run, high production of food within Singapore will need a sustainable market of consumers, to Wong that market isn’t completely clear at the moment. “‘30 by 30’ is really just a vision. The Food Agency deserves a lot of credit in terms of what they’re trying to push, but there’s a lot of room for improvement.” Wong continued, “productivity doesn’t necessarily equate to sustainability or profitability.”
Whether Singapore is able to produce its own food sustainably for the long-run remains to be seen. But the endeavor is certainly an exciting moment for entrepreneurs pushing the boundaries of what farming and cities can be.
Lead photo: COURTESY CITIPONICS | Singapore aims to produce 30% of its food by 2030.
Tanimura & Antle Acquires Boston-Based Green City Growers
The merger of the two companies is based on a common commitment and passion to provide communities, organizations, and individuals with a hands-on educational experience to increase awareness
SALINAS, Ca. (March 9th, 2021) – Employee-owned grower-shipper, Tanimura & Antle BB #:115075 announced today the acquisition of Boston, Massachusetts, based Green City Growers.
The merger of the two companies is based on a common commitment and passion to provide communities, organizations, and individuals with a hands-on educational experience to increase awareness, build engagement and provide education about where food comes from. By providing a path to engagement with hands-on experience, Green City Growers will assist Tanimura & Antle with reaching individuals of all ages, promoting a long-term healthy lifestyle with consumers.
The combined goal of this partnership is to access and serve individuals and local communities not ordinarily provided with the opportunity to connect with their food while strengthening the food supply by providing a supplemental, healthy, and independent food source.
Founded in 1982, the Tanimura and Antle families created a partnership centered on equality, trust and ownership. Since their foundation, Tanimura & Antle has been an industry leader in innovating how food is produced and delivered as well as their first-to-market product offerings.
The Company’s foundation on partnerships has built a culture that carries forward with its employees, customers and suppliers, creating an environment that fosters innovation and willingness to succeed or fail forward.
“Our investment in Green City Growers is our next level of engagement to continue our efforts to impact the lives of all. Our philosophy has always been a learning by doing approach. By reaching children, charitable organizations, corporations, wellness and community outreach programs, we can have a strong impact on promoting a healthy lifestyle,” said Scott Grabau, President & CEO of Tanimura & Antle.
“This partnership and acquisition will also provide our retail and foodservice partners their own opportunity to have an impact in the communities they serve by partnering with us on these programs.”
Founded in 2008 and a certified benefit corporation (B-Corp), Green City Growers started their business by installing and maintaining raised garden beds at people’s homes. From there, the business expanded to include schools, non-profits, corporate clients and real estate companies.
The company provides their customers with the infrastructure, tools, and educational tools required in order to grow their own fresh produce using the principles of organic, regenerative and pesticide free agriculture practices. Green City Growers also offers consulting on design, workshops, virtual engagement and educational opportunities.
With this certification comes a mission that combines bottom-line success with environmental and social responsibility. Green City Growers reaches thousands of children and adults with hands on educational programs about growing healthy food.
As of 2021, Green City Growers has installed hundreds of garden spaces using organic, regenerative and pesticide free agriculture practices and currently services over 150 unique farm and garden locations. The current farms and gardens range from small raised garden beds to rooftop farms and are located throughout New England, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New York.
The Company is proud to service New England’s largest rooftop farm on top of Whole Foods Market in Lynnfield, MA, and be the Red Sox’s “other farm team”, maintaining the rooftop farm at Fenway Park since 2015.
In addition to these unique farm and garden locations, Green City Growers also manages garden education programs for Public Schools, Boys, and Girls Clubs and supports wellness and sustainability programs for property management, real estate companies, and corporations with their own gardens.
“We see innovation in the food production and distribution chains as a societal and environmental necessity. We are implementing creative and realistic solutions that help to meet the multiple challenges food systems currently face. We work towards this while at the same time providing local jobs, sourcing local materials, and supporting local economies”, said Chris Grallert, President and equity partner of Green City Growers.
“With a solid business foundation in our proven and robust soil growing technologies, we can now thoughtfully look into how we can expand our custom services in other areas of urban agriculture including vertical and other indoor technologies. I could not be more excited about this new partnership.”
Under the new ownership, the company will continue doing business as Green City Growers with Chris Grallert as President of this new partnership.
Lead photo: The 5,000-square foot Green City Gowers rooftop farm at Fenway Park is on the roof of the front office on the third-base side.
Tagged mergers & acquisitions, tanimura & antle
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.”
Is AppHarvest the Future of Farming?
In this video from Motley Fool Live, recorded on Jan. 28, Industry Focus host Nick Sciple and Motley Fool contributor Lou Whiteman discuss AppHarvest, one such SPAC that is looking to disrupt the agriculture industry. Here are the details on what AppHarvest wants to do, and a look at whether the company represents the future of farming.
Special purpose acquisition companies, or SPACs, are red-hot right now, with investors clamoring to get into promising young companies.
In this video from Motley Fool Live, recorded on Jan. 28, Industry Focus host Nick Sciple and Motley Fool contributor Lou Whiteman discuss AppHarvest, one such SPAC that is looking to disrupt the agriculture industry. Here are the details on what AppHarvest wants to do, and a look at whether the company represents the future of farming.
Nick Sciple: One last company I wanted to talk about, Lou, and this is one I think it's -- you pay attention to, but not one I'm super excited to run in and buy. It was a company called AppHarvest. It's coming public via a [SPAC] this year. This vertical farming space. We talked about Gladstone Land buying traditional farmland. AppHarvest is taking a very different approach, trying to lean into some of the ESG-type movements.
Lou Whiteman: Yeah. Let's look at this. It probably wouldn't surprise you that the U.S. is the biggest global farm exporter as we said, but it might surprise you that the Netherlands, the tiny little country, is No. 2. The way they do that is tech: Greenhouse farm structure. AppHarvest has taken that model and brought it to the U.S. They have, I believe, three farms in Appalachia. The pitches can produce 30x the yields using 90% less water. Right now, it's mostly tomatoes and it is early-stage. I don't own this stock either. I love this idea. There's some reasons that I'm not buying in right now that we can get into. But this is fascinating to me. We talked about making the world a better place. This is the company that we need to be successful to make the world a better place. The warning on it is that it is a SPAC. So it's not public yet. Right now, I believe N-O-V-S. That deal should close soon. [Editor's note: The deal has since closed.] I'm not the only one excited about it. I tend not to like to buy IPOs and new companies anyway. I think the caution around buying into the excitement applies here. There is a Martha Stewart video on their website talking up the company, which I love Martha Stewart, but that's a hype level that makes me want to just watch and see what they produce. This is just three little farms in Appalachia right now and a great idea. This was all over my watchlist. I would imagine I would love to hold it at some point, but just be careful because this is, as we saw SPACs last year in other areas, people are very excited about this.
Sciple: Yeah. I think, like we've said, for a lot of these companies, the prospects are great. I think when you look at the reduced water usage, better, environmentally friendly, all those sorts of things. I like that they are in Appalachia. As someone who is from the South, I like it when more rural areas get some people actually investing money there. But again, there's a lot of execution between now and really getting to a place where this is the future of farming and they're going to reach scale and all those sorts of things. But this is a company I'm definitely going to have my radar on and pay attention to as they continue to report earnings. Because you can tell yourself a story about how this type of vertical farming, indoor farming disrupts this traditional model, can be more efficient, cleaner, etc. Something to continue paying attention to as we have more information, because this company, like you said, Lou, isn't all the way public yet. We still got to have this SPAC deal finalized and then we get all our fun SEC filings and quarterly calls and all those sorts of things. Once we have that, I will be very much looking forward to seeing what the company has to say.
Whiteman: Right. Just to finish up along too, the interesting thing here is that it is a proven concept because it has worked elsewhere. The downside of that is that it needed to work there. Netherlands just doesn't have -- and this is an expensive proposition to get started, to get going. There's potential there, but in a country blessed with almost seemingly unlimited farmland for now, for long term it makes sense. But in the short term, it could be a hard thing to really get up and running. I think you're right, just one to watch.
Iron Ox Announces Next Robotic Farm In Lockhart, TX
Iron Ox has purchased nearly 25 acres of land and plans to build a new, state-of-the-art facility on the property
November 6, 2020
LOCKHART, TX, — Iron Ox, a leader in robotics and AI-enabled farming with a mission to solve food insecurity, and the City of Lockhart, Texas today announced that Iron Ox will expand their operations to the city with plans to break ground on a new facility this December, bringing new tax revenue and jobs to Lockhart.
Since 2015, Iron Ox has developed hybrid robotic greenhouses that support a range of produce offerings. To bring those produce offerings to new communities, the company identified Texas as the next state in their national expansion plan with its favorable business environment and rich history of agriculture.
“We’re proud to make Lockhart our next farm outside of California,” said Brandon Alexander, Iron Ox CEO & Co-founder. “Lockhart’s city government, as well as their planning and development staff, worked diligently with us throughout this process and made us feel right at home. In addition, the city's central location within the Texas triangle and short drive from Austin, allows for strong distribution lanes of same-day grown and harvested products throughout the entire state of Texas, making the city the ideal choice for our robotic greenhouse growing platform”.
Iron Ox has purchased nearly 25 acres of land and plans to build a new, state-of-the-art facility on the property. This new facility will house the company’s natural light greenhouses, processing operations and AI-enabled robots to bring fresh, clean and healthy food to new customers and communities throughout Texas.
“The addition of Iron Ox to the Lockhart business community represents synergy between our city’s storied history in agriculture and our growing technology sector,” said Lockhart Mayor Lew White. “The food and beverage processing industry is one of four business sectors Lockhart has targeted in its 5-year economic growth plan because our city’s unique advantages align perfectly with the needs of companies like Iron Ox.”
Mike Kamerlander, Director, Economic Development, represented the Lockhart Economic Development Corporation (CEcD) on this project.
“As Lockhart continues to grow, Iron Ox and companies like it are essential to our economic vitality and future. We thank them for their investment and commitment to Lockhart.”
About Iron Ox
Iron Ox launched the world’s first autonomous farm in October 2018, leveraging advancements in plant science, machine learning, and robotics. The Iron Ox team develops AI-enabled, autonomous technology that enables fresher, more consistent produce to be grown and distributed globally. The company’s goal is to service thousands of communities with the freshest and healthiest products, while establishing global reach and impact on food security.
For more information, visit www.ironox.com.
About Lockhart Economic Development Corporation
The Lockhart Economic Development Corporation, a department within the City of Lockhart, is designed to provide a range of business and economic development assistance. To learn more about opportunities in Lockhart, visit www.lockhartedc.com.
Contact Info:
Taylor Aldredge
570-534-4754
AUSTRALIA: A Brilliant Plan To Turn Parking Garages Into Rooftop Gardens
“It’s the third-largest land use in the city,” he says. Community space, on the other hand, ranks dead last. Bates Smart crunched the numbers and found that, in total, parking takes up nearly 1,200 acres of space, or more space than New York’s Central Park
Sourced from Fast Company
There are more than 41,000 parking spaces in the central business district of Melbourne, Australia. Many of them could be put to better use, says Julian Anderson, a director at the large Australian architecture firm Bates Smart.
“It’s the third-largest land use in the city,” he says. Community space, on the other hand, ranks dead last. Bates Smart crunched the numbers and found that, in total, parking takes up nearly 1,200 acres of space, or more space than New York’s Central Park. And if it’s not bad enough that these parking spaces take up so much space and encourage more driving, they also sit empty most of the time. “You think, my god, there’s one and a half times Central Park wrapped up in car parking in central Melbourne,” Anderson says. “What can we do to unlock this?”
One potential solution, he says, is to convert some of that parking into much-needed community space such as playgrounds, community gardens, and rooftop parks. And with a new mechanism his firm is developing in consultation with the city government, there may be a way to incentivize the owners of these parking spaces to make that happen.
Anderson says there are at least 20 standalone parking garages in central Melbourne that would be good candidates for reuse. Bates Smart has developed concepts for a few garages to serve as models for how this conversion could work, with some minor structural revision. One, located near the city’s main sports stadium, imagines the space converted into a series of playgrounds and gymnasia, with basketball courts and other recreational spaces. Another, in the city’s Chinatown, uses the ground floor as a market space and the rooftop as an outdoor eatery with open-air cinema. Anderson calls these potential projects a new kind of “vertical urban space.”
Source:https://www.fastcompany.com/90579163/a-brilliant-plan-to-turn-parking-garages-into-rooftop-gardens
Tagged: green roof, green roof benefits, living roof, living roof benefits, rooftop parks, rooftop garden, Melbourne, sustainability, resilience
MONACO: Growing Vegetables On The Rooftops of World’s Most Densely Populated Country
The pandemic has put environmental issues at the forefront, as Jessica Sbaraglia is well aware: “I am convinced that urban agriculture has a great future ahead. More and more businesses are getting involved because the demand is there”
13 November 2020
With over 19,000 people per square kilometer, Monaco has one of the highest population densities in the world, making a less than ideal place for farming. Yet Terre de Monaco has defied the odds. The urban agriculture company currently exploits 1,600 m² of arable land in a country with an area just over two square kilometers.
As Jessica Sbaraglia knows well, to grow fruits and vegetables in Monaco, you need to start from the top. And that is exactly what Terre de Monaco does. Specialized in urban agriculture, the company installs vegetable farms on the roofs of Monaco’s buildings.
Terre de Monaco was founded in 2016. “Six years ago, I shut down my first company and underwent a bit of an existential crisis. What is my purpose in life, what sort of values should I embody?” says Jessica Sbaraglia, who was born in Switzerland.
That taste, I’ve never been able to find anywhere else
Bringing permaculture to Monaco
It was then that she remembered her parents’ vegetable garden, its fruit and vegetables, and their exceptional taste. “That taste, I’ve never been able to find anywhere else,” she says. So, she starts a vegetable garden on her balcony, to “therapeutic, relaxing and rewarding” effects
But soon enough, Jessica Sbaraglia runs out of space. It’s when she starts to “colonize” her neighbors’ balconies that she comes up with the idea for Terres de Monaco. Her new company will farm Monaco’s roofs. “They didn’t know what to do with me. They thought my ambitions a bit ridiculous. They thought it wouldn’t work, that there was no room,” she says.
Zero carbon, zero waste
Today, Terre de Monaco grows fruits and vegetables on five different buildings. There’s a 400 m² vegetable garden on The Monte-Carlo Bay, whose produce goes straight into the kitchens of starred chef Marcel Ravin. A second vegetable garden is on the Tour Odéon, which is now home to 450m² of farmland, as well as 60 hens*, ten beehives, and about thirty fruit trees. Terres de Monaco has also set up vegetable gardens on the 14th floor of the Ruscino residence and on the roof of the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation, as well as a therapeutic garden at the Princess Grace Hospital.
Seasonal fruits and vegetables, as well as the eggs and honey, are sold to people who either live in the building or who work on the farm. “The products we harvest at the Odeon Tower, for example, are sold to the people who live there,” explains Jessica Sbaraglia. Terre de Monaco has now expanded its services to offer individual consultations on how to create and maintain a vegetable garden. They also run numerous educational workshops in schools.
I am convinced that urban agriculture has a great future ahead
Bringing the concept abroad
Terre de Monaco has also been busy exporting their concept abroad: Terre de Monaco is now joined by Terre de Nice.
“We’re working on a fully-fledged farm, that will be built near the Nice stadium. The farm will be spread over seven roofs, which will be connected to each other by footbridges. We’re also introducing a bar and restaurant, which will serve our products”, explains Jessica Sbaraglia. A similar project is planned in Belgium – Terre de Monaco now becomes Terre de Tubize – where 8,000 m² worth of roofs will be turned into vegetable gardens. Other projects in the towns around Monaco, such as Cap d’Ail, as well as in Switzerland are also in the books.
The pandemic has put environmental issues at the forefront, as Jessica Sbaraglia is well aware: “I am convinced that urban agriculture has a great future ahead. More and more businesses are getting involved because the demand is there”.
There’s something almost poetic about Jessica Sbaraglia’s work: In order to go back to earthly roots, Terre de Monaco looked up towards the sky.
* The hens also help recycle a yearly six tonnes of vegetable waste from the Terre de Monaco vegetable gardens and other Monaco establishments, such as the Café de Paris.
© Terre de Monaco
A Thai University Leads The Way In Organic Urban Agriculture
The 7,000sqm rooftop garden at Thammasat University is the largest such green space in Asia
September 14, 2020
It was on a sunny afternoon recently that teachers and students from Thammasat University in Bangkok, Thailand, set about harvesting organically grown rice.
They gathered on a rooftop urban farm in a bustling metropolis where skyscrapers dominate the landscape. As in many busy capitals, Bangkok is covered in unhealthy exhaust fumes and green spaces are scarce, apart from small city parks.
That is why the rooftop farm project Thammasat University, one of the country’s leading institutions, can point the way forward in greening this sprawling city, which was known in times past as the Venice of Asia thanks to its numerous canals that then still crisscrossed the landscape.
The 7,000sqm rooftop garden at Thammasat University is the largest such green space in Asia. Its design mimics scenic rice terraces on northern Thai hillsides so that rainwater used for growing crops can be absorbed and stored, which means that the farm can function with maximum water efficiency.
“We tend to make a distinction between buildings and green spaces but green spaces can be part of building designs in cities like Bangkok, which has few green spaces,” said Kotchakorn Voraakhom, chief executive and founder of Landprocess, an urban design firm.
The Thai university’s rooftop garden serves several purposes, one of which is the cultivation of chemicals-free crops, including organic rice. The project seeks to help wean Thai farmers off pesticides and insecticides in a country where such chemicals remain widely in use in agriculture.
The intensive use of chemicals at farms across Thailand is posing serious environmental concerns. From 2009 to 2018, Thailand imported vast quantities of agricultural chemicals, such as herbicides, insecticides and fungicides each year. In 2018 alone, more than 156,000 tons of such chemicals were brought into the country.
That same year more than 6,000 locals fell severely ill from exposure to hazardous chemicals and nearly 3,000 people were sickened from exposure to insecticides, according to health officials.
A goal of the sprawling rooftop farm at Thammasat University is to popularize chemicals-free produce like vegetables. And it is not only students and university staff who can grow organic crops: anyone who wishes to grow organic crops is welcome to join. People are invited to grow crops for themselves or else sell them to the university’s kitchens.
Towards the aim of setting up a chemical-free food system, the university is planning to set up an organic canteen and an organic market in the area.
The Future Of Food, What Role Will You Play?
Urban agriculture is the process in which food production takes place within the city itself. Instead of relying on rural farmers to grow, harvest and transport food to city centers, all of this is done close to the consumer
July 20, 2020
COVID19 has highlighted the vulnerabilities of our food system, ones that will continue to evolve as climate change progresses. As we look for solutions, several factors should shape our decision making.
Global food systems are responsible for one-third of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions.
Cities consume 78 percent of the world’s energy and produce more than 60 percent of greenhouse gas emissions (UN)
By 2050, it is estimated that nearly 70% of the world’s population will live in urban areas (UN).
Today, the average age of North American farmers is around 60 years old, with many nearing retirement.
What would you say if there was a solution that would address these challenges while also supporting the economy, helping us reach climate goals, and improving community health and well-being?
Urban agriculture is the process in which food production takes place within the city itself. Instead of relying on rural farmers to grow, harvest, and transport food to city centers, all of this is done close to the consumer. Urban agriculture can take various forms including backyard, balcony, and community gardens, rooftop farms and greenhouses, and more recently, the growing trend of indoor vertical agriculture using hydroponics.
During World War I and II, the “Victory Garden” campaign encouraged citizens to grow food in open urban spaces to support the country’s war efforts. By 1945, 20 million victory gardens produced 40% of America’s fresh vegetables. Once the wars finished, we saw the move away from growing food locally and towards a more industrialized food system where a few large farms produce most of our food at economies of scale. This way of producing food is largely responsible for disconnecting humans from their food and for environmental degradation.
Today, during COVID19, we are seeing a resurgence of “victory gardens” as a response to the unpredictability of the pandemic on our food supply. Communities are also starting to understand the importance of being more self-sufficient and supporting the local economy.
So how do we take this renewed interest in local food to the next level and encourage more urban farms and gardens in urban areas? In addition to policy support, we need the tools to equip the next generation of farmers. An organization that is supporting the transition is Green Roofs for Healthy Cities (GRHC), the industry association for professionals in the green infrastructure industry. Green infrastructure refers to using nature and natural systems to tackle urban challenges such as stormwater, the urban heat island effect, and air quality.
GRHC is creating the tools to help professionals maximize the return on investment for green infrastructure projects while demonstrating how to design for optimal ecosystem services and community benefits. Green infrastructure needs to be part of the green recovery as it is uniquely positioned to help city regions adapt to climate change and create jobs. Urban agriculture is a more productive form of green infrastructure that can take any project to the next level and support local food production, reduce food insecurity and reduce a city’s carbon footprint.
The Introduction to Rooftop Urban Agriculture training course is a first for the green building industry as it integrates green infrastructure and urban agriculture concepts. The course examines the history and benefits of urban agriculture and highlights various types of rooftop farms, design requirements, and business models. The course features rooftop farm case studies on Brooklyn Grange, Lufa Farms, Ryerson Urban Farm and more.
With the success of the online course, GRHC is now hosting an Urban and Rooftop Agriculture Virtual Symposium on Thursday, July 23. The event brings together professionals from diverse backgrounds involved in mainstreaming urban agriculture.
Top Leaf Farms is a regenerative farmer-led design team creating built environment food system solutions that are productive, beautiful and resilient in the face of climate change. Benjamin Fahrer the Principle will share project case studies and farm design tips!
Universities are the ideal space for urban agriculture research and education. Ryerson Urban Farm Operations Coordinator, Jayne Miles, will dive into the logistics of running the quarter-acre rooftop farm and what is coming next!
Alex Speigel is a Partner at Windmill Development Group who is sharing two case studies on integrating a meaningful strategy of urban agriculture in mixed-use developments
Have you heard of Agritecture? They are a global consulting company that specializes in building integrated agriculture projects. Yara Nagi, Agritecture’s Operations Director, has been involved in more than 60 urban farm projects where she develops the feasibility studies for economic models.
To learn more and to register for the Urban and Rooftop Agriculture Symposium visit https://greenroofs.org/virtualevents/agriculture
The potential of urban agriculture to transform our cities has yet to be fully recognized by decision-makers. Food can be used as a lever to solve numerous urban challenges and we need to rapidly start implementing these strategies. The green recovery from COVID19 will not happen without drastic changes to our food system, what role will you play?
Tagged: urban agriculture, virtual events, green infrastructure, food production, food systems, rooftop farm, rooftop garden, urban farm, Top Leaf Farms, Agritecture, Agritecture Consulting, Windmill Developments, Ryerson Urban Farm, Ryerson Urban Farm Living Lab, Jayne Miles, Alex Speigel, Benjamin Fahrer, green recovery, ecosystem services, Green Roofs for Healthy Cities
Europe's Largest Rooftop Farm Gets Growing Again After Paris Lockdown
On the top of a major exhibition complex in the south of Paris is a farm with a difference. The Nature Urbaine project is the largest of its type in Europe. Extending over 14,000 square meters, the project is aiming to become a model for sustainable production
13-Jul-2020
Ross Cullen in Paris
On the top of a major exhibition complex in the south of Paris is a farm with a difference.
The Nature Urbaine project is the largest of its type in Europe.
Extending over 14,000 square meters, the project is aiming to become a model for sustainable production.
The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted many aspects of daily life and Paris authorities are hoping to make a permanent shift to more fruit and vegetable production sites in the heart of the city.
The city-farm project on the rooftop provides a chance for people to rent spaces to produce their own fruit and vegetables.
Our project is based on the genuine willingness to put some sense back to the city
- Sophie Hardy, director of the Urbaine project, wants to bring nature back to Paris
The Paris authorities are trying to grow greener models of sustainability through projects like this.
"Our project is based on the genuine willingness to put some sense back to the city, to support its resilience," Sophie Hardy, the director of Nature Urbaine, told CGTN Europe.
"Also to imagine how it could be more virtuous and how we can bring nature back in a city that pushed nature away for so many years."
Read more: COVID-19 and the city: The future of pandemic-proofed buildings
But a farm in a city runs the risk of plant growth being affected by the toxic fumes of road traffic.
Emissions of nitrogen dioxide have more than doubled in the French capital since the end of lockdown in mid-May.
Camille Billiemaz, a vegetable production manager at Nature Urbaine, told CGTN Europe that "with some plants, where the root system is protected, the plant doesn't absorb the pollution."
The Nature Urbaine Project is the largest of its kind in Europe and aims to become a model for sustainable production. /CGTN
"As for the produce grown in the water system, we check that pollution stays low," she says.
"We still advise people to wash the vegetables before eating it, but we conform to pollution thresholds."
During lockdown, this urban farm had an agreement with the local authority to deliver vegetable baskets to online customers.
And while the rooftop may not yet be crowded with amateur farmers, there is an enthusiasm for local shopping at the heart of French cuisine.
The creators of the project want Parisians to change their consumer habits and grow their own fruit and vegetables on rented plots. /CGTN
Weekly markets are a tradition across France, with many people still preferring to shop there rather than at big chain stores.
The sense of community at Nature Urbaine is a positive aspect.
But there are economic and cultural challenges for projects like this, says Frederic Madre, a biodiversity researcher.
"Urban farms are quite expensive to build, so local communities are not really able to pay for it.
"There are also problems linked to the fact that the majority of the population is disconnected from nature. And you can't respect what you don't know. But we hope people will change their consumer habits."
VIDEO: Syrian Builds Rooftop Farm To Beat Economic Hardship
Syria's rooftop farm
Location: Damascus, Syria
Abdulrahman al-Masri has turned his roof into a hydroponic farm
The 23-year-old entrepreneur cultivates over 33 tons of fruits and vegetables
Syria's rooftop farm
Location: Damascus, Syria
Abdulrahman al-Masri has turned his roof
into a hydroponic farm
The 23-year-old entrepreneur cultivates
over 33 tons of fruits and vegetables
(SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) HYDROPONIC FARM OWNER, ABDULRAHMAN AL-MASRI, SAYING: "The good thing about the project is that it can work, even in the smallest places that we have not thought to explore. Any roof exposed to the sun can be used in this project. Same applies to utilizing the rooftops of farms, buildings under construction, factories and neglected spaces in farms."
Advantages of hydroponic farming technology include
//saving water, pesticides and space//
Researchers say hydroponics can also tackle high food prices
by making more food available locally
(SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) HYDROPONIC FARM OWNER, ABDULRAHMAN AL-MASRI, SAYING: "The reality can impose changes according to the climate conditions that may affect the growth of the plants, or according to the market's prices that may rise or decrease suddenly because of their instability. The economic viability is still theoretical more than practical, but theoretically it can support a three-member family in worst case scenarios."
Reuters Videos | May 11, 2020
Singapore Seeks To Increase Local Food Production With Rooftop Farming
Singapore has announced new measures designed to quickly increase local food production, including rooftop farming
Singapore has announced new measures designed to quickly increase local food production, including rooftop farming.
Officials in the city-state recently set a goal to meet 30 percent of Singapore’s nutritional needs with locally produced food by 2030.
The plan includes $21 million in government money to support local production of eggs, vegetables and fish “in the shortest possible time.”
The plans were announced as the worldwide spread of COVID-19 has caused shortages of many products, including food in some areas. Restrictions on population movements around the world have weakened supply chains and raised concerns about worsening shortages and price increases.
Currently, densely populated Singapore produces only about 10 percent of its own food needs. Only 1 percent of Singapore’s 724 square kilometers is currently used for agriculture. And production costs there are higher than the rest of Southeast Asia.
Singapore’s Food Agency says its goal is to raise local food production levels to make up for climate change and population growth that could threaten worldwide food supplies.
“The current COVID-19 situation underscores the importance of local food production, as part of Singapore’s strategies to ensure food security,” the Food Agency said in a statement.
Singapore officials have repeatedly told citizens that the city-state has enough food to get through the COVID-19 crisis. But they have decided to speed up the process of increasing local production to begin within the next six months.
This plan includes efforts to identify alternative farming spaces, such as industrial areas and empty building spaces. It also calls for adding new technologies to improve farming methods.
Officials said one part of the project aims to establish rooftop farms on public housing parking areas beginning in May.
I’m Bryan Lynn.
Reuters reported on this story. Bryan Lynn adapted the report for VOA Learning English, with additional information from Singapore’s Food Agency. Hai Do was the editor.
April 18, 2020
4 Malaysian Engineers Believe Vertical Farming Offers Answer to Food Sustainability
CityFarm Malaysia was established in 2016. Within six months, they reported impressive sales. In 2017, they were invited to join a United Nations program held in Kuala Lumpur, where they gained a bigger perspective on urban farming, and specifically, vertical farming
06 Mar 2020
By WONG LI ZA
The CityFarm Malaysia team: (from left) Niew Ley Koon, Looi Choon Beng, Koay, Low Cheng Yang and (centre) Chew Jo Han. Photos: CityFarm Malaysia
When Chew Jo Han decided to set up a small hydroponic system in his office because his fashion start-up was not doing well, his friends Jayden Koay, Looi Choon Beng and Low Cheng Yang joked that, if nothing else, he could survive on the vegetables grown!
But, jokes aside, Koay, Looi, and Low were struck by how the plants were grown using artificial light.
With his interest piqued, Koay soon started filling his own balcony at home with hydroponic plants and even converted his bathtub into a germination area for seedlings.
“I started my own system, and my (now business) partners also started to do the same, at home or in their offices, ” said Koay, 32.
They then discovered a common problem – the industry was still in its infancy and materials, equipment like hydroponic fertilizers had to be bought from countries like Japan, Singapore, China, and Taiwan. And, they were expensive.
“We realized that if we needed these materials, more urban farmers in the country would also need them. So, over a mamak session one day, we decided to start up a company to address this issue, ” he said.
CityFarm Malaysia was established in 2016. Within six months, they reported impressive sales. In 2017, they were invited to join a United Nations program held in Kuala Lumpur, where they gained a bigger perspective on urban farming, and specifically, vertical farming.
Vertical farming refers to a large scale, mostly indoor, type of farming where produce is grown vertically in layers of racks.
“We realized we should have a bigger vision of not only solving industry problems but food security (the state of having reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food) issues as well.”
“We wanted to play a bigger role and that’s when we decided to start a consultancy services to plant factories in Malaysia, to get the required technology in and to prepare ourselves for the next 30 years, ” said Koay.
In vertical farming, plants like vegetables, herbs, and fruits are grown in a highly-controlled environment.
Vertical farming refers to large scale, mostly indoor, a system where crops are grown vertically in layers of racks.
The United Nations estimates that the world population will reach over 9 billion by 2050, out of which two-thirds will be living in urban areas.
A study recently published in the journal Bioscience estimates that overall food production needs to be increased by 25-70% between now and 2050. However, at present, over 80% of arable land suitable for agriculture are already being used.
The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) revealed that one-third of all food produced for human consumption, valued at US$1tril (RM4.2tril), is lost or wasted each year.
That’s where vertical farming – touted as one of the possible answers to food sustainability – comes in.
Employing hydroponics, aeroponics or hybrid systems, this method involves growing plants like vegetables, herbs and fruits in a highly-controlled environment where temperature, humidity, light, air, wind and water levels are strictly monitored.
The benefits are many, ranging from higher yield – experts estimate that a 30-storey farm could feed 50,000 people for an entire year – to no wastage from spoilage due to unfavourable weather. This way of farming also reduces water consumption by up to 70% compared to traditional farming, prevents food-borne illnesses such as E. coli, and reduces the need for pesticides or herbicides.
Seasonal produce can also be harvested all year round since there is no dependence on climate. Produce that reach consumers are also fresher as they do not need to travel from out-of-city farms.
Verticals farms located in cities are also good for the environment in terms of reducing carbon footprint from transportation costs.
However, there are downsides to vertical farming – high start-up costs, constant monitoring required, high power consumption from constant use artificial lights (although energy-efficient LED light technology is used), and power outage problems.
And staple crops like rice and wheat have yet to come under large scale vertical farming projects.
However, the fact remains that more and more vertical farms have been cropping up all over the world, Malaysia included.
The YTL Green Office urban farming project by CityFarm.
To date, CityFarm’s portfolio of customers include those from the commercial, research, education and retail sectors, to individuals. Clients come from Shah Alam, Melaka and Johor Baru to as far as Kuching and Sibu.
A trend that is here to stay“Hydroponic systems – which is basically planting using water – have been around for a while in villages as well as modern households. Before, it’s more like a hobby and trend. But now, hydroponics is part of urban farming, ” said Koay.
Personally, he said he would rather use the term ‘soil-less planting’ as opposed to hydroponics.
“The definition of hydroponics today is different from before, when it was considered hydroponics as long as you used water and not soil. Today, it’s more of a hybrid. In general, as long as water-soluble fertilisers are used, it is considered a hydroponic system.
“What we have is deep water culture (which is done in rectangle boxes), a type of hydroponics. With this system, we enjoy the benefits of using water but also face the challenges that come with it, ” he explained.
All types of leafy vegetables can be grown indoors using soil-less planting methods.
These include issues related to micro-organisms, air quality, temperature control, concentration of nutrients, PH level and so on.
Hence, there is a need to train more urban farmers when it comes to water-based planting, Koay shared.
“They need to know what is inside the water and what are the parts per million (ppm) measurements. For example, tap water has 70-80ppm of chlorine in Malaysia, which is still acceptable to use. Another thing is the PH levels in the water. For example, you need PH6.5 for lettuce and there also needs to be adequate nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium), ” he explained, adding that temperature, air quality and wind factor also need to be considered when it comes to indoor farming.
At the moment, three out of four main vegetable groups can be planted indoors – leafy greens, herbs and fruiting plants. Root plants can be cultivated indoors with the aeroponic system, something which Koay and his team will look at in the future.
While there is the perception that hydroponic vegetables can be ‘tasteless’ or ‘watery’, Koay explained that it all boils down to the nutrients added to the plants.
“The taste depends on the nutrients we give it. If we give the same nutrients as in soil planting, it will taste the same, ” he claimed.
The Kuching commercial indoor farm project, set up in 2017, spans 5,000sq ft (464sq m) and has a 12,000 plant capacity.
The future of indoor farming
For now, Malaysia still has enough farmable land on the outskirts, but Koay and his team are looking way ahead.
“Urban farming is a solution to the food security issue and will have a future as long as urban populations continue to grow, which means more people to feed and less farmable land, ” he said.
In the next 10 years, Koay and his team aim to be the backbone of the industry where they will play a supportive role to customers.
“Secondly, we also need to educate people about how food is produced, that it’s not just soil, fertilizer and sunshine but there are other systems. Today, we are even able to manipulate the nutrients in vegetables, for example, lower the potassium content in lettuce.
“By 2050, we are confident that the industry will mature, thus lowering the costs of indoor farming. We also hope that people will be more equipped with the knowledge of urban farming and that it might be part of the syllabus in our education system too.
“The future must include indoor farming. If people are living vertically, our food production will need to grow vertically as well, ” he emphasized.
Related stories:
Malaysian urban farmer grows vegetables in back lane of his house in Puchong
Green spaces in urban centres bring many health benefits
TAGS / KEYWORDS:Vertical Farming , Urban Farming , CityFarm Malaysia , Sustainable Living , Food Security , Urban Population
Green Infrastructure Conference Call For Proposals
CitiesAlive is the leading green roof and wall conference in North America
CitiesAlive is the leading green roof and wall conference in North America.
This year, CitiesAlive: Green Infrastructure and Water in a Changing Climate is being held in Philadelphia, PA and will celebrate the city’s stormwater successes.
As a city with one of the most progressive stormwater management plans in the United States, Philadelphia paves the way for governments to invest in all forms of green stormwater infrastructure.
The conference will offer insight into Philly’s unique design, research and policy environments that has fostered the development of more than 1100 greened acres since 2009.
CitiesAlive provides a unique opportunity for design, policy, research and non-profit professionals to connect. Attendees will discover resilience and revitalization tools and strategies for resilient, healthier cities. Learn from the success and leadership of progressive cities that are leading the way in resilience planning.
For more information visit https://citiesalive.org/
Are you interested in presenting green infrastructure work? CitiesAlive is currently accepting abstracts until April 19th. Apply today! https://citiesalive.org/
Urban Farming: Technology And Tradition
As we enter a new decade, the human race finds itself faced with worldwide political turmoil, economic injustice, dizzying technological achievements, and an existential threat in the form of a spiraling climate crisis
By HARRY MENEAR
February 13, 2020
As we enter a new decade, the human race finds itself faced with worldwide political turmoil, economic injustice, dizzying technological achievements, and an existential threat in the form of a spiraling climate crisis. In order to rise to and overcome these challenges, humanity is going to need to drastically reevaluate the way it caters to some of its basic needs.
The global urban population has grown rapidly, from 751mn people in 1950 to 4.2bn today. Almost 70% of the world’s population is predicted to live in urban areas by 2050, according to a report by the United Nations (UN) released last year. At the start of the 1800s, more than 90% of the population (in the US) lived on farms and, on average, a farmer grew enough each year to feed between three and five people. Throughout the subsequent centuries, advances in agricultural technology and technique meant that farms produced more food using less labor. In 1900, an acre of land used to grow corn only produced 18% of the yield achieved on the same piece of land in 2014.
Today, farmers represent a mere 1.4% of the US population, and the average size of farms has grown dramatically. The ratio of people in cities to the farmers that feed them is already at a huge disparity and, as that relationship becomes more and more imbalanced, the strain put upon the agricultural industry has the potential to spell disaster for a global food supply - to say nothing of biodiversity, quality of diet and cultural connections to cuisine itself.
Massive demand for year-round, mass-produced, cheap produce today is already causing problems, from the incipient extinction of the honey bee to the wildfires and droughts exacerbated by overfarming water-wasteful crops like almonds and avocados. One of the most prominent issues, however, is the fact that as more people move into cities, the supply chains required to feed these swelling urban populations get longer and less sustainable. Food grown and produced to last for long periods of time contains more indigestible fats and sugars.
“Diets are changing with rising incomes and urbanization— people are consuming more animal-source foods, sugar, fats and oils, refined grains, and processed foods. This ‘nutrition transition’ is causing increases in overweight and obesity and diet-related diseases such as diabetes and heart disease,” noted a report on Changing diets: Urbanization and the nutrition transition by researchers at the International Food Policy Research Institute.
In the UK, despite all the advances of modern medicine, life expectancy for lower-middle-class and working-class males is - when adjusted for infant mortality - three years lower than it was in the mid-Victorian era. “The implications of a better understanding of mid-Victorian health are profound. It becomes clear that, with the exception of family planning, the vast edifice of post-1948 healthcare has not so much enabled us to live longer but has merely supplied methods of controlling the symptoms of non-communicable degenerative diseases, which have become prevalent due to our failure to maintain mid-Victorian nutritional standards,” write Dr. Paul Clayton, a Fellow at the Institute of Food, Brain, and Behaviour, Oxford; and Judith Rowbotham, a Visiting Research Fellow at Plymouth University.
The mid-Victorian diet that Clayton and Rowbotham espouse the values of was fairly one-note, but had spectacular benefits. “The Victorian urban poor consumed diets which were limited, but contained extremely high nutrient density,” write Clayton and Rowbotham. “Bread could be expensive but onions, watercress, cabbage, and fruit like apples and cherries were all cheap and did not need to be carefully budgeted for. Beetroot was eaten all year round; Jerusalem artichokes were often home-grown. Fish such as herrings and meat in some form (scraps, chops and even joints) were common too. All in all, a reversion to mid-Victorian nutritional values would significantly improve health expectancy today… the current pandemics of obesity and diabetes represent in many ways an acceleration of the aging process. We need to go back to the future.”
The population of the UK in the mid-Victorian era was about 30mn and, despite being at the height of the Industrial Revolution - was a lot less urbanized than it is today. In 2019, more than 83% of the UK’s population live in cities and towns, the country employs fewer than half a million farmers and produces less than 60% of the food it consumes.
How do we fix it?
The key to improving nutrition and shortening the supply chains between rural farms and urban consumers may be deceptively simple. While, “just grow the food in the cities,” might seem like a somewhat glib response to a nuanced issue, there are compelling cases around the world for doing just that.
In an unassuming warehouse in New Jersey, serried rows of kale, lettuce and other leafy greens are stacked in shelving units and trays that reach up into the air. The climate - light intensity, humidity, nutrient balance in the soil - is meticulously tracked by a network of sensors and cameras that feed oceans of data into a proprietary operating system that allows the facility’s operators to grow food 24 hours a day, 365 days a year in conditions that are as close to perfect as can be found anywhere. This is Bowery Farming, an urban agriculture startup founded in 2015 by Irving Fain, David Golden and Brian Falther, backed by Google Ventures. In an interview in 2018, Fain - who is also Bowery’s CEO - claimed that his company’s urban farming techniques use no pesticides and "95% less water than traditional agriculture, all while remaining 100-plus times more productive on the same footprint of land.”
Urban and vertical farming techniques are growing (sorry) in popularity across the world as a potential way to solve a number of the challenges posed by increasing populations, climate instability and food deserts (areas of rural, suburban or urban land without farms or grocery stores, making it next to impossible to obtain quality, fresh food in an affordable way and offering only convenience food chains in their place - food deserts are playing a major role in the deterioration of urban population health).
The practice has its roots (again, sorry) in times of economic scarcity and turmoil - the Great Depression and the Second World War both saw a huge increase in the number of urban farms - and can be as low-tech as growing a head of lettuce on your bathroom windowsill, or as futuristic as a fully-automated, end-to-end hydroponic facility operated by artificial intelligence (but more about Stacked in a minute). At the moment, urban farming operations are turning to vertical farming, the practice of using (typically) climate-controlled environments to grow plants across multiple levels - a practice that can turn a 3,000 sq ft allotment in a city center into effectively a 9,000 sq ft agricultural facility.
Regardless of the level of technology employed across their operations, there are a few key vertical farming techniques that are being adopted in an effort to solve one of the key problems facing modern agriculture: water wastage.
Hydroponics
The practice of growing plants without soil. Hydroponics uses a nutrient-rich liquid solution to submerge the roots of plants, which are placed in an inert medium (gravel, sand, clay pellets) for support. The method can drastically reduce water usage and increase yield.
Aquaponics
Adding an additional layer of sustainability to the hydroponic technique, aquaponics uses fish as the generators for the nitrate-rich plant food. Fish create ammonia-rich waste in their tank, the water from which is then pumped into an inert medium that contains plants. Bacteria in the bed turns ammonia into nitrates which the plants use for food, cleaning the water in the process. Then, the clean water is cycled back into the fish tank for the symbiotic process to begin again. Fish like perch or catfish can also ensure that the method provides two sources of food.
Aeroponics
Invented by NASA in the 1990s as a way of potentially raising crops in space (where tiny soil particles can be a nightmare for delicate instruments and electronics), aeroponics doesn’t use a liquid or solid medium to cultivate crops, instead using a nutrient-rich mist. It uses 90% less water than conventional hydroponic techniques.
Feeding plants using closed systems like these gives farmers an enviable amount of control over the condition of their crops. In Bowery’s system, a simple tweak of the lighting and nitrate levels in the soil can deliver a crop of kale that’s less chalky. As with any industry undergoing a digital transformation - and the data-driven, high-tech operations at Bowery’s three farms are certainly indicative of that - old roles and new roles are being constantly combined. Katie Morich, a Bowery farmer explained in an interview with Food & Wine that her job has become half farmer and half data scientist.
The combination of traditional and tech has been yielding promising results at Bowery, which is scheduled to open its third farm (an operation some 90 times larger than the company’s first operation in New Jersey, situated in Baltimore) in 2020.
However, despite the success of startups like Bowery, and the promise of urban and vertical farming techniques, the industry isn’t immune to teething troubles. While environmentally sustainable (although a number of urban farms still use pesticides), vertical farms have been struggling to compete financially as a combination of electricity costs, small scale operations and higher rent in urban areas conspire to make profitability a challenge. According to a report by Emerald Insight, less than a third of urban farmers in the US are making a living from their operations. There are, it would seem, two solutions to this problem:
It’s not about the money
One of the major benefits of vertical farming systems is that thanks to a technique like aquaponics, and increasingly cheap IoT technology, urban farming doesn’t need to be a full-time job. A majority of urban farms in the US are registered non-profits or community projects. Dividing the work among a neighborhood or even a block of flats could make for self-contained farming communities in the city that are free from depending on imported, expensive produce.
Founded in 2009, Colorado-based company The Aquaponics Source specializes in providing small scale aquaponics systems for schools, institutes, and household use. Startup AquaSprouts sells self-contained home units with a focus on education and home use that cost under US$200, although the internet assures me you can build an industrial-scale system to grow edible fish and leafy greens for significantly less (assuming you know a guy who’s looking to get rid of a giant rainwater barrel). Going small and cooperative may provide a look into the way urban farming can help support the global food supply. After all, it’s how the practice began.
Go big or go home
Operations like Bowery and Brooklyn Grange (a 44,000 sq ft rooftop farm in Long Island) are significant scale operations and some of the few for-profit urban farms to have shown serious longevity in the fledgling industry.
Capitalizing on the idea that bigger is better and makes more money is French urban farming startup Agripolis. In collaboration with Cultures en Ville, the company is set to open the world’s largest urban farm in Paris early this year.
“The goal is to make this urban farm a globally-recognized model for responsible production, with nutrients used in organic farming and quality products grown in rhythm with nature's cycles, all in the heart of Paris,” the company said in a statement. The farm will grow more than 1,000 fruits and vegetables a day when in season.
Whatever shape the future of urban agriculture takes, it may be one of humanity’s best shots at overcoming the challenges of the coming decades.
Singapore: Going Beyond Urban Farming
Urban farms are not just centers of food production, but also spaces to provide care to the community, says Mr. Bjorn Low, founder of social enterprise Edible Garden City.
February 5, 2020, By Asian Scientist Newsroom
Urban farms are not just centers of food production, but also spaces to provide care to the community, says Mr. Bjorn Low, founder of social enterprise Edible Garden City.
AsianScientist (Feb. 5, 2020) – Home to more than half of the world’s urban population, Asia is already beginning to feel the strain of rapid modernization. The expansion of cities takes a toll on the environment, and so does the provision of food for burgeoning populations—food production accounts for 30 percent of greenhouse gases generated globally.
New models for sustainable urbanization and food security are sorely needed, and countries may have found an answer in urban farming, the practice of cultivating, processing and distributing food in or around urban areas. Mr. Bjorn Low, the managing director and co-founder of social enterprise Edible Garden City, is a pioneer of urban farming in Singapore.
Returning to Singapore in 2012 after pursuing a diploma in agriculture in the UK, Low was confronted with the reality of a land-scarce nation and a populace that placed little emphasis on farming. Undaunted, Low took it upon himself to promote urban agriculture in the city-state.
“Edible Garden City was founded as a platform for like-minded people to come together to drive the urban farming movement,” Low said. “Today, we are a team of 40 full-timers and volunteers coming together to provide urban food production solutions for corporate offices, restaurants, and schools.”
With a keen focus on sustainability, Edible Garden City has created a farming system that takes in food waste and converts that into organic fertilizer that is fed back into the food production system. Low calls this a closed-loop urban farming system that generates minimal waste, echoing the principles of a circular economy, where resources are kept in use for as long as possible and regenerated or upcycled to extend their lifespan.
Low’s vision for urban farming is one that is not only sustainable but also inclusive. Among his collective of farmers are persons with disabilities who contribute to the farms and help advocate for urban farming. “One of the big shifts for us in the next five to 10 years is to really look at how to bring out the intangible values of the urban farms. So farms are not just about food production, we want to use the farms as spaces to provide care to the community,” Low explained.
“We have, over the last few years, done a series of studies together with the Center for Urban Greenery and Ecology (CUGE), Singapore, to look at the value of horticultural therapy for pre-dementia patients,” he added.
Horticultural therapy involves plants and gardening activities guided by trained professionals to maximize the benefits of engaging with nature. Highlighting a study conducted with CUGE in 2019, Low noted that the benefits of horticultural therapy are measurable and significant.
In the study, 59 older adults were randomly divided into two groups: one group receiving horticultural therapy and a control group. The researchers took blood samples from the study subjects for profiling of their immune cells and assessed each individual’s mental health, social status and functional capacity within the community. They reported that levels of a protein called interleukin 6 (IL-6) were reduced in the group receiving horticultural therapy.
“IL-6 contributes to inflammation of the body, and that causes dementia, arthritis, cancer, and other conditions,” Low said. Horticultural therapy may, therefore, hold benefits for patients suffering from those diseases.
“In addition, we have just started a small garden at the National Cancer Center, Singapore, where we’re not just carrying out horticulture therapy, but also identifying a handful of local herbs that possibly have anticancer properties,” he added.
The nutritional density of plants grown indoors in vertical farms (versus those grown outdoors under natural sunlight) is also something that Low is keen on investigating, and he is in talks with the National University of Singapore to initiate such studies.
“I think we need diversity in farming systems, which then means that you can’t have everything indoors in vertical farms and using hydroponics. There still needs to be outdoor farms, rooftop farms, and plants grown in soil,” Low said. “Technology is important, but it is not a silver bullet,” he quipped.