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Green Skyscrapers That Add A Touch of Nature + Sustainability To Modern Architecture!
Polish designers Pawel Lipiński and Mateusz Frankowsk created The Mashambas Skyscraper, a vertical farm tower, that is in fact modular!
06/09/2021
Skyscrapers have taken over most of the major cities today. They’re symbols of wealth and power! And most of the skylines today are adorned with glistening glass skyscrapers. They are considered the face of modern architecture. Although all that glass and dazzle can become a little tiring to watch. Hence, architects are incorporating these tall towers with a touch of nature and greenery! The result is impressive skyscrapers merged with an element of sustainability. These green spaces help us maintain a modern lifestyle while staying connected to nature. We definitely need more of these green skyscraper designs in our urban cities!
Zaha Hadid Architects designed a pair of impressive skyscrapers that are linked by planted terraces, for Shenzhen, China. Named Tower C, the structure is 400 metres in height and is supposed to be one of the tallest buildings in the city. The terraces are filled with greenery and aquaponic gardens! They were built to be an extension of a park that is located alongside the tower and as a green public space.
Polish designers Pawel Lipiński and Mateusz Frankowsk created The Mashambas Skyscraper, a vertical farm tower, that is in fact modular! The tower can be assembled, disassembled and transported to different locations in Africa. It was conceptualised in an attempt to help and encourage new agricultural communities across Africa. The skyscraper would be moved to locations that have poor soil quality or suffer from droughts, so as to increase crop yield and produce.
The Living Skyscraper was chosen among 492 submissions that were received for the annual eVolo competition that has been running since 2006. One of the main goals of the project is to grow a living skyscraper on the principle of sustainable architecture. The ambitious architectural project has been envisioned for Manhattan and proposes using genetically modified trees to shape them into literal living skyscrapers. It is designed to serve as a lookout tower for New York City with its own flora and fauna while encouraging ecological communications between office buildings and green recreation centers. The building will function as a green habitable space in the middle of the concrete metropolis.
ODA’s explorations primarily focus on tower designs, in an attempt to bring versatility and a touch of greenery to NY’s overtly boxy and shiny cityscape. Architectural explorations look at residential units with dedicated ‘greenery zones’ that act as areas of the social congregation for the building’s residents. Adorned with curvilinear, organic architecture, and interspersed with greenery, these areas give the residents a break from the concrete-jungle aesthetic of the skyscraper-filled city. They act as areas of reflection and of allowing people to connect with nature and with one another.
Heatherwick Studio built a 20-storey residential skyscraper in Singapore called EDEN. Defined as “a counterpoint to ubiquitous glass and steel towers”, EDEN consists of a vertical stack of homes, each amped with a lush garden. The aim was to create open and flowing living spaces that are connected with nature and high on greenery.
Designed by UNStudio and COX Architecture, this skyscraper in Melbourne, Australia features a pair of twisting towers placed around a ‘green spine’ of terraces, platforms, and verandahs. Called Southbank by Beulah, the main feature of the structure is its green spine, which functions as the key organizational element of the building.
Mad Arkitekter created WoHo, a wooden residential skyscraper in Berlin. The 98-meter skyscraper will feature 29 floors with different spaces such as apartment rentals, student housing, a kindergarten, bakery, workshop, and more. Planters and balconies and terraces filled with greenery make this skyscraper a very green one indeed!
Algae as energy resources are in their beginnings and are seen as high potential. Extensive research work has dealt with algae as an energy source in recent decades. As a biofuel, they are up to 6 times more efficient than e.g. comparable fuels from corn or rapeseed. The Tubular Bioreactor Algae Skyscraper focuses on the production of microalgae and their distribution using existing pipelines. Designed by Johannes Schlusche, Paul Böhm, Raffael Grimm, the towers are positioned along the transalpine pipeline in a barren mountain landscape. Water is supplied from the surrounding mountain streams and springs, and can also be obtained from the Mediterranean using saltwater.
Tesseract by Bryant Lau Liang Cheng proposes an architecture system that allows residents to participate in not just the design of their own units; but the programs and facilities within the building itself. This process is inserted between the time of purchase for the unit and the total time required to complete construction – a period that is often ignored and neglected. Through this process, residents are allowed to choose their amenities and their communities, enhancing their sense of belonging in the process. Housing units will no longer be stacked in repetition with no relation whatsoever to the residents living in it – a sentimental bond between housing and men results.
In a world devoid of greenery, Designers Nathakit Sae-Tan & Prapatsorn Sukkaset have envisioned the concept of Babel Towers, mega skyscrapers devoted to preserving horticultural stability within a single building. The Babel towers would play an instrumental role in the propagation of greenery in and around the area. These towers would also become attraction centers for us humans, like going to a zoo, but a zoo of plants. Seems a little sad, saying this, but I do hope that we never reach a day where the Babel Tower becomes a necessity. I however do feel that having towers like these now, in our cities, would be a beautiful idea. Don’t you think so too?
RSVP - Indoor Ag Science Cafe June 1st
Indoor Ag Science Cafe is an open discussion forum, planned and organized by OptimIA project team supported by USDA SCRI grants
June Indoor Ag Science Cafe
June 1st Tuesday 11:00 AM Eastern
Please sign up, thank you!
"All Season Oishii Berry:
America's first vertical strawberry farm"
by Hiroki Koga
Oishii
Please register to receive your Zoom link.
The recording will not be available for this cafe.
Indoor Ag Science Cafe is an open discussion forum, planned and organized by OptimIA
project team supported by USDA SCRI grants.
Register here
Save The Date!
OptimIA (Optimizing Indoor Agriculture) is a USDA-funded Specialty Crop Research Initiative project to support indoor farming industry through critical research and extension activities
OptimIA Stakeholder Meeting
August 20th, 2021
10:00 AM - 3:00 PM Eastern
Plan to join our annual stakeholder meeting online to learn about our collaborative research update!
More information available on our website
OptimIA (Optimizing Indoor Agriculture) is a USDA-funded Specialty Crop Research Initiative project to support the indoor farming industry through critical research and extension activities.
Vertical Farming: A Solution To Waste And Inefficiency In The Food Supply Chain?
The global food supply chain is in trouble. The coronavirus pandemic is only the latest crisis to highlight the inefficiencies and spotty reliability of the traditional model for getting food from farm to consumer
April 12, 2021
Robert J. Bowman, SupplyChainBrain
The global food supply chain is in trouble. The coronavirus pandemic is only the latest crisis to highlight the inefficiencies and spotty reliability of the traditional model for getting food from farm to consumer. Repeated instances of contamination reveal inadequacies in quality control and the tracking of product throughout the supply chain. And environmental concerns are raising serious questions about the impact of large-scale farming on the land, water, and air.
There’s a clear need for alternative methods of food production. One is vertical farming, a system of growing crops in stacked layers, spaced 24 to 36 inches apart, usually in greenhouse environments. Vertical farms can be constructed within any type of confined space, including dedicated buildings, shipping containers and even abandoned mineshafts. The equivalent of 60 acres of produce can be squeezed into a single greenhouse, with layers stacked six levels or more high.
Further advantages of vertical farming include complete protection from weather and crop pests, without the need for pesticides or other chemicals, and drastic reductions in water use. A pound of lettuce that requires 41 gallons of water with conventional farming needs just two gallons with vertical farming — in all, up to 99% less water than field-grown produce.
One such system is in operation outside Boston, Massachusetts by Crop One, which markets its products under the FreshBox Farms brand. In business for eight years, Crop One claims to be the oldest vertical farmer in North America, in terms of continuous commercial production.
Crop One grows a wide variety of leafy produce, including lettuce, arugula, basil, and spinach. From its location in Millis, Massachusetts, it supplies sellers within a radius of approximately 100 miles, with a presence in more than 35 grocery stores in the Northeast, according to chief executive officer Craig Ratajcyzk.
The location was chosen to cut down on the large volumes of produce that are typically shipped into the Boston area from California, Arizona, Texas, and South and Central America. “Those are really long supply chains,” Ratajcyzk says. “Right now, we’re within an hour’s drive of all the markets we serve.” Crop One also sources its seed stock locally, he adds, although he acknowledges the need to diversify supply in order to reduce the risk of supply-chain disruptions.
Indoor farming allows Crop One to grow to produce all year round, Ratajcyzk says. Currently, its output stands at around three tons a day, serving 10 customers in the Boston area and an overseas account that in turn sells to some 20 retailers.
The company has big ambitions to expand its production and marketing reach, and Ratajcyzk sees no problem in scaling up. Currently, he says, “the whole CEA [controlled environmental agriculture] industry represents a small fraction of the global demand market.” But recent storms and cold weather in large portions of the U.S. have highlighted the need for a method of farming that isn’t susceptible to the whims of Mother Nature.
“The industry is growing substantially,” Ratajcyzk declares, with producers increasingly being drawn to a method of farming that dramatically boosts crop yield within a limited space.
The technology can even extend to fruit-bearing trees. “A traditional orange tree maybe 15 or 20 feet,” Ratajcyzk says. “Why not a 10-foot tree producing twice as many oranges?”
The chief downside of vertical farming at the moment is one of cost. The price of an initial building containing the equivalent of a 60-hectare farm has been estimated at $100 million. Expenses include heavy energy consumption for supplemental lighting, temperature and humidity controls, fertilizer, and maintenance of proper carbon dioxide levels.
A Cornell University study from 2014 called vertical farms “pie in the sky,” estimating that a single loaf of bread containing wheat grown in a vertical farm would cost $27. Current economics would therefore appear to limit vertical farming to high-end products, although producers are banking that costs will plummet as the technology catches on. The net environmental advantages should also serve to boost its popularity in the coming years.
Vertical farming is “small, but growing every day,” says Ratajcyzk. “It’s a difficult model to establish, but if you’ve been around for five years-plus, then you have a higher probability of success.” He’s hoping for federal, state, and local support of the fledgling technique.
“I can’t really think of a downside to this industry,” he says.
Lead photo: Photo: Bloomberg
SweGreen Becomes Partner In Viable Cities
Viable Cities is an innovation program for smart and sustainable cities. The aim is to accelerate the transition to inclusive and climate-neutral cities by 2030 with digitalization and citizen engagement as enablers
03-03-2021 | Swegreen
SWEDEN- Farming as a Service becomes a new tool in the fight against climate change as the FoodTech enterprise SweGreens joins the Swedish Strategic Innovation Program, Viable Cities.
Viable Cities is an innovation program for smart and sustainable cities. The aim is to accelerate the transition to inclusive and climate-neutral cities by 2030 with digitalization and citizen engagement as enablers.
SweGreen is an innovation company based in Stockholm focused on futuristic, smart, and circular solutions for controlled-environment urban farming. SweGreen own technologies which enables integration of smart vertical farming solutions into real-estate properties. Recently SweGreen has introduced a service for urban production of leafy greens, called Farming as a Service (FaaS), which allows clients to produce greens under their license and close to the city population.
Sweden inspires many other nations and has a leading position in the transition of urbanization context and fighting the climate change through smart and sustainable solutions that could be implemented in cities, says Sepehr Mousavi, member representative, and Chief Sustainability Officer at SweGreen.
Smart urban farming in infrastructure-integrated settings and by harnessing urban resources could be an exponential factor in localizing the food chains in Sweden and cutting back the carbon footprint associated with our food production and supply, he continues.
Viable Cities is growing steadily and new members like SweGreen are joining the current member pool, the likes of Swedish municipalities, Swedish universities and research institutes and other leading innovation companies. Running from 2017 to 2030, the program gathers partners from industry, academia, public and civil society organizations, and jointly funded by the Swedish Innovation Agency (Vinnova), the Swedish Energy Agency and Formas with a total investment of 1 billion SEK (about 100 million EUR).
Viable Cities is coordinated by KTH Royal Institute of Technology.
Together with our member organizations and other stakeholders, we aim to accelerate the transition to climate-neutral cities by 2030 with a good life for all within planetary boundaries, says Olga Kordas, Program Director of Viable Cities and a researcher at KTH Royal Institute of Technology.
Transforming our food systems are one of the key challenges, Olga Kordas continues, and we are happy to be joined by SweGreen to co-create solutions for the future.
Andreas Dahlin, CEO of SweGreen, highlights:
We are honored to be part of such a committed and influential strategic program and partner pool as Viable Cities’. We hope to contribute with innovations around the concept of Farming as a Service, which really could impact food production today and in the future. The ability to produce fresh and nutrient food close to the consumer will be one of the big missions for the food industry in the upcoming decades.
For more information:
Sepehr Mousavi, CSO SweGreen, sepehr.mousavi@swegreen.se +46(0)73-3140043
Andreas Dahlin, CEO SweGreen, andreas.dahlin@swegreen.se +46(0)70-9240032
Åsa Minoz, Head of Communications, Viable Cities, asa.minoz@viablecities.se +46(0)722108826
SweGreen is a Swedish GreenTech company that offers digital, efficient, and circular solutions for urban cultivation in a closed and controlled environment. By combining computer science, advanced technology, and plant sciences, SweGreen contributes to the development of urban sustainable food production. The company was established in 2019 and provides consumer products such as various leafy greens and herbs under the brand of Stadsbondens. www.www.swegreen.com
Source and Photo Courtesy of Swegreen
Little Leaf Farms Raises $90M to Grow Its Greenhouse Network
Massachusetts-based Little Leaf Farms has raised $90 million in a debt and equity financing round to expand its network of hydroponic greenhouses on the East Coast. The round was led by Equilibrium Capital as well as founding investors Bill Helman and Pilot House Associates. Bank of America also participated.
by Jennifer Marston
Image from: Little Leaf Farms
Massachusetts-based Little Leaf Farms has raised $90 million in a debt and equity financing round to expand its network of hydroponic greenhouses on the East Coast. The round was led by Equilibrium Capital as well as founding investors Bill Helman and Pilot House Associates. Bank of America also participated.
Little Leaf Farms says the capital is “earmarked” to build new greenhouse sites along the East Coast, where its lettuce is currently available in about 2,500 stores.
The company already operates one 10-acre greenhouse in Devins, Massachusetts. Its facility grows leafy greens using hydroponics and a mixture of sunlight supplemented by LED-powered grow lights. Rainwater captured from the facility’s roof provides most of the water used on the farm.
According to a press release, Little Leaf Farms has doubled its retail sales to $38 million since 2019. And last year, the company bought180 acres of land in Pennsylvania on which to build an additional facility. Still another greenhouse, slated for North Carolina, will serve the Southeast region of the U.S.
Little Leaf Farms joins the likes of Revol Greens, Gotham Greens, AppHarvest, and others in bringing local(ish) greens to a greater percentage of the population. These facilities generally pack and ship their greens on the day of or day after harvesting, and only supply retailers within a certain radius. Little Leaf Farms, for example, currently servers only parts of Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey.
The list of regions the company serves will no doubt lengthen as the company builds up its greenhouse network in the coming months.
How This Vertical Farm Grows 80,000 Pounds of Produce per Week
To some, the pristine growing conditions and perceived mechanical interference of a vertical farm can seem unnatural, but at Bowery Farming “interference” is actually not the goal at all. “We don’t really think about how people are involved in the growing process, but how to take people out of the growing process”
Bowery Farming uses technology to prioritize accessibility and sustainability in their produce growing operations
To some, the pristine growing conditions and perceived mechanical interference of a vertical farm can seem unnatural, but at Bowery Farming “interference” is actually not the goal at all. “We don’t really think about how people are involved in the growing process, but how to take people out of the growing process” says chief science officer Henry Sztul. “Our goal is actually to have as few people walking around our plants as possible.”
Bowery Farming is a network of vertical farms working to reengineer the growing process. Using a system of light and watering technology, Bowery is able to use 95 percent less water than a traditional outdoor farm, zero pesticides and chemicals, and grow food that tastes as good as anyone else’s.
Bowery Farming uses vertical farm-specific seeds that are optimized for flavor instead of insect resistance and durability. Seeds are mechanically pressed into trays of soil, and sent out into growing positions, or racks within the building that have their own lighting and watering systems. Each tray gets its own QR code so that they can be monitored and assigned a customized plan for water and light until they’re ready to be harvested.
Irving Fain, Bowery Farming’s founder and CEO contemplates the prediction from the United Nations that 70 to 80 percent of the world’s population will be living in and around cities in the next 30 years. “Figuring out ‘how do you feed and how do you provide fresh food to urban environments both more efficiently as well as more sustainably?’ is a very important question today, and an even more important question in the years to come.”
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.”
Farm In A Box Planned For Bridgeport's East End
BRIDGEPORT — You will not find any vast acres of fertile soil and crops in the East End neighbourhood. So the state, city and area activists have teamed with an entrepreneur on what they all said they believe is the next best thing: farmland in a box
Image from: CT Post
BRIDGEPORT — You will not find any vast acres of fertile soil and crops in the East End neighbourhood. So the state, city and area activists have teamed with an entrepreneur on what they all said they believe is the next best thing: farmland in a box.
Joe Alvarez, founder of High Ridge Hydroponics of Ridgefield, describes it on his website as “an indoor, vertical, hydroponic, shipping container farm to be located in the most urban settings throughout the world.” And the East End — which has been labeled a “food desert” because of the lack of fresh edibles easily available to residents there — will be that urban setting.
“We’re very excited about this,” Keith Williams, head of the East End Neighborhood Revitalization Zone community group, said during a teleconference Friday announcing a $49,999 state grant for Alvarez’s project. “Fresh vegetables. Healthy. That’s what we’re all about — healthy eating.”
High Ridge’s container will produce young micro-greens from broccoli, kale, cabbage, arugula and other plants to be sold at the East End NRZ’s market as a salad mix.
“These greens are harvested after only 10 to 14 days from being planted, which is extremely quick (and) they are super concentrated in nutrition,” Alvarez said.
Friday’s teleconference included several dignitaries who pledged to do everything they can to ensure High Ridge’s success in town, including Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz, state Agriculture Commissioner Bryan Hurlburt, state Sen. Marilyn Moore, state Rep. Andre Baker, Mayor Joe Ganim and Edward Lavernoich of the Bridgeport Economic Development Corporation.
“I hope this project has a lasting and positive impact on your community,” Bysiewicz said. “And I hope it will become a model for other urban areas in our state to grow their own food using innovative technology and techniques.”
“This is not just a shipping container in the city,” Hurlburt said. “This is a much larger, deeper and richer project that we get to celebrate today.”
State Rep. Joe Gresko, D-Stratford, was also included, but wearing a different hat. Gresko works for Ganim continuing a mission started by former Mayor Bill Finch to turn Bridgeport from an ex-manufacturing hub into a leader in the green and environmentally sustainable economy.
It was under Finch that the East End was previously promised an urban green house on the site of the former “Mt. Trashmore” illegal dump. That project, dubbed “Boot Camp Farms” because it would hire veterans, was announced in 2013 and was also supposed to have financial backing from the state. But the developers had no prior experience in that field and the proposal never broke ground.
Alvarez, according to his online biography, “studied environmental science at Fordham University in New York City, graduated in May of 2017 (and) has worked as a private organic gardener, an aquaponic farmer, built greenhouses, maintained greenhouses and designed several custom hydroponic growing systems.”
Hurlburt said he felt confident the new project would be a success.
Alvarez “has limited experience but he knows what he’s doing. ... I know how much Joe was calling us and emailing us and how badly he wanted this grant to make it a reality. I know his heart is right where it needs to be to make it a success.”
“We’re all in this together to make sure Joe has the support he needs to be successful,” Hurlburt emphasized.
There are still important details to be finalized, including getting a site for the shipping container and additional money to cover the full, nearly $150,000 cost. Gresko said that the NRZ was negotiating to use some property and that “when the time comes” Bridgeport will “match” additional private funds Alvarez obtains.
“We’re going to keep an eye on this and troubleshoot as we go forward any issues,” Gresko said.
Alvarez said he hopes to complete construction by the fall. And the colder months are when his crops will be the most needed, said Deborah Sims, who operates the NRZ market.
“After farmer’s market season is over, we have difficulty sourcing (fresh food),” Sims said.
“Three hundred sixty five (days) we’re going to have the greens available,” said Gresko.
Baker recalled how his East End funeral home has hosted some farmer’s markets and called the High Ridge project “a long time coming.” He also told Bysiewicz he hoped similar initiatives to offer more fresh food to his constituents will follow.
“Lieutenant governor, we’re going to be leaning on you and the governor for more support,” he said. “You’re going to hear more from us.”
Feeding Leeds: A Fair and Self-Sustaining Food System for the City
A bold vision for feeding the population of Leeds would transform the city into a far more food secure, fair and sustainable place to live. Analysts from the University of Leeds’ Global Food and Environment Institute studied the city’s food system to assess its resilience in the face of supply chain and delivery disruptions caused by severe weather, climate change and events such as the COVID-19 pandemic and Brexit
Image from: University of Leeds
A bold vision for feeding the population of Leeds would transform the city into a far more food secure, fair and sustainable place to live.
Analysts from the University of Leeds’ Global Food and Environment Institute studied the city’s food system to assess its resilience in the face of supply chain and delivery disruptions caused by severe weather, climate change and events such as the COVID-19 pandemic and Brexit.
The urban food system includes all the activities involved in the production, distribution and consumption of food within a city.
They mapped and analysed publicly available data relating to agricultural production and human health in the metropolitan district and discovered that 48.4% of the city’s total calorific demand can be met by current commercial food production activities.
This is relatively high for such an urbanised space, but there is little diversity in what is being produced. Three cereal crops (wheat, barley, oats) dominate the Leeds production system, reflecting a post-war food system that focused on energy supply. This means that most of the fruits and vegetables consumed in the city are transported in from elsewhere.
The researchers’ findings also show that the most deprived areas of the district, which have higher rates of obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease, are also likely to be the first to be impacted by supply disruptions. The resulting food shortages can increase prices, and people on low incomes may not have the option to travel to larger supermarkets or afford to bulk buy.
The researchers say there are no quick and easy options for significantly increasing the security, fairness, or sustainability of the food system supplying Leeds.
But they say the metropolitan district’s sizeable number of farmers, manufacturers, suppliers, and food services could all contribute to improving its food resilience by creating a system which provides easy access to healthy foods, shares energy, reuses water and nutrients and repurposes local infrastructure and resources.
Caroline Orfila, who led the study, published today in the journal Food Security, is Professor of Plant Biochemistry and Nutrition in the School of Food Science and Nutrition. She said: “Our work demonstrates the inequalities in food production and dietary health.
“The local food production system can only provide around 50% of the calories needed by the population, highlighting that ‘eating local’ is not currently possible for everyone. In particular, the local food system would not provide sufficient protein or fats. The lack of food diversity suggests current food production is also unlikely to meet vitamin and mineral requirements.
“Any disruptions to food production, distribution or retail, from flooding, longer term climate change, COVID-19 or Brexit, is likely to impact those in deprived areas the most.
“Disruptions tend to cause shortages in some food categories, which then increase food prices. People on low incomes spend more of their income on food; any increases in food prices will limit what they can afford to buy.
“People in deprived areas have limited choice of where to buy foods, they may not have private transport to access larger supermarkets or access to online shopping. They may also not have the cash flow or storage space to buy items in bulk, relying on what is available.
“Interventions are needed to level up those areas.”
Researchers identified more than 1,000km2 of warehousing, derelict land, and unused floor space in abandoned buildings, with direct or possible connections to renewable energy and water.
Half of this land lay near food banks, community centres and numerous food processors and outlets.
The land could potentially be used for no waste innovative farming techniques, including vertical food farms, where crops are grown in vertically stacked layers; green walls, where plants grow on vertical surfaces, and rooftop agriculture, where fresh produce is grown on top of buildings.
The study found that within the metropolitan district of Leeds there is substantial food activity with more than 5,500 businesses and charities supplying fresh and prepared food, including fast food providers, restaurants, and supermarkets. Some 23 food banks are located within the inner-city area.
There are almost 100 hectares of allotment controlled by Leeds City Council, and approximately 39 hectares of private allotment and community growing areas in the Leeds Metropolitan District.
Lead author Dr Paul Jensen, also from Leeds' School of Food Science and Nutrition at the University of Leeds, said: “We found there are numerous underutilised city assets that could be incorporated into a resource efficient urban food ecosystem, which could include a mix of vertical farming, hydroponics, or more conventional growing methods.
“Most notably, many of these areas are within those suffering most from food poverty, diet related health issues and a limited intake of fruit and vegetables - those who are usually the first to suffer during a crisis situation.”
The research identified locations for ‘food hubs’ that connect producers to consumers and discuss the need for a coordinated approach between producers, government, charitable groups and consumers in creating a more sustainable food system.
The research was carried out with FoodWise Leeds, a not-for-profit campaign by Leeds City Council, the University of Leeds, businesses and charities to address food health and sustainability issues.
FoodWise Leeds co-ordinator Sonja Woodcock, said: “This past year has highlighted how vulnerable the local food system is. Taking a coordinated approach and implementing available policy levers, such as including local food within public procurement contracts, increasing access to land for both commercial and community food growing, as well as investing in cooking and food skills will help to create a more resilient and fair local food system.”
Professor Orfila added: “These findings are significant because it shows the vulnerability and inequality of UK cities and urban food systems. The situation in Leeds mirrors the situation in many other cities worldwide.”
Professor Steve Banwart, Global Food and Environment Institute Director said: “The results of this study provide essential evidence to guide access to nutrition for the entire population. The project dramatically changes our view of what is a city and what is a farm and catalyses our partnerships to build a more resilient community.”
Further Information
‘Mapping the Production-Consumption Gap of an Urban Food System: An Empirical Case Study of Food Security and Resilience’ and is published on 8 February in the journal Food Security. It is available online here:https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12571-021-01142-2.
For media enquiries, contact University of Leeds press office via pressoffice@leeds.ac.uk.
US (AZ): Farming Sustainably With Aquaponic Produce
It began years ago with a pledge from Chef Ken Harvey to provide his guests at Loews Ventana Canyon with food made from the freshest possible ingredients, and Harvey hasn’t cut any corners in sourcing his meats, cheeses, breads and produce from sustainable purveyors.
But it was his first meeting with the founders of Merchant’s Garden, a local aquaponics farm, which put his nearly pathological commitment to the principle of sustainability on an exciting new path. This ultimately resulted in his vow to grow and harvest onsite enough lettuce to serve his tens of thousands of guests per month, year-round, with only one percent of the water that’s used in conventional farming.
Occupying a climate-controlled storage space that wasn’t being fully utilized, the new hydroponic garden is the last stop on the lettuce’s journey before it lands on a guest’s plate. That journey begins aquaponically at Merchant’s Garden, where the lettuce spends its newborn month being fed through its young root system by water enriched by nutrients from biofiltered tilapia waste. It’s then transported live to Loews Ventana Canyon, 7000 N. Resort Drive, in floating containers, with its roots still submersed in the nutrient-rich water, for a subsequent cycle of hydroponic growing prior to harvest.
Harvey is currently growing Bibb and Red Cherokee lettuces, as well as three varieties of Romaine. His garden system’s capacity is nearly 300 heads per harvest, with multiple harvests per month, which equates to a full acre of farming if the lettuce was grown in the ground. And he tells me that he’s only using 200 gallons of water per month in a recirculating system that only loses water through evaporation and transpiration.
Publication date: 5/9/2019
Super Timber, Vertical Forests And Vertical Farming: Geneva Celebrations Show The Sky Is The Limit For Forests’ Contribution To Sustainable Cities
Super Timber, Vertical Forests And Vertical Farming: Geneva Celebrations Show The Sky Is The Limit For Forests’ Contribution To Sustainable Cities
Green spaces in cities, including parks, gardens/vertical gardens or urban farms are emerging as key solutions to tackle urban sustainability challenges. Trees in cities serve as natural air conditioners, cooling the air by between two and eight degrees Celsius, whilst urban forests filter harmful pollutants from the air and act as carbon sinks to help mitigate climate change. Urban farms contribute to urban food security by providing fresh local produce, reducing food miles and reconnecting people to the food they eat.
Vertical forests, vertical farming and vertical high-rise wood constructions: the denser our cities become, the greater the need to address the lack of space available for plants and trees, and to identify innovative ways of integrating natural systems into our urban spaces – where the sky is the only limit.
International Day of Forests is a global celebration of forests. This year’s theme highlights the key role played by forests in creating sustainable cities.
To celebrate this occasion, UNECE and FAO gathered eminent speakers at the Palais des Nations in Geneva to showcase new approaches to urban farming, the integration of trees in buildings, wood construction and architecture.
“Forests provide the solution to many of the sustainability problems that we will face in an urbanized world”, highlighted Ms. Olga Algayerova, Executive Secretary of UNECE.
The exchanges demonstrated that technology and ingenuity have no limits when creating sustainable and green cities.
H.E. Ambassador Foo Kok Jwee, Permanent Representative of Singapore to the UN in Geneva, emphasised the importance of vertical farming as it “optimises land use in land-scarce Singapore and can operate on minimal manpower”.
Arch. Maria Chiara Pastore of Stefano Boeri Architetti, famous for creating the vertical forests model for sustainable residential buildings embodied by Milan’s Bosco Verticale (Vertical Forest), emphasized how its vegetal system contributes to the construction of a microclimate, produces humidity, absorbs CO2 and dust particles and produces oxygen.
This is not only instrumental in curbing climate change but also utilises accessible building materials for large-scale construction projects. Compared to concrete, steel, cement and glass, wood requires less energy to produce and stores – rather than emits - carbon.
Dr. Michael Ramage, Director of the Centre for Natural Material Innovation at the University of Cambridge, instrumental in the design of the “The Toothpick” (a wooden skyscraper set to become the second tallest building in London), discussed “super-tall timber”. He explained how wood construction involves cross-laminated timber, a material made of many sheets of wood glued and compressed together, is stronger than steel and a viable candidate for building skyscrapers.
One large tree can also absorb 150kg of carbon dioxide a year and thereby act as a carbon sink to help mitigate climate change and lower cities’ carbon footprint. With 1.9 billion hectares, corresponding to more than 40 percent of the total global forest area, the UNECE region has more forests than any other region of the world. With growing urbanization, forests are instrumental; and when it comes to creating sustainable cities - technology and ingenuity have no limits.
For pictures of the event, please see: https://www.flickr.com/photos/121632478@N08/albums/72157691247014672
GrowLife, Inc. Launches Line of Eco-Friendly Products to Meet Growing Demand for Sustainability in Indoor Cultivation Practices
GrowLife, Inc. Launches Line of Eco-Friendly Products to Meet Growing Demand for Sustainability in Indoor Cultivation Practices
March 14, 2018
KIRKLAND, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--GrowLife, Inc. (PHOT) (“GrowLife” or the “Company”), one of the nation’s most recognized indoor cultivation product and service providers, today announced the launch of a new line of sustainable eco-friendly products for the indoor cultivation market. These new products will allow GrowLife’s customers to play a role in providing a greener economic footprint compared to traditional indoor cultivation methods while remaining efficient on output and profitability.
The new product line was strategically curated by the Company’s expert growing consultancy team to offer products that are not only high quality and affordable, but also offer significantly decreased environmental impacts compared to traditional products.
The product line, which features products from all categories of indoor growing, includes items such as lighting, nutrients and growing mediums, climate control devices, and overall plant care products. The Company saw an unmet need in the indoor cultivation market, which faces consistent criticism for its environmental footprint, for high-quality, sustainable products that yield similar output results as traditional products. The Company understands the demand for these types of products will continue to increase as end consumers’ demand for green practices increases following national trends toward sustainability.
“GrowLife is committed to offering its customers innovative technologies and products that help them to achieve maximum efficiency and profitability while satisfying their end consumers,” said GrowLife CEO Marco Hegyi. “The launch of this product line assists in that commitment by offering a sustainable solution with all of the efficient production benefits our customers expect. These green products will enable our customers to make the important shift to more sustainable indoor growing practices that will garner more trust from their customers while preparing them for any further regulatory and social obligation placed on this industry with respect to sustainability.”
In addition to the product line, the Company will offer eco-friendly growing tips and resources to its customers through its renowned support and education platform. For more information on the GrowLife ECO line or to purchase products, please visit Shopgrowlife.com/ECO.
For more information about GrowLife Inc., please visit the company’s website.
About GrowLife, Inc.
GrowLife, Inc. (PHOT) aims to become the nation’s largest cultivation service provider for cultivating organics, herbs and greens and plant-based medicines. Our mission is to help make our customers successful. Through a network of local representatives covering the United States and Canada, regional centers and its e-Commerce team, GrowLife provides essential goods and services including media, industry-leading hydroponics and soil, plant nutrients, and thousands more products to specialty grow operations. GrowLife is headquartered in Kirkland, Washington and was founded in 2012.
Contacts
Public Relations
CMW Media
Cassandra Dowell, 858-264-6600
cassandra@cmwmedia.com
www.cmwmedia.com
or
Investor Relations
info@growlifinc.com
What If We Could Grow Delicious, Nutrient-Dense Food, Indoors Anywhere In The World?
This Computer Will Grow Your Food In The Future
What if we could grow delicious, nutrient-dense food, indoors anywhere in the world? Caleb Harper, director of the Open Agriculture Initiative at the MIT Media Lab, wants to change the food system by connecting growers with technology. Get to know Harper's "food computers" and catch a glimpse of what the future of farming might look like.
The Vertical Farming Conference
How will we feed 10 billion people? Where will food for 400 Megacities be produced? And how can we grow as healthy, sustainably and independently from fossil resources as possible?
THE VERTICAL FARMING CONFERENCE
The international conference SKYBERRIES explores the emerging topic of vertical farming for the first time in the German-speaking region. SKYBERRIES presents the state-of-the-art of vertical farming and urban gardening and invites all participants to take part in this future business field. Both conference days define knowledge baselines, raise current and future challenges of food security, outline possible solutions and bring them into action. SKYBERRIES is an interactive, networking and knowledge exchange focussed new art of conference.
Learn more about vertical farming and our team
PART OF URBAN FUTURE GLOBAL CONFERENCE
SKYBERRIES is part of the URBAN FUTURE global conference and thus combines the largest global meeting of city-changers with the first Vertical Farming conference in the German-speaking world. Participants of the conference, like architects, city-planners, mayors and sustainability managers will have access to any part of the SKYBERRIES and URBAN FUTURE conferences and will have the opportunity to participate in discussions with scientists, entrepreneurs, and start-ups at the Congress Center. All tickets are valid for both conferences.
MEET OUR INSPIRING SPEAKERS
BUY YOUR OFFICIAL TICKET HERE
Take advantage of our special rates for SKYBERRIES and buy your official conference ticket in our ticket shop!
All tickets guarantee full access to both conferences SKYBERRIES and URBAN FUTURE.
WELCOME TO VIENNA!
SKYBERRIES and URBAN FUTURE will take place at the Vienna Exhibition & Congress Center. The conferences are an official green event – we make all efforts to provide all conference materials digitally, also we encourage all participants to travel as eco-friendly as possible. Thank you for your contribution to the environment!
MESSE WIEN, Exhibition & Congress Center:
MORE WEBLINKS:
Directions map within Vienna (PDF)
Info on parking at Messe Wien (Website)
Exhibition and Congress Center (Website)
Floorplan of Messe Wien (PDF)
ADDRESS & DIRECTIONS:
Messeplatz 1, 1020 Wien, Austria
ACCESSIBILITY
It is our goal to make SKYBERRIES as accessible as possible. Please let us know of any individual needs of yours that we could take into consideration. Contact us, we are happy to assist.
CONTACT SKYBERRIES
CONFERENCE OFFICE
+43 (0) 660 1128544
office@skyberries.at
MEDIA PARTNER
We are looking forward to working with you and welcoming you to our SKYBERRIES vertical farming conference in Vienna!
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More information on the vertical farming institute
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Cape Town May Be First Major City To Run Out Of Water
Cape Town May Be First Major City To Run Out Of Water
By Peter Chawaga, Associate Editor, Water Online
Though this time of year typically means an abundance of water supplies throughout the U.S., a major foreign city is having to contend with the possibility that it will run out of water entirely.
“After three years of unprecedented drought, the South African city of Cape Town has less than 90 days worth of water in its reservoirs, putting it on track to be the first major city in the world to run out of water,” reported Time. “Unless residents drastically cut down on daily use, warns Cape Town Mayor Patricia De Lille, taps in the seaside metropolis of four million will soon run dry.”
The city predicts that, based on current supplies and water use, it will run out of water on April 22. This upcoming “day zero,” as officials are calling it, is forthcoming despite already tight restrictions on water use for residents.
“Cape Town’s four million residents are now only allowed 23 gallons of water per day,” per CBS News. “Next month that goes down to 13 gallons. Compare that to the average American who uses around 100 gallons daily. Thirteen gallons doesn’t allow for much — a 90-second shower, a quick toilet flush, basic dishwashing, weekly laundry, and a large bottle of drinking water.”
Meanwhile, local farmers have only been able to plant a fraction of what they normally would. And this would decrease even more, potentially down to nothing, if taps are turned off entirely.
Beyond restricting water use, there seem to be few solutions in sight. Adjacent to the ocean as it is, Cape Town has explored desalination options. But it’s doubtful that this will solve the problem in time.
“Now the city is playing catch up, hastily (and expensively) installing desalination plants and looking into groundwater extraction,” Time reported. “But it’s unlikely any of those systems will be brought online before Day Zero, or even before the rainy season is due to start up again in May (if indeed it does).”
For similar stories visit Water Online’s Source Water Scarcity Solutions Center.
Image credit: "Downtown Cape Town," David Stanley © 2014, used under an Attribution 2.0 Generic license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
Sustainability and Global Food Systems
Sustainability and Global Food Systems
September 18, 2016 by Brian Colwell
Farmers and ranchers are already facing devastating impacts from the realities of Climate Change – including severe floods, extreme heat and drought, and increased pressures from changing disease and pest patterns.
Global Food Systems are under attack. We need Sustainability NOW!
Major advantages of conservation agriculture are:
- Reduced wind and water erosion of topsoil
- Increased water use efficiency through improved water infiltration and retention
- Increased nutrient use efficiency through enhanced nutrient cycling and fertilizer placement adjacent to seed
- Reduced oscillation of surface soil temperatures
- Increased soil organic matter and diverse soil biology
- Reduced fuel, labor and overall crop establishment costs, and
- More timely operations
Enter LEGUMES!
It’s a win-win situation for the environment AND the economy when it comes to introducing legumes into agricultural systems, says new research, but the
“…ability to reverse negative trends is jeopardized by Climate Change as food legumes are mostly grown rainfed and are being exposed to increasingly variable and extreme weather.”
That’s bad news, because Legumes are a #4IR “Smart Food”
Good for you, good for the planet, and good for the smallholder farmer. Pulses like chickpea and pigeonpea contribute towards the new Sustainable Development Goals to reduce poverty and hunger, improve health and gender equity, promote responsible consumption and help adapt to climate change.
Pulses are an amazing protein and might save the Planet!
Beans and Sustainable Agriculture:
- Lower Carbon footprint
- Water (In)Security
- Nitrogen Fixing & Soil Microbial Diversity
1. Lower Carbon footprint:
Pulses have a lower carbon footprint in production than most animal sources of protein. In fact, one study showed that one kilogram of legume only emits 0.5kg in Co2 equivalent, whereas 1kg of beef produces 9.5 kg in CO2 equivalent .
The very low contribution of legumes is well illustrated in the graph below. It shows that lentils are one of the foodstuff that contributes the least emissions, far fewer than turkey, salmon or other common sources of protein.
How do Beans reduce Carbon Emissions?
- Low water use results in low energy use.
- Reduces nonrenewable energy in the entire crop rotation by 22-24%. Pulse-Pulse-Wheat cropping has 34% less carbon footprint compared to a Cereal-Cereal-Wheat cropping pattern.
- Better farming practices, including use of pulse crops, can lower the average carbon footprint by 24 to 37%.
- Nitrogen fertilizers contribute to carbon footprint as its energy footprint is over 7.5 times more than other fertilizers such as phosphate and potash.
- Pulses help reduce use of chemical fertilizers by fixing nitrogen.
2. Water (In)Security:
It’s more efficient to obtain protein from crop products than animal products. Water used to produce 1g protein in milk, eggs and chicken meat is 1.5 times, for mutton it is 3.3 times and for beef 6 times more than that used for pulses. Crazy.
In addition, many pulses use water differently than traditional farming crops. They extract water from shallower depths, leaving deep soil water for the following crop (crop rotation). Water use characteristics of pulses effectively increases the water use efficiency of the entire crop rotation.
3. Nitrogen fixing and soil microbe diversity:
Pulses fix atmospheric nitrogen through a symbiotic relationship with nitrogen fixing soil bacterias living inside their root systems.
“A 125-year debate on how nitrogen-fixing bacteria are able to breach the cell walls of legumes has been settled. Scientists now report that plants themselves allow bacteria in. The fact that legumes themselves call the shots is a great finding…”
Chickpea leaves 20.4 kg/ha of residual nitrate in the soil after harvesting which is the highest among pulses. Production and application of nitrogen fertilizer accounts for 57% to 65% of the carbon footprint of each crop. Pulses help in efficient use of soil phosphorus by breaking down insoluble phosphates in the soil.
Soil microbe diversity:
Different compounds from pulses feed soil microbes and this benefits overall soil health. Crops grow better in soils with diverse soil organisms as they help break down and cycle nutrients more efficiently.
Crops grow better in soils with diverse soil organisms as they help break down and cycle nutrients more efficiently. Presence of diverse soil organisms tend to ‘crowd out’ disease-causing bacteria and fungi, resulting in healthier plants. Growing pulse crops in rotation enables the other crops to benefit from these large, diverse population of soil organisms.
WOW! I didn’t know beans were so important!
With Climate Change offering massive disruption to global food and water security, and with legumes both impacted by and impacting agricultural carbon emissions, it’s important to understand WHERE legumes come from, how future production will be impacted by further climate changes, and what’s ALREADY being done.
There are 18 priority dryland cereal and legume farming (agri-food) systems worldwide:
The most important of these systems, in terms of area and population, are found in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.
The farming systems in Latin America, the Middle East and North Africa, Central Asia and East Asia are also important, but dryland cereal and legume crop distribution data show that South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa are the most important regions for crop improvement and adapted crop management practices.
The high levels of malnutrition in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa can be addressed in part by nutritious DCL crops, which are often important sources of protein and micronutrients. Biofortification of DCL crops could be an important consideration in these areas. Clearly, the high rural and urban population found in, and depending on, DCL farming system regions suggest the importance of these systems for research and development aimed at improving agriculture and livelihoods.
In the case of the pulses: Chickpea, the common bean, cowpea, faba bean, groundnut, lentil, pigeonpea, and soybean.
“Grain legumes are often referred to as the ‘poor people’s meat,’ …They’re extremely important to those who cannot afford meat, milk or fish to meet their protein needs.”
In Africa, increasing areas of common bean are being sown while areas under mung bean and black gram have increased in South and East Asia. These increases are attributed mainly to the availability of improved varieties, such as shorter duration and more disease-resistant mung bean, rather than any improvements in agronomic management. Africa remains the major producer of cowpea, but there has been no appreciable increase in area sown or yield over the last decade. In contrast, cowpea area and yields have increased in Asia, probably as a result of availability of improved varieties. India is the major producer of pigeonpea, but area and yields have remained relatively stable over the past decade. Myanmar appears to be the only country where pigeonpea area and yields have increased. This has been mainly driven by the export market to neighboring India.
Beans in Africa:
Cowpeas are an important staple in the diets of 200 million Africans, roughly 18 percent of the population. Smallholders devote more land to groundnuts than any other legume in Sub-Saharan Africa, nearly 11 million hectares.
Beans are an important legume crop in Zambia, where 60 percent of the population lives in poverty and more than 350,000 suffer from food insecurity. Unfortunately, bean production in this African country is severely limited by diseases, insects, low soil fertility and drought.
In the east African nations of Malawi and Tanzania, chemical fertilizer is extremely expensive and supplies are extremely limited. Consequently, the ability of pulses to fix soil nitrogen in these regions is critical. Because of poor soil health and drought, these countries stand to reap many benefits from the production of pulses. Bringing improved pulse cultivars to the region is an important step to increase food security and improve health and nutrition.
“…small farmers in Africa are getting two to three times lower production rates than what can be done on research station sites… generally due to under-management – lack of use of improved seeds, poor varieties and suboptimal use of agronomic practices.”
Globally, the area sown to beans has increased primarily due to increases in both Africa and Asia.
The demand-supply gap for the legumes is perpetually increasing widening day-by-day which will lead to a huge shortfall in the supply to the ever increasing global population in coming years. The only option is to maximize the efforts toward developing improved high yielding cultivars possessing resistance/tolerance to the major stresses especially in context of Climate Change.
Moves toward more ecological-based approaches in managing nutrition, weeds, diseases, and pests of food legumes offer prospects for greater inclusion of food legumes in cropping systems.
Although adoption of conservation agriculture is widespread in large-scale commercial agriculture (especially in the cereals), it is only at initial stages in resource-poor smallholder situations. A boost in food legume production by resource-poor farmers is a dire necessity due to static or declining production trends for most of these commodities in developing countries, yet increasing global demand for legume grain.
Technology to substantially increase and stabilize yields of food legumes in most areas is available but its rapid adoption appears restricted by Industrialized Agriculture…
THE END???
Resources:
- BBSRC: BioScience for the Future
- NSAC’S BLOG
- Pest Management in Grain Legumes: Potential and Limitations
- New Phytologist
- Emerging genomic tools for legume breeding: current status and future prospects
- Catch the Pulse
- Global Pulse Confederation
- Dryland cereal and legume priority farming systems worldwide
- Translational Genomics in Agriculture
- Pulses Handbook 2016
- Breeding Annual Grain Legumes for Sustainable Agriculture
- Legumes in Sustainable Agriculture
- Legumes: the Solution to Human Health and Agricultural Sustainability
- Can legumes solve environmental issues?
- Legumes give nitrogen-supplying bacteria special access pass
- Introduction to Legumes (links to all articles by same author)
- These Plants Are the Pulse of Sustainable Farming and Healthy Eating
- Can We Improve the Nutritional Quality of Legume Seeds?
- Legume Innovation Lab
- AgBioResearch
- Use of grain legumes residues as livestock feed in the smallholder mixed crop-livestock production systems in Ethiopia
- Finding niches for legumes in smallholder farming systems
- LegumeCHOICE
- Innovations in agronomy for food legumes
The United Arab Emirates is Building a $354 Million City With Driverless Cars, Greenhouses, and Solar-Powered Villas
For much of the 20th century, the United Arab Emirates was known as one of the world's biggest oil producers and, as a result, greenhouse-gas emitters.
The United Arab Emirates is Building a $354 Million City With Driverless Cars, Greenhouses, and Solar-Powered Villas
Sustainable City outside Dubai, UAE.Dubai Sustainable City
January 30, 2018
For much of the 20th century, the United Arab Emirates was known as one of the world's biggest oil producers and, as a result, greenhouse-gas emitters.
But in the past two decades, the UAE government has made an effort to lower its own dependency on fossil fuels, shifting toward more environmentally-friendly sources to power its cities.
The UAE aims to have 75% of Dubai's energy come from clean sources by 2050. If the city pulls that off, it would have the smallest carbon footprint in the world.
As part of this larger goal, local company Diamond Developers is building a city 18 miles outside central Dubai that's designed to produce more energy than it consumes. Called Sustainable City, the development is expected to cost $354 million and be fully complete by 2019.
Find out more below:
In 2013, Diamond Developers started building Sustainable City, which is expected to be completed by the end of 2018.
Dubai Sustainable City | Source: Arabian Busines
The 113-acre city aims to curb CO2 emissions as much as possible. Cars are banned from most neighborhoods.
Dubai Sustainable City
Residents are only permitted to take public transport, drive electric-powered smart cars, or take horse-drawn buggies.
Dubai Sustainable City
Instead of gas stations, there are 250 charging stations.
On January 22, Dubai's transport authority signed an agreement to operate electric driverless cars in the new city. Homeowners also get a free electric golf cart or a $10,000 subsidy toward buying another electric vehicle.
Dubai Sustainable City
Residents can also ride the city's electric buses for free.
Every home's roof features solar panels.
Dubai Sustainable City
And a 98-foot-wide park with 2,500 trees also helps reduce air pollution.
Dubai Sustainable City
Diamond Developers is building the city in two phases.
Dubai Sustainable City
The first phase — which opened in 2015 — includes 500 villas, 89 apartment buildings, 11 dome greenhouses that cut through the center of the development, 32,300 square feet of outdoor urban farms, and 1.16 million square feet of office and retail space.
Dubai Sustainable City
The retail space includes fitness centers, community pools, and an equestrian centre with 32 stables.
Dubai Sustainable City
There are also two man-made lakes with recycled water, according to The Khaleej Times.
The second phase is under construction and will feature a school, mosque, a science museum, a country club, and a mall.
Dubai Sustainable City
Also as part of this phase, a new hotel that uses less energy than it generates will go up — the first of its kind in the Middle East, according to developers. They also claim that the city's new research center will produce more energy than it consumes.
In recent years, the UAE has worked toward similar city-from-scratch projects. Some have been more successful at attracting residents than others. Only around 300 people live in Masdar City, Abu Dhabi, though it was planned for 40,000 residents.
Dubai Sustainable City
Source: Business Insider
Sustainable City has garnered more interest from UAE residents (or at least those who can afford to live there, since homes start at $1 million). Approximately 1,800 people have bought homes, while around 900 rent.
Dubai Sustainable City
Source: CNN
The metropolis signals that the UAE is trying to march toward a more sustainable future.
New Jersey: Governor Murphy's Team Wants to Put The Garden Back in Garden State
MURPHY’S TEAM WANTS TO PUT THE GARDEN BACK IN GARDEN STATE
CARLY SITRIN | JANUARY 30, 2018
Governor’s advisory committee wants more state support for agri-tourism, a revived Jersey Fresh program, and to get more people involved in farming
Agriculture has always been a keystone of the state’s economy; if no longer dominant in dollars, it certainly still plays a significant role in the Garden State’s image. The Department of Agriculture’s transition report underscores that fact, with its advisory committee hoping to enhance New Jersey’s public image by supporting agritourism efforts and bringing back the sidelined and underfunded Jersey Fresh program.
The new Murphy administration appointed a transition committee for each of the state’s cabinet-level departments, seeking advice and information on what the departments’ stakeholders — experts, analysts, business leaders, officials of non-profits, etc. — view as priorities for the administration. The report on agriculture was among a number that were released publicly last week: These are just advisory reports — Murphy has no obligation to follow their advice.
Make New Jersey Fresh Again
One of the recurring themes throughout the report is the need for strong state branding — starting with the Jersey Fresh program.
The report takes former governors to task for drastic funding cuts over the last decade that have reduced the marketing program's budget from a peak of $1 million down to $50,000, an amount they say barely covers the cost of the inspection and grading efforts.
The advisory committee calls for Murphy not only to revive the program, but also to permit farmers to sell home-baked goods, farm beer and cider, and industrial hemp. As it stands, New Jersey is the only state where selling home-baked goods is prevented by law.
Another rebranding effort would focus on the 2.25 million acres of wineries in the southern counties of Atlantic, Burlington, Camden, Cape May, Cumberland, Gloucester, Ocean, Monmouth and Salem which the report targets as a growing tourist space.
The report calls for the creation of road signs and other promotional materials dubbing that region the "Coastal Plains Wine Corridor” which they believe could become the "Napa Valley of the East." The advisory committee recommends putting the Economic Development Authority and Rutgers Agricultural Experiment Station program (NJAES) in charge of this effort, giving interested wineries access to EDA loans for winery expansion, vineyard establishment, and necessary equipment.
More Farmers
The report also emphasizes the need to get young people interested in farming again. According to the report, New Jersey farms are facing a decline, with the average age of a New Jersey farmer at 60. What's more, because the state resources set aside to preserve farmland come with the exception that the land should remain in farming, that creates a need for a new generation of farmers.
To combat this issue, the advisory committee recommends pouring more resources and budgetary support into the research efforts at the NJAES, which is the main source of technical support for farmers, ranchers, and other agricultural professionals in the state. The report also seeks to get young people involved though Future Farmers of America (FFA), 4H, and vocational tech programs.
The report also recommends making changes to encourage urban, niche, and beginner farmers by extending tax benefits to farms under five acres and removing barriers to urban farming such as the department of health regulation that prohibits small farms from accepting food stamp benefits like Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and WIC.
The issue of food deserts in some New Jersey cities is also targeted in the report, which advises directing the department of agriculture to work with education programs and establish EDA loan programs to get beginner farmers the equipment and information they need to start urban farms.
Food Security
According to the report, the number one priority for the Murphy team should be immediately restoring the “heat and eat" benefits that would make it easier for those participating in the SNAP program, which is overseen by the federal Department of Agriculture, to also receive help paying heating bills. While in office, Gov. Chris Christie repeatedly vetoed budget language that would have restored the program and according to recent Benefits Data Trust research, some 160,000 Garden State residents have seen their SNAP benefits dip by about $90 a month due to Christie's actions.
It also recommends streamlining food insecurity programs like SNAP, WIC, school breakfast and lunch, adult-care food programs and food assistance for disaster relief into two departments (Agriculture, and either Human Services or Health) and making them easier to apply to.
Deer and Insects
The report also touches on some issues that are more difficult to categorize like deer-hunting permit changes and funding for an insect laboratory.
Deer in the state are largely overpopulated and have been negatively impacting farmers by contributing to annual crop losses of up to 40 percent, according to the report. In response, the committee recommends a “strategic deer management plan” that would “develop target population numbers for a sustainable herd” — all of which really means more deer hunting. Some of the proposed regulations include allowing bow hunting during summer months and creating an all-season, all-zone, “Earn-A-Buck” program similar to ones in states like Indiana and Virginia where more does and antlerless deer can be taken per buck until the population “has reached a scientifically acceptable level.” This would be a change from the current law which restricts doe counts in some zones and in some seasons unless a hunter is in possession of an unlimited doe tag.
The committee also supports repairing and funding the Phillip Alampi Beneficial Insect Rearing Laboratory, a facility constructed in the mid 1980's for research related to raising and releasing insects like weevils and beetles to control invasive species in New Jersey.
6 Places Where Soil-Less Farming is Revolutionizing How We Grow Food
If it seems like “water, to which farmers have added the necessary nutrients for plant growth.hydroponic systems” are everywhere, that’s because they are. Hydroponic farming is one efficient way to grow fruits and vegetables in small spaces without the use of soil. Instead of dirt, plants grow down into
6 Places Where Soil-Less Farming is Revolutionizing How We Grow Food
by Greg Beach
If it seems like “hydroponic systems” are everywhere, that’s because they are. Hydroponic farming is one efficient way to grow fruits and vegetables in small spaces without the use of soil. Instead of dirt, plants grow down into water, to which farmers have added the necessary nutrients for plant growth. These are then absorbed, along with water, through a plant’s roots. Light is provided either by the sun or specially designed grow lights, with many sustainable systems powered by renewable energy sources. Aquaponic farming incorporates fish into the soil-less system, using the closed-loop nutrient cycle from fish digestion to their advantage. Some systems even feed nutrients to plants through the air! From water-less deserts to the sun-less underground, soil-less farming is offering new possibilities to feed an increasingly urban, growing global population in a more Earth-friendly way.
1. Stores
With consumers increasingly conscious of their environmental impact, many stores have realized that going green is good for business. Big-box store Target began a series of trials in spring 2017 in which vertical, hydroponic gardens were installed in various Target locations to provide customers with the freshest possible produce. In collaboration with MIT Media Lab and Ideo, Target designed a system that is capable of growing leafy greens and herbs with minimal water usage. The company hopes to someday branch out into other crops, such as potatoes, zucchini and beets. MIT may even offer Target use of rare heirloom tomato seeds for its project. Meanwhile, IKEA has teamed up with Denmark-based SPACE10 to design high-tech hydroponics systems in-stores and in homes.
2. Deserts
In preparation for a future dominated by climate change, in which oil becomes a lesser part of the world’s energy diet, Saudi Arabia has taken several major steps to build a more sustainable system in its challenging desert region. One such move is the rethinking of many traditional farming practices, especially focused on reducing water usage. A farm in the town of Jeddah uses neither water nor soil, rooting plants in mid-air while providing their nutrients through a mist. Designed by AeroFarms, the system is the first aeroponic farm in the Middle East and hopes to someday acquire all its water needs through capturing humidity in the air.
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If a desert farm chooses to go hydroponic, there are ways to grow without draining freshwater supplies. In arid South Australia, SunDrops Farms grows 15% of the country’s tomato crop through a solar-powered hydroponic system. To eliminate the use of precious freshwater, SunDrops sources its water from the nearby saltwater gulf, which is then desalinated through the reflected heat of the sun.
In a very different kind of desert, soil-less farming helps growers from the Arctic to Antarctica make the most of a short growing season.
3. Cities
As the global population becomes more urban, cities are investing in more local food production systems that offer economic development opportunities and reduce a city’s carbon footprint. In a warehouse on the Near East Side of Indianapolis, Farm 360 are growing vegetables on a hydroponic system that is exclusively powered by renewable energy and uses 90 percent less water than traditional farming methods. The harvest is sold in local grocery stores while the farm supports dozens of living-wage jobs to residents of the neighborhood.
In even the most isolated urban areas, soil-less farming finds a home. With its ability to receive vital supplies and support a functioning economy severely restricted by the Israeli blockade, Gaza has stepped out onto the rooftops to grow its own food. Beginning in 2010, a United Nations-funded urban agriculture program equipped over 200 female-headed households with fish tanks, equipment, and supplies to build and maintain an aquaponics growing system. This initial spark has encouraged others to create their own and to teach others of this valuable skill.
4. The Underground
Farming without soil can often take place beneath the soil. In Paris, Cycloponics runs La Caverne, a unique urban farm that grows mushrooms and vegetables in an underground, formerly abandoned parking garage. The farm’s hydroponics system uses special grow lights to ensure the vegetables have what they need to survive. The mushrooms grow in a special medium and, through their respiration, provide valuable CO2 for the plants to thrive. La Caverne may have found inspiration from Growing Underground, London’s first underground farm. On 2.5 acres of unused World War II-era tunnels, Growing Underground produces pea shoots, several varieties of radish, mustard, cilantro, Red Amaranth, celery, parsley, and arugula.
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Honorable mention: shipping container farms. Although these may be mobilized on the surface, they may as well be underground due to the closed roof of most shipping containers. The solar-powered hydroponicsLA-based Local Roots can grow the same amount of vegetables, at cost parity, with 99 percent less water than traditional farming.
5. On the Water
Some soil-less growing operations take it a step further, leaving the ground behind entirely and opting for a farm floating on water. Barcelona-based design group Forward Thinking Architecture has proposed a progressive solution to the decreasing availability of arable land by creating floating, solar-powered farms. Using modules that measure 200 meters by 350 meters, Forward Thinking’s design allows for expansion and custom configuration of farms. Each module has three levels: a desalinization and aquaculture level at the bottom, then a hydroponic farming level, topped off by a level of solar panels and rainwater collection. The company estimates that each module would produce 8,152 tons of vegetables a year and 1,703 tons of fish annually.
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Greenwave takes an alternative approach to soil-less, floating farming by combining the cultivation of shellfish and seaweed, both profitable crops that also help to clean the aquatic environment and absorb greenhouse gases. The farm requires little external input, pulls carbon dioxide from the air and water, and consumes excess nitrogen that could otherwise result in algal blooms and dead zones.
6. Your Home
Yes, you too could get in on the soil-less action. Whether you prefer to DIY or you’d rather something more straightforward, there are options for every style.
Lead image via Depositphotos, others via MIT OpenAg, Sundrop Farms, Esther Boston, Cycloponics, GreenWave, and Urban Leaf