Urban Farms: Projects From Around The World
Urban Farms: Projects From Around The World
AUGUST 6, 2017
As social entrepreneurs find novel ways to make agriculture an integral part of urban life, I would like to share 10 innovative approaches with you from around the world:
Philippines: Quezon City Vice Mayor Maria Josefina “Joy” Belmonte’s campaign, “The Joy of Urban Planting”
The city currently has 68 farms of various sizes found in barangays, public-elementary schools, day-care centers, parishes and non-governmental organizations. The city works with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the Department of Agriculture, which provide financial grants. Even if city farmers fail to bring their items to market, urban farming is still a win-win situation. “If they don’t produce [enough] for selling, as long as they can eat their products to decrease the issue of malnutrition, it’s already a triumph,” Belmonte said.
GrowUp Box, London, UK
Kate Hofman and Tom Webster are giving new meaning to the phrase “box lunch” with their reinvented shipping container, the GrowUp Box.
Inside the 20-foot container, tilapia are farmed in tanks especially designed to ensure there is enough room for fish to grow, while on top, greens are cultivated in vertical columns. The water from the tilapia tanks circulates through the columns, where the fish waste provides nourishment to about 400 plants. The fish and greens are sold to area restaurants.
The project’s parent company, GrowUp Urban Farms, consults with people looking to build their own boxes and is set to start building the first commercial-scale aquaponics farm in London, Hofman said. http://growup.org.uk/#%21for-schools-and-universities/c1v6f
Beacon Food Forest, Seattle, Washington, US
The Beacon Food Forest in Seattle is turning a piece of public land into an edible forest garden. Residents will be welcome to forage in the forest, a 7-acre plot—adjacent to a city park—featuring fruit and nut trees, a pumpkin patch and dozens of berry bushes. The goal is to mimic a natural ecosystem, creating a space that requires less maintenance and offers higher yields, cofounder Glenn Herlihy says. http://www.beaconfoodforest.org/
Farmery, North Carolina and TBA, US
Benjamin Greene, founder of the Farmery, plans to make the journey from farm to store more efficient by eliminating it almost entirely.
The Farmery is an 8,000-square-foot market with food shopping on the lower level and mushrooms, greens and fruits growing on the upper level. Whatever is not grown on site will be sourced locally. http://www.thefarmery.com/
Sky Greens, Lim Chu Kang area, Singapore
Singapore, one of the most densely populated nations in the world, has little room available for farming. So inventor and entrepreneur Jack Ng created the Sky Greens system to grow more food in less space. Think of it as a plant skyscraper.
The equipment holds up to 32 trays of greens—including lettuce, spinach and a variety of Asian greens—on a tall, narrow A-frame structure. The plants slowly rotate, as if on a Ferris wheel, so each tray gets sufficient exposure to sunlight.
Sky Greens harvests and delivers vegetables to Singaporean markets every day. http://www.skygreens.com/
Brooklyn Grange, Brooklyn, New York, US
The Brooklyn Grange comprises two and a half acres of growing space high atop a pair of office buildings. “We’re looking at ways to increase food production without increasing agricultural footprint,” Spokesman Anastasia Plakias said.
The operation grows more than 50,000 pounds of food each year, which it sells through farmers’ markets, CSA subscriptions and wholesale accounts. In addition to boosting New York City’s local food supply, the farm also absorbs more than 1 million gallons of stormwater every year, reducing the load the city’s systems must manage. www.brooklyngrangefarm.com
Deu Horta Na Telha, São Paulo, Brazil
After 30 years of building urban gardens in São Paulo, agricultural technician Marcos Victorino started running out of cultivable land.
As part of his research work at local college Faculdade Cantareira, he designed a way to turn roofs, balconies and paved areas across the city into miniature farms. Victorino turns large roof tiles upside down, creating a long, V-shaped trough that can be filled with soil.
These tile beds are elevated, making them easily accessible to children and the handicapped. Because the tiles are watertight, they hold in moisture, allowing growers to make the most of an increasingly limited water supply.
Prinzessinnengarten, Berlin, Germany
The Prinzessinnengarten is an urban farm nestled in the shadow of the former
Berlin Wall, between unused subway stops, graffitied concrete walls and aging apartment blocks. Inside vine-covered fences grows a wide range of vegetables, all planted in easy-to-move containers—recycled Tetra Paks, rice sacksand plastic crates—that allow the entire operation to be moved if needed. Visitors can pick vegetables, learn about seed harvesting and vegetable pickling, or visit the café to enjoy snacks made from the garden’s produce. http://prinzessinnengarten.net/about/
Urban Organics, St. Paul, Minnesota, US
Located in a building formerly occupied by a commercial brewery, Urban Organics is an aquaponics operation that provides salad greens and fish to grocery stores and restaurants using just 2 percent of the water of conventional agriculture. Founder Fred Haberman, CEO of Minneapolis marketing agency Haberman, hopes the for-profit farm will prove the commercial viability of aquaponics and help spur economic development in the area. “If we can do that, I believe you’ll see more of these types of facilities popping up,” he said. http://urbanorganics.com/
Lufa Farms, Montreal, Canada
The goal of Lufa Farms in Montreal is to create a “local food engine”, says the company’s greenhouse director Lauren Rathmell.
At the heart of the operation are two sprawling rooftop greenhouses—currently totaling 1.75 acres—that produce a range of vegetables: greens and herbs, peppers and eggplants. The produce is packaged with locally sourced goods like handmade pastas, fresh bread and dark baking chocolate, and delivered to approximately 4,000 customers each week. https://montreal.lufa.com/en/
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