How A Rooftop Farm Feeds A City
How A Rooftop Farm Feeds A City
You all probably know my love for greenhouses, local food and educating city folk on where their food comes from.
Last night, I just put on another ted talk to watch whilst I cooked dinner, and decided to simply click on one of the ‘recommended’ videos that popped up on Youtube. My mood went from average to incredibly happy, in a matter of seconds. THANKS Youtube, you have impressed me once again.
This Ted talk video merged all these passions of mine, into one.
Greenhouses formed the major part of my first job as a graduate. I loved observing how the crops were growing in a protected environment, and how different growing techniques influenced the quality and yield gained. My Australian boss was Dutch, so understandably I learned a lot on the processes involved with growing a good greenhouse crop, from this expert.
Local food, as outlined in the video, is something that ‘is not new’ but something we miss in urban populations. I love growing my own veg at home, and consider myself to know quite a bit about agriculture, however, I cringe a bit, every time I visit a farm to see waste, or hear of food getting wasted. In the Montreal rooftop greenhouse outlined in the video, there is very little food waste, as produce is eaten very soon after production, with minimal transportation. Incredible.
Educating city folk on where food comes from, my final passion, really needn’t even be an issue. Hearing towards the end of the video, that urbanites were picking their own food and reducing the need for not only food miles, but resources, whilst seeding sustainability by knowing their food, just gave me so many warm fuzzies- we definitely need more of this.
So in this Ted Talk, Mohamed Hage, a Lebanese born Montreal-dweller, educates us on the disconnect I observe daily, and how to address it, by utilizing the ‘underwear’ of the building- the roof.
Sustainable agriculture means recycling water, optimizing energy use and growing without any synthetic pesticides, herbicides or fungicides. It doesn’t just stop at the farm.
- Water conservation: Recirculation of irrigation water and capturing rain water
- Pest control: Biocontrols take care of harmful pests
- Saving energy: Using half the energy to heat
- Compost: Composting organic waste on-site
- Freshness: Delivering the same day produce is harvested
Here is his business if you’d like to read more: http://lufa.com/en/ Please do- it’s an amazing website and concept.
Here we go, Canadians, once again, bawse.
Who else is up for greenhouses on supermarket/community centre rooves? Who would like to help me instigate this technology in Australia’s largest cities of Sydney and Melbourne?
HELP SPREAD THESE LITTLE SEEDS OF SUSTAINABILITY FOR ME!
Peace,
Jess