High-Tech Urban Farming In Paris

Paris is opening the largest cultivation company in the world. With its Parisculteurs project, France, along with other cities, is strongly committed to urban agriculture. This creates an opportunity for Dutch businesses.

The Parisculteurs project aims to green another 100 hectares in Paris this year. A third of this is earmarked for urban farming. There is much interest among Parisians for locally-grown products. There is also a need for green areas in this large French city.

There is, therefore, great enthusiasm for a project such as this. However, in many cases, it is a challenge to realize such a project. Space in the city is limited and expensive. The use of pesticides will be met with great resistance too.

Innovative techniques are, therefore, often used for urban agriculture. These include vertical farming and mixed cultivation. But digital aids also play a significant role in urban agriculture. For example, water-monitoring sensors are used in hydroponic systems.

No fossil fuels

The French startup, Neofarm, has taken its first high-tech greenhouse into use. It is located just west of Paris. Just a few kilometers from Paris lies the small town of Saint-Nom-la-Breteche. There, on a 1,000m2 plot, Neofarm is growing carrots, lettuce, and beans.

By planting different kinds of vegetables together, pesticide use is kept to a minimum. The startup is also busy developing a weeding robot. It uses online decision-making tools to optimize the process. In this way, Neofarm wants to develop a model for micro-farms.

They want to make it possible to cultivate high-quality organic products. That on little land, close to the city. With this model, the startup also wants to contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. For example, their farm uses no fossil fuels. The healthy soil can store CO2 too.

Another French startup, Agricool, grows strawberries in containers. And since recently, herbs too. For this, this company uses an entirely closed system. Various sensors monitor it. According to Agricool, this closed system uses 90% less water than conventional farming.

Innovation

The importance Parisians attach to locally-produced products, therefore, ensures innovation in the chain. In France, there is a trend toward more organic, locally produced goods. Taking this into account, these developments will, more than likely, continue in the next few years.

This trend is also the case in other European countries. That offers opportunities for Dutch businesses. They can respond to these developments. They can, for example, supply materials that can be used at these types of urban farms.

Source: Agroberichten Buitenland / Renske Buisman

Publication date: Tue 11 Feb 2020

Living Wall Garden Bringing Tranquility To Historic Downtown San Bernardino

'This green area will be somewhere people can go and breathe fresh air,' Viva La Boba owner David Friedman says

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By BRIAN WHITEHEAD | bwhitehead@scng.com 

San Bernardino Sun

A garden is being planted in San Bernardino, but not where you might expect.

Here, there is no lush green space, no playground nearby for children to burn off energy. The spot gets, at most, four hours of sunlight a day and can easily be missed by even the most observant passersby.

And yet, San Bernardino-born-and-raised sisters Adrienne Thomas, Vanessa Dean, and Nedra Myricks could not have found a better place for their nonprofit’s latest community project.

Thanks to a grant from the Arbor Day Foundation in conjunction with BNSF, SistersWe and Viva La Boba owners David Friedman and Tansu Philip are planting a living wall garden on the side of a vacant brick building near the Breezeway in the heart of downtown San Bernardino.

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David Friedman, Viva La Boba owner, right, looks back while mounting vertical wall planters to a 100-foot-long, 18-foot-tall brick wall with SisterWe sisters, from left, Nedra Myricks, Vanessa Dean, and Adrienne Thomas during The Historic Downtown San Bernardino Living Pocket Park Project in downtown San Bernardino on Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2020. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

“Bringing San Bernardino back to life (with this project) is what I’m looking forward to, making it a little more people-friendly,” said Thomas, SistersWe president. “I’m really excited to see the wall coming in and things happening around San Bernardino. It’s been too long without anything to do or places to go.“This wall will bring and attract people to San Bernardino.”Pitched in 2018 as an environmental beautification project, “The Historic Downtown San Bernardino Living Pocket Park Project” and a second SistersWe project in Muscoy received grant funding last year, in part, for their health and environmental benefits.

On Wednesday, Jan. 15, a handful of volunteers and about two dozen fifth-grade students from nearby Jones Elementary School helped Thomas, Dean, Myricks, and Friedman bolt vertical planters to a 100-foot-long, 18-foot-tall brick wall near Fourth and E streets.

In the coming weeks, a hydroponics system will be woven through the felt planters and succulents and other plants will take their place in the living wall garden, a stone’s throw from the Rosa Parks State Memorial Building.

And keeping with the art theme permeating the area, local artist Nathaniel Gelston plans to paint a mural in the alleyway.

Friedman, who owns several buildings downtown, sees such investment in the once-bustling entertainment corridor as the catalyst for the revitalization of San Bernardino.“My generation, we want to live in an urban culture, one that’s more sustainable,” he said. “We want to walk, bike. You see the youth rallying around downtown, and with the preservation of historical artifacts, historical buildings, comes a sense of art, and artists seem to want to congregate around this area.“

This green area,” Friedman added, “will be somewhere people can go and breathe fresh air. Somewhere they can take a break and go back to work or go back to their house. That’s important to have in any urban environment.”

In addition to their work this week, Thomas, Dean, and Myricks will add 15 more trees to green space at California and Nolan streets in Muscoy at 8 a.m. Wednesday, Jan. 22.

The trio’s “Muscoy Pocket Park Project” includes plans to add 20 raised-bed family garden plots, a farmer’s market, movie nights and other family activities throughout the year.

Myricks, the oldest sister at age 71, joked Wednesday she and her siblings are busier now, in retirement, than they ever were as professionals.“These are things all of us need to really embrace,” Thomas said. “San Bernardino really needs something. It needs a spark of life, and with all the young people involved in this, I’m really looking forward to the future.”

Singapore Hotel Turns Over A New Leaf With Aquaponics Farm

What Goes Around Comes Around in The Fairmont's Rooftop Garden

Producing Vegetables and Fish for Guest Meals

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Fiona Carruthers

AFR Travel Editor

Feb 19, 2020

In New York and London, rooftop gardens have become the must-have accessory for any self-respecting luxury hotel. In what is being touted as a first for a Singapore hotel, the Fairmont has joined the crowd with an urban aquaponic farm.

Aquaponics involves growing plants without soil, using a “closed, circular system” that channels the waste from living fish to fertilize the plants, which in turn filter and clean the water for the fish.

By August, the hotel expects its farm to provide 30 percent of its monthly vegetable needs.

The plants are grown on flatbeds and in densely packed towers.  The 450-square-meter farm, launched late last year, was created on a covered outdoor terrace on level five, wedged between the 26-story Fairmont and its adjoining Swissôtel sister property. Both are part of French chain Accor, as is historic Raffles across Bras Basah Road.“

We need to manage sustainability and climate change,” says Michael Issenberg, chairman and CEO of AccorHotels Asia Pacific. “Accor is working to eliminate plastic, food wastage, and to generally improve our ecological footprint. The aquaponic farm is a superb initiative.”Stumbling into this farm, you find yourself surrounded by edible greenery including english spinach, water spinach (kangkong), mint and numerous varieties of lettuce. The plants are grown in rows of flatbeds and densely packed towers.

In large containers at the back of the farm, 1600 tilapia fish play their part in this cycle. The bad news for said fish is that by next month, the Fairmont will be serving them as meals.

The greenery is already gracing the dining tables of the three hotels, featuring in a signature aquaponics salad.

At a glance

Fairmont Singapore Solid five-star luxury with more than 700 rooms and suites located in two towers (north and south). Book in the north tower – the rooms have undergone a lavish renovation, and the higher floors overlook Marina Bay. (Our top tip: don’t miss dining at Jaan by Kirk Westaway on the 70th floor of the adjoining Swissôtel.)

Raffles Singapore Following its extensive refurbishment, the 115-room Raffles re-opened in late 2019 and is more wow than ever. As the saying goes: “When visiting Raffles, don’t forget to see Singapore.”

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The newly renovated Raffles Singapore is open for business.

British Airways Flies direct from Sydney to Singapore. Unfortunately, it’s still the old Club World business-class product on the route. But old or new seats, the champagne tastes the same.

The writer traveled to Singapore with British Airways and stayed as a guest of AccorHotels.

Lead photo: The plants are grown on flat beds and in densely packed towers.

How To Do Urban Vertical Farms Properly

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11/02/2020

Sarah Buckley

Framlab, a creative agency, has proposed democratized vertical urban farming for lower socio-economic demographics in Brooklyn’s boroughs, entitled Glasir. 

Glasir is a project that intends to intervene with the current agriculture and water concerns, with its equally concerning economic ramifications. 

“The borough of Brooklyn has seen an explosive economic growth throughout the last decade,” says Framlab.

Between 2001 and 2015, there has been an improved job creation rate, but with its development, it has seen both positive changes and a high degree of social stratification, with a correspondingly high degree of nutritional inequality. 

As Brooklyn is largely understood as a ‘foodie’s paradise’, it conversely also has a 20 percent food insecurity rate. 

Glasir is supposed to be deployed initially in the borough’s poorest and least food secure areas – neighborhoods such as East New York, East Flatbush, Canarsie, and Flatlands.

“With studies proving a direct correlation between food insecurity and health risk, Glasir’s proposition to offer affordable, locally-grown produce has the potential to not only boost the nutritional profile of the residents’ diet, but also plant the seed for societal and economic betterment in these neighborhoods.”

“By combining the flexibility of modularity with the efficiency of aeroponic growth systems, the projects offer self-regulating, vertical farming structures that can provide neighborhoods with affordable, local produce year-round.”

The trees are characterized by a monopodial trunk with rhythmic growth, developing tiers of branches, following Rauh’s model. 

Additionally, the style of growing plants aeroponically, as was experimented with by NASA, proves a comparable crop to yield as opposed to traditional, geoponic cultivation.

The exclusion of soil leaves very little room for unexpected variables and makes aeroponics a highly flexible growth system. 

The system is centered around a subscription service model for the periodic distribution of crops to households, businesses, and schools.

The structure is further designed to be physically explored/played upon and invite its community to harvest fruits and vegetables.

It also utilizes drone technology to deliver the greens to and from its destination, and with minimized waste material and decreased cost, alongside stored harvested energy that can be used to charge electrical bikes, mobile devices, and integrated lighting, these structures will act as an ecological and technological hub, guilt-free.

Texas A&M AgriLife Expands Urban Agriculture Research

A living, vertical salad bar in the employee break room is more than just a novelty at the Texas A&M AgriLife Center at Dallas. It is a small, and delicious, sign of the comprehensive urban agriculture research ramping up at the center in 2020.

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Genhua Niu, Ph.D. Texas A&M AgriLife Research professor of controlled environment agriculture, with an indoor vertical garden system at the Texas A&M AgriLife Center at Dallas (Texas A&M AgriLife photo by Patricia Moran)

The purple-glowing installation arrived at Dallas with Genhua Niu, Ph.D., and Texas A&M AgriLife Research professor of controlled environment agriculture. Her research team represents one component of an overarching push by Texas A&M AgriLife to realize sustainable production of nutritious food within cities — the next frontier in commercial agriculture.

Niu’s research is in urban horticulture specifically. This can conjure images of community and backyard gardens, or rooftop and balcony plant installations, but her focus is producing quality food in controlled environments. Her studies are especially relevant in Dallas — of which certain communities are urban food deserts — and they carry promising implications for agriculture industries across rural Texas, too.   

“AgriLife’s substantial investments in urban agriculture innovation reflect our commitment to better human nutrition and health at every interval along the food supply chain,” said Patrick Stover, Ph.D., vice chancellor and dean of Texas A&M’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and director of AgriLife Research. “In addressing these obstacles, we can bring to bear the considerable research and extension resources of the Texas A&M University System.”

Bringing urban horticulture to Dallas
Niu comes to Dallas from the AgriLife Center at El Paso, where her work since 2004 hinged on research conducted in varying greenhouse settings. Now, controlled environments at the renovated urban center at Dallas allow her to direct innovation toward vertical farming systems housed fully indoors.

Niu earned her doctorate in horticultural engineering at Chiba University in Japan as controlled environment agriculture there gained momentum in the 1980s. The research area has seen rapid growth in recent years on the heels of climate change concern and increasing limitations of global open-field production. 

Greenhouses, the focus of much of Niu’s research to date, also pose obstacles to agricultural economics and environmental sustainability.

Niu said plants utilize about 43% of sunlight to grow; the surplus becomes heat. And glass and clear plastics — typical greenhouse covers — can make temperature control difficult during harsher outdoor conditions. Consequently, these systems require energy-intensive heating and cooling in winter and summer. 

“There are still problems to economic feasibility, like very high upfront investment and operational expenditures,” Niu said.

But opportunity for controlled environment agriculture, or CEA development, is ripe across Texas.

Niu peers into vertical grow rack. (Texas A&M AgriLife photo by Patricia Moran)

On the horizon: Seedlings
For example, she said, many open-field crop producers — who comprise the majority of Texas farmers — acquire transplant seedlings from out-of-state sellers who grow them in controlled environments. Valuable Texas examples include tomato and pepper transplants produced in winter. Dollars for out-of-state seedlings might be kept in Texas down the line by bolstering the state’s own urban production capacity, and by delivering emerging knowledge to farmers and urban upstarts via the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service.

On the practical side of implementation, Niu said, “In my opinion, it would be easier to do in Texas because we have high temperatures, which means lower heating costs in winter than northern states.”

Better technology: Controlled environment agriculture
She also seeks opportunities for improving controlled environmental agriculture technology.

“How can we design lighting systems in a way that the plants use most efficiently?” she asked. “How do we use less energy and produce more lumens? Can we reduce labor costs through automation? Do we need to heat the whole greenhouse or just the nutrient solution? How do we control temperature efficiently while improving quality and productivity?”

These are the questions her team works to answer in Dallas. At the same time, the second edition of Niu’s co-edited and co-authored textbook, Plant Factory: An Indoor Vertical Farming System for Efficient Quality Food Production, is available following its publication in late 2019.

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LED light fixtures in a vertical grow rack at Dallas (Texas A&M AgriLife photo by Patricia Moran)

The 33-chapter text is a collaboration with Niu’s Chiba University mentor Toyoki Kozai, Michiko Takagaki and other contributors to the CEA field. It covers the latest information on each area of controlled environment horticulture: plant-light responses, advances in LED technology, environmental effects on plants as well as production for pharmaceuticals and transplant production among a range of other CEA topics.

Niu’s research in Dallas over the next year aims to expand emerging knowledge in these areas. Her laboratories now house controlled environment studies of leafy greens, and she will pursue future research on specialty greens, pharmaceutical-grade plant production and a range of other controlled environment agriculture systems.

“It is a field of innumerable possibilities,” Niu said.

Find urban horticulture program information, a curriculum vitae and listing of Niu’s publications at dallas.tamu.edu/urbanhort. 

Source: AgriLife Today (Gabe Saldana)

Publication date: Wed 19 Feb 2020

Darragh McCullough: Vertical Farming Is All The Rage, But The Downsides Will Limit Its Potential

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What grows up, must come down: Vertical farming presents interesting possibilities, but it has its limits

Darragh McCullough

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February 20, 2020

Vertical farming is all the rage. It makes great click-bait by combining key buzz words: 'technology' in the form of new LED lighting; 'novelty' food that some celebrity chef can shout about producing beside their New York restaurant, and 'sustainability' courtesy of zero food miles and a low carbon footprint.

Your phone's news feed is probably similar to my own.

There are so many stories about this tech that you would be forgiven for thinking that there is going to be a vertical farm at every traffic light next time you make it into the city.

But beyond the low-energy LED lights in colours tailored to turbo-charge plant growth even in the depths of winter, you realise that we've had vertical farms for decades.

More recently, I've seen production in tunnels and glass take on vertical formats. Modern glasshouses are now so tall that each line of tomatoes or peppers is tended to via nifty little scissor lifts. I see the same trend in tunnels, with 4m high tunnels now standard in new soft fruit set-ups.

When I visited the Farmony vertical farm in Ballycoolin, west Dublin for Ear to the Ground this year, we all had to gown up before being allowed access to the growing unit.

It might have appeared a bit over-the-top given that we were just stepping into a converted refrigerated truck container that has a few pumps, fans and extra sockets fitted.

But by manipulating every single aspect of this growing environment - and maintaining near-sterile conditions - the people behind Farmony claim that their 80 square metre unit can produce the same amount as a 5ac field. That's a 250-fold increase in the productivity per square metre, which is impressive by any measure.

Farmony is focusing on the unit's ability to grow leafy salads and herbs, especially the baby and micro-leaved versions that are so beloved of chefs and foodies.

Normally these are flown in from places like Africa, Israel and further afield at this time of year when it's just impossible to grow them commercially here in tunnels or glass.

The beauty about using refrigerated truck containers is that they are insulated, allowing the grower to maintain ideal temperatures at a relatively low cost.

They are also pretty secure and mobile so that they can be parked anywhere there's room for a truck container.

The idea is that they'll pop up in carparks, basements, and office block roofs, regardless of whether that's in baltic Belfast or boiling Beirut.

Farmony claims that the €87,000 price tag is a snip given that the herbs the container is capable of producing would pay that off after all costs in about two years.

The downsides? The unit should be able to work well for produce that is 95pc water and has a short growth cycle of just 1-3 weeks. These plants don't need a lot of heat and light to get to a saleable point. But if you wanted to grow a more carbohydrate-dense food - like any root crop, or even a strawberry where only a small fraction of the plant that you've poured light and heat energy into ends up being saleable - the calculations start to unravel.

And, much and all as we should be reducing our calorie intake, there's only so much salad that a body can take.

We'll certainly see more of the LED light tech being incorporated into existing production systems like tunnels and glass, and there are interesting possibilities for old mushroom tunnels to be repurposed as salad units.

But there's a lot to be said still for good old-fashioned horizontal farming.

Indo Farming

Green Infrastructure Conference Call For Proposals

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/

Bowery Is Sprouting In Baltimore With A New Automated Indoor Farm

With a mission to democratize food access, the indoor farming startup sees the White Marsh location as a mid-Atlantic hub.

By Stephen Babcock / STAFF / 2/20/20

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Inside Bowery's indoor farming operation. (Courtesy photo)

On land in White Marsh that was once associated with a working farm, new growth is taking root. But it didn’t require clearing away the building on the site: All of the growing is done inside.

“We are turning what was once an industrial warehouse back into a modern farm,” said Katie Seawell, chief marketing officer of Bowery Farming.

In early November, Bowery Farming opened a new indoor farming operation inside the warehouse on Franklin Square Drive and has been ramping up operations.

First flagged by Fast Company, it’s the third and largest farm for the New York-based startup, which in 2018 raised $90 million in a round led by Google Ventures.

Using technology that allows farming to go beyond the limits that the land imposes, the company has a mission to democratize access to fresh produce. It initially opened two farms in Kearney, New Jersey, serving the tri-state area.

With the expansion to Baltimore, the company is seeking a wider foothold in the mid-Atlantic. Seawell said the White Marsh location will open up distribution into a 150-mile radius where it can reach a potential 25 million people.

The company looks to hire locally even as it thinks regionally, and Seawell said White Marsh proved to be a transit-accessible location.

When it is fully-staffed, Bowery Farming expects to have about 80 farmers working at the space, in a mix of hourly and supervisory roles. Even for folks with no prior farming experience, Bowery looks to offer opportunities for farmers to move up within the organization as they gain skills. The farmers rotate through different roles on the farm, learning different aspects. Seawell recalled one farmer whom she met in the early days of the Kearney farm when he had a role in the packing section.

“I just ran into him last week and he was now in a support role for the ag science team,” she said.

They also seek out opportunities to support growth. In New York, the engineering team recently taught a coding class.

Inside the farm itself, hydroponics — the process of growing plants without soil — is key to the vertical farming operation, and technology plays a big role, too. CEO Irving Fain teamed with cofounders to apply technology to a big mission area. The team devised a system called BoweryOS to run the farm, which uses visual systems, sensory systems and automation. With data-gathering techniques and machine learning, the company sees its farms as a network, so the data is helping to build on what’s been done at the other two locations.

“Even though it’s the newest farm, it’s the smartest farm we’ve ever had,” Seawell said.

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Bowery Farming from above. (Courtesy photo)

When it comes to the crops themselves, the farm has leafy greens and herbs in the market now. They’re available through Amazon Fresh, and Bowery is working on developing retail partnerships in the region to bring produce in the spring and summer. The company is also working to move beyond the “leafy green” category, which is often a staple of indoor farms and is testing other crops. It also has a partnership to regularly deliver hundreds of pounds of produce to the Maryland Food Bank.

Vertical farming doesn’t only upend the traditional growing model. With a wider food system that often involves food being shipped long distances, Bowery’s indoor farming approach yields lots of promise to bring production closer to where it’s eaten, employ local folks and offer a pesticide-free product.

Still, indoor farming remains new, and it’s entering an existing market with plenty of other produce players. As such, it has to make a product that’s attractive to folks, as well, and Seawell said the company has also put a lot of time and care into not just the operations, but also how it tastes.

“We believe we have a great-tasting product,” Seawell said.

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UK’s Urban Agritech Sector Welcomes Announcement of Official Representative Collective

UKUAT Formalized As A Membership

Organization For Urban Agriculture

06 February 2020

The UK’s evolving agritech sector today welcomes the formation of a new membership group – the UK Urban AgriTech Collective (UKUAT).

UKUAT brings together the UK’s key players in modern agricultural technologies. It is a cross-industry group devoted to promoting the application of high-tech food production in urban areas to improve both local and wider food security by relieving dependence on resource-intensive supply chains. It will also be exploring the social, operational and metabolic synergies urban agritech can exploit through its integrations with the built environment which are conducive to more dynamic local economies and richer placemaking.

UKUAT’s 25-strong membership includes commercial urban farmers, multinational technology companies, renewable energy companies, architects, built environment professionals, academics, research-based organizations and more. It hopes to grow this number to 75 over the next two years and operates with a common representative voice to share information, educate and advocate for further adoption of urban agriculture in the UK. It will influence policy and help shape the debate around how high-tech food production in urban and peri-urban areas addresses increasing demands for a more transparent, sustainable and resilient UK food system.

Founder and Director Mark Horler commented: "We founded UKUAT to amplify the collective voice and activities of the agritech industry in the UK. As it continues to grow rapidly, and with that rate of expansion accelerating, the UK is positioned to be an international leader, both in the development of agricultural technology and its implications for more sustainable and resilient food systems"

Oscar Rodriguez, Director of design consultancy Architecture & food and UKUAT member said: “The UKUAT community is coming together at a very interesting time. Concerns over UK food security have emerged following Brexit and UKUAT believes leveraging agricultural technology and expanding our indigenous food production capacity while engaging urbanites to be more conscientious about their eating patterns are crucial ends of a worthy proposition.”

UKUAT was founded in 2017 by Mark Horler and formalized in January 2020. It continues to grow its presence in the UK and is collaborating with numerous international organizations to advance agritech solutions in urban and peri-urban environments across the world.

 -          ENDS -

Sent on behalf of UKUAT. For more information please contact: Mark Horler, UKUAT - email:  info@ukuat.org

Urban Farming: Technology And Tradition

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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.

Zimbabwe: A Backyard Hydroponic Farm Beats Drought To Grow Vegetables

Hydroponically grown plants require no pesticides because there are no soil-borne diseases.

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BY: BY MACDONALD DZIRUTWE

21 JAN 2020

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Innovation ... Venensia Mukarati, whose day job is an accountant, always had a passion for farming, but no land on which to plant (REUTERS / Philimon Bulawayo)

In a backyard in Zimbabwe’s capital, a 50-year-old mother of two is using hydroponics to grow vegetables for some of Harare’s top restaurants, defying drought and an economic crisis that have left millions needing food aid.

Venensia Mukarati, whose day job is an accountant, always had a passion for farming, but no land on which to plant.

Just over two years ago she did a web search on how to grow vegetables on the deck of her Harare house, importing a small hydroponics system from Cape Town for US$900 that enables plants to draw soluble nutrients from water.“

The good thing about hydroponics is that it saves water by 90 percent,” Mukarati said in a 46 square-meter greenhouse where water flowed in a maze of pipes decked with plants.“

I buy water because I don’t have a borehole so I cannot do conventional farming,” she told Reuters.

Her immediate desire was for fresh vegetables for the family as the country’s economic fortunes deteriorated and grocery store prices spiraled. But she quickly realized her pastime could be a profitable venture. It now makes US$1,100 a month – in a country where some government workers get just US$76.In hydroponic farming, water is conserved because it is reused multiple times. Hydroponically grown plants also require no pesticides because there are no soil-borne diseases.

Much of southern Africa is in its worst drought in more than a century, with crops failing and some 45 million people in need of food aid. The region’s temperatures are rising at twice the global average, says the International Panel on Climate Change, spurring the need for innovative ideas to get food on tables.

Harare also faces chronic water shortages due to aging pipes and a shortage of dollars to import treatment chemicals.

It takes six weeks for Mukarati to harvest vegetables such as lettuce compared to 10 weeks if the crop is grown in the soil.

She initially grew 140 plants per cycle – now she produces 2,600, including lettuce, cucumbers, spinach, and herbs in two greenhouses fed by a makeshift system using gutter pipes from the roof.

Lesley Lang, a restaurant owner who buys Mukarati’s produce twice a week, said she had “the best lettuce I have ever had the pleasure of buying in Zimbabwe”.

Mukarati hopes to quadruple production from June by constructing bigger greenhouses on 2,600 square meters of land on the outskirts of Harare.

Last year, she began training others to do the same, designing a hydroponic “starter pack” which she sells for US$200. – Reuters

Lead Photo: New ways … A worker tends to plants at Venensia Mukarati’s hydroponic garden in Harare (REUTERS/Philimon Bulawayo)

US: South Carolina - Vertical Roots Hits The Road In Their Lettuce Localmotive, Spreading The Good Word of Hydroponics

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First stop Saturday on Daniel Island

Posted by Shannon Murray 

Fri, Feb 14, 2020

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The technology of planting crops has revolutionized over the years.

The hydroponic growing system is simple — nutrient-filled water replaces traditional soil in order to grow the plant, and for the first time since we started tilling land, farmers can grow crops without the soil beneath their feet.

Hydroponic container grower Vertical Roots is taking one of their shipping container farms on the road — they're hitting the streets with the Lettuce Localmotive, teaching people about the process of growing lettuce. They'll be making stops at Publix and Greenwise Markets across the country. 

RELATED Tiger Corner Farms produces full-scale, aeroponic crops in recycled shipping containers: The Future of Farming

Unlike traditional farms, the Vertical Roots' containers grow plants vertically indoors without soil, with the plants obtaining all their nutrition from water and their light energy from powerful LED lights.

During tour stops, guests will get a hands-on experience with seeding lettuce, learn how technology manages the growing process, and get schooled about all the benefits of this alternative way of farming.

The first stop of the tour is at Vertical Root's home base — Charleston. Check them out at the Daniel Island Publix this Sat. Feb. 15 from 10 a.m.-4p.m.

Making Vertical Farming Big In The UK

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Lucy Sherriff Contributor 

Entrepreneurs

Journalist covering social business and environment

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Growing greens in a Vertical Future farm - VERTICAL FUTURE

Food technology and vertical farming are both growing markets. In 2018, vertical farming was worth $3bn globally and it is predicted to grow to $22bn between 2019 and 2026.

British-based husband and wife team Jamie and Marie Burrows founded Vertical Future with aims of being “the largest urban vertical farming company in the UK”.

“We produce high-quality, sustainable produce, primarily baby leaf vegetables and herbs, as well as developing efficient and sustainable methods of food production and supply,” explains Jamie.

The company has one active production site which has been operational for three years and services more than 100 food establishments in London.

“We’re focused on improving population health by building better, smarter, more sustainable food production and supply systems,” says Jamie. “Advancements in basic technologies associated with vertical farms have improved the business case for vertical farming businesses.”

Jamie says this, combined with increases in population and urban population density, has led to a “steep rise” in the number of vertical farming businesses, primarily in urban areas.

There were no vertical farms as recently as 2010; as of 2016, there were 2.3 million square feet of indoor farms worldwide.

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Inside a Vertical Future farm - VERTICAL FUTURE

French Public Buildings To Be Built With 50 Percent Wood

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Lizzie Crook 

The French government has announced plans for a sustainability law that will ensure all new public buildings are built from at least 50 percent timber or other natural materials.

The measure will be implemented by 2022 and affect all public buildings financed by the French state, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).

"I impose on all the public establishments which depend on me and which make the development or the policy of land to build buildings with materials which are at least 50 percent of wood or bio-based materials,"  the country's minister for cities and housing Julien Denormandie told the French news agency.

Bio-based materials are made from matter derived from living organisms, with examples including hemp and straw.

Like wood, they have a significantly lower embodied carbon footprint compared to other construction materials like concrete and steel.

"We made this commitment for the Olympic Games"

The proposal aligns with France's Sustainable City plan launched in 2009, and also president Emmanuel Macron's drive for the country to be carbon-neutral by 2050.

The comment by Denormandie to AFP was made following his seminar at the Living in the city of tomorrow event at UNESCO on February 5.

During the event, he explained that his decision to introduce the law encouraging the use of bio-based materials was informed by the construction of the 2024 Paris Olympics complex. Any building in the development that rises more than eight stories will be built entirely from timber.

"We made this commitment for the Olympic Games," Denormandie said, reported Le Figaro. "There is no reason why what is possible for the Olympic Games should not be possible for the usual constructions."

100 urban farms to be built in city suburbs

According to Denormandie, the French government will also invest €20 million (£16.8 million) for the imminent construction of 100 urban farms in city suburbs.

The farms are set to be built in priority neighborhoods – designated areas within cities that need additional investment to combat specific problems. The hope is to create greener suburbs across France and introduce more opportunities for locally grown produce.

"As a father, I prefer that what is on my children's plates come from the local area, rather than being imported on a plane," Denormandie said.

Architects Populous and engineers Egis first revealed the masterplan for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games in 2017. In recognition of the city's commitment to tackling climate change, the proposal is hoped to be the most sustainable Olympics yet.

It will make use of a number of existing buildings in the city, and see temporary venues installed in front of some of the capital's most famous attractions.

News follows other sustainable construction initiatives

Denormandie's plans to make France's construction industry more sustainable follows a number of other eco-friendly initiatives in recent months, in response to the growing effects of climate change.

Last year, Paris revealed its plans to go green by planting "urban forest" around architectural landmarks, and in the UK RIBA published the Sustainable Outcomes Guide to help its members and the wider architecture industry avert the climate disaster.

Related story

Paris plans to go green by planting "urban forest" around architectural landmarks

Elsewhere, Foster + Partners' introduced a sustainability manifesto that will go beyond current environmental certification schemes, and Snøhetta pledged it will make all of its buildings carbon negative within 20 years.

The main photo is by David Foessel. Odile Guzy Architectes' social housing scheme in Chalon-sur-Saône, France

Triple Threat

Vertical Harvest takes a new approach to CEA by focusing on the three bottom lines of people, profit and the planet, employing a staff of workers with different abilities.

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Patrick Williams | Photos by Allison Krieg

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When visitors walk into Vertical Harvest’s luminous three-story glass building for tours, they’re stepping into the architectural brainchild of Nona Yehia.

The singular combination vertical farm and greenhouse grows specialty greens, leafy greens, microgreens, and tomatoes using LED lights, robots and moving hydroponic carousels.

An eclectic mix of workers, many of whom have intellectual and physical disabilities, take care of the futuristic farm and its many technologies, growing some of the freshest produce around.

The Jackson, Wyoming, grower aims to provide those with disabilities opportunities for upward mobility, says Yehia, who is co-founder and CEO. The operation, she says, provides an example of how farms can change the perception of the abilities of workers with disabilities. Workers who often only have opportunities in entry-level jobs thrive here in an environment where they can help solve some of the world’s most pressing problems, including land and water shortages and other environmental issues.

“It’s the way Vertical Harvest is a team that’s conceived of the company that’s really different, saying that you can do well by doing good and that it actually benefits the bottom line of the business to do so,” Yehia says.

She says Vertical Harvest would never open a farm without helping an underserved population, whether that be people with disabilities or other underserved groups, such as refugees or veterans. And Vertical Harvest aims to expand; for example, it is developing a vertical farm project in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

Vertical Harvest maintains high standards for its produce, too. Daily, it regulates three separate growing environments that, with the glass walls, are influenced by the outside environment. It follows integrated pest management protocols and offers a varied product mix — including 30 different microgreens varieties — catering to chefs, high-end restaurants and grocery stores.

“I like to say that people come to us because of our mission, but they come back because of the quality of our produce,” Yehia says.

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Vertical Harvest in Jackson, Wyoming

The mission

From the outset, passions about social issues and the environment influenced Yehia, Caroline Croft Estay and Penny McBride to found Vertical Harvest in 2010.

When she met McBride at a party in 2008, Yehia was well established as an architect, with 13 years under her belt at E/Ye Design, where she was partner with Jefferson Ellinger. While her architectural knowledge and experience helped her design a distinctive greenhouse-vertical-farm, she also wanted to address some of the social problems in America.

“I have a brother with developmental disabilities. … This country’s done a very good job of nurturing and including this population during education, but when it comes to employment, you’re on your own,” she says. Her focus on nurturing and inclusion would prove essential to Vertical Harvest’s mission.

McBride, a sustainability consultant, was looking for unique ways to sustainably and efficiently grow produce, Yehia says. Jackson imports most of its food, but a foodie scene in the short summers illustrated a need for local, fresh food. Many consumers were not satisfied with produce that was shipped in and sold in local grocery stores.

While the demand for better product was there, it proved a challenge to find land where they could build a controlled-environment farm. The surrounding public lands minimize areas that can be used for construction. “Ninety-five percent of the land that is developable is already developed,” Yehia says. “So, locating a greenhouse that might serve our downtown community was actually kind of a difficult proposition.” They settled on a tenth of an acre next to a parking garage and looked to the skies for more real estate.

To build up Vertical Harvest’s social mission, Croft Estay, a longtime employment facilitator, looked to the Employment First model, which the U.S. Department of Labor says is based on the idea that everyone, including people with disabilities, should be able to work well-paying jobs in integrated workplaces that offer benefits and opportunities for advancement. Croft Estay also followed an approach called customized employment, which involves a personalized relationship between employer and employee that helps both parties.

From there, Croft Estay developed Vertical Harvest’s “Grow Well Employment Model,” which Yehia says involves spreading customized employment and Employment First throughout the company’s culture. (Croft Estay is now director of diversity and inclusion at Vertical Harvest; McBride is a shareholder.)

In addition, Yehia and her colleagues were inspired by Arthur & Friends, a hydroponic greenhouse in New Jersey that Wendie Blanchard founded to employ people with disabilities. Blanchard named the operation after her nephew Arthur Blanchard, who has Down syndrome and enjoys growing produce with workers both with and without disabilities, according to New Jersey Monthly.

“She’s been consulting around the country for people who want to be more inclusive in their growing practices and employment practices, so that was really an inspiration from the very beginning,” Yehia says.

People with disabilities are the largest minority group in the United States, Yehia notes, and more of them need opportunities to excel in the economy. “It’s an important thing to be able to bring together all the research and understand, being that this is surrounded around this effort into corporate cultures,” she says.

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Some of Vertical Harvest’s team

Offering empowerment

Vertical Harvest opened its 13,500-square-foot facility in 2016 to meet the needs of its rare mountain town. Nestled in the Jackson Hole valley, Jackson lays about 5 miles from Grand Teton National Park and about 80 miles from Yellowstone National Park. It’s a ski town and many people come and go, Yehia says. Some move there after college, then eventually leave for other opportunities.

“There’s a very transient employee base,” she says. “On the other hand, there’s a group of people who live and work here, or want to find consistent employment here, but experience very high unemployment.” She says among people with physical and intellectual disabilities, there’s about a 78% unemployment rate.

Nineteen of Vertical Harvest’s 34 employees have disabilities. That level of inclusion provides a healthy balance of different perspectives, Yehia says.

“What happens sometimes is that you might employ one or two people with a form of a disability, and then in the end they feel more segregated because they are almost separated out from the rest of the culture,” she says.

In addition, Vertical Harvest uses language that is meant to be empowering. Rather than saying people have “disabilities,” they prefer to say they have “different abilities.” “It’s not like we’re scared of the word ‘disability,’” Yehia says. “But we prefer the word[s] ‘different ability’ because we work toward bringing out people’s ability.”

Every day, Emily Churchill, director of production, visits the departments of tomatoes, lettuce, microgreens and integrated pest management. Throughout the process, she works with people with various abilities.

“My senior grower for lettuce [Michelle Dennis] is one of our employees with a different ability, and I talk to her probably five times a day, making sure the harvest is on track and the transplanting and all of that stuff — whereas some of our other employees who work in microgreens have their routine down and they are less social and they just like to put their headphones in and seed,” Churchill says.

Decision-making at Vertical Harvest follows a triple bottom line of profit, people and the planet, Churchill says. “Maybe one of our managers will take 30 minutes out of her day to sit down and have a one-on-one meeting with her employee to check in or to ask what they need help with and what they’re enjoying,” she says. “On paper, that looks like we’re losing 30 minutes of work that day, but actually, that’s 30 minutes that is going to one of our triple bottom lines.”

The energy in the greenhouse reflects the resourceful collaboration among its team, Churchill says. “I’m reminded of how revolutionary it is when new people come into the greenhouse and they’re kind of blown away by what we’re doing,” she says.

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Vertical Harvest’s greens grown under LED lights

Glass-box transparency

Vertical Harvest’s glass-walled design allows it to use the external environment to its advantage as much as it can, Yehia says. Borrowing ventilation, heating, air conditioning and lighting from the outside saves energy. But these clear walls also reflect the business’ openness.

“We’re in a glass box, so the transparency with which we run our company is key to every element of Vertical Harvest,” she says.

The farm quickly makes its produce available at retail and consumers are noticing, Churchill says. “For us to be able to provide food that was harvested the day that someone buys it or the day before you buy it, is so different compared to anything else you can get in a grocery store,” she says. “And I think you can really taste it when you eat the product.”

Vertical Harvest started working with the Teton County School District on a program called “Fancy Food Fridays.” Every Friday for two months, the students tried a different microgreen. Then, if their parents would bring them to the farm, they would already be familiar with the product.

“When parents would come to the greenhouse with their kids, their kids were like, ‘Hey, Mom, this is my favorite microgreen,’ which, if you can imagine that, it’s pretty exciting, being able to introduce kids to this very, very new and important crop,” Yehia says.

Vertical Harvest also hosts a hospital market with St. John’s Hospital every week and it’s working with the University of Wyoming on a nutritional study to explore the health benefits of local produce. Consumers not only value that Vertical Harvest provides local produce but that it conducts education and outreach, Yehia says.

“A consumer can really come and see all of Emily’s good work in her growing her lettuce, and then when they go to a grocery store, see us on the menu, they know exactly where that head of lettuce comes from,” Yehia says. “I think that’s a really important shift and why interest in our brand is growing — because it is really important that it is located in the heart of the community, not only for employees to be able to access it but also our anchor institutions.”

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Product cards for Vertical Harvest’s microgreens

Expanding the model

The management and operational cultures at Vertical Harvest are laying the groundwork for expansion to other cities, Yehia says.

“Everything that we build there, we always say, ‘Could we do this in Lancaster?’” she says. “’Could we do this in any other greenhouse that we’re going to?’ and ‘How would we share this procedure or this practice or policy with other greenhouses?’”

Many CEA growers build their farms around intellectual property or growing technologies, but Vertical Harvest takes a different approach, she says.

“We are operators; we are farmers, so we build our intellectual property on our standard operating procedures and in our employment model,” Yehia says. “And so that is really what we are always looking at — how do we communicate with each other, how do we track data, how do we make something more efficient?”

At Vertical Harvest, the workers who grow microgreens are among the first people in the industry learning how to grow it, Yehia says, providing an example of how the farm empowers its community. Underserved populations, she says, will be leaders in the communities where the operation plans to expand.

“In our town, that was about people with different abilities,” Yehia says. “In another town, it might be refugees or veterans.”

The project in Lancaster could start as early as 2020, Yehia says. Then, Vertical Harvest could bring its model to other cities in the United States and beyond.

“If you invest in the people and the materials of your community, then you really strengthen not only the local economy, but the ethos, and you really empower a community,” Yehia says. “And I think that is worthy of being part of every urban community, to be another kind of civic building that we look at, like a community center or a library even.”

Singapore: Going Beyond Urban Farming

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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.

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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.

Framlab Proposes Modular Vertical Farms For Brooklyn Neighbourhoods

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Kristine Klein | 31 January 2020

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Creative agency Framlab has proposed building modular vertical farms in Brooklyn to provide low-income neighborhoods with access to fresh produce.

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The conceptual Glasir project comprises a stack of greenhouse-like modules that could be built in various locations across the New York borough, where Framlab's research has found that 20 percent of the population are food-insecure.

A Glasir farm would be constructed on top of a stand with an area of just four square feet (0.37 square metres). It is designed to be installed in a wide variety of places, including alongside sidewalks, in backyards or public parks.

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Three types of modules called Production Module, Growth Module and Occupation Module would feature in each structure. Each unit would be framed with cross-laminated timber and could be stacked in different configurations depending on the space or the area's circumstances.

The Production Modules would be where the vegetables are grown. They would be topped with a solar panel and fronted with polycarbonate and aluminum mullions.

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The system would use aeroponics, a process for cultivating plants in which crops are grown in mist environments rather than soil. In addition to being water-efficient, this system would also allow faster growth and enable plants to absorb more nutrients, according to Framlab.

"These systems are extremely water-efficient — requiring less than 10 percent of the water necessitated by traditional, geoponic cultivation, while allowing the use of fertilizers and pesticides to be drastically reduced," Framlab said.

"In addition, aeroponic growth environments enable plant roots to absorb much higher levels of minerals and vitamins, which yield vegetables that pack a stronger nutritional punch."

Each unit features an aeroponic tray, water feeder line, and water trunk line. Plants would be watered through mist nozzles attached inside each Production Module.

Water would be pumped through the structure's irrigation system, a closed-loop network made up of Growth Module components that act like trunks, branches, and feeders, to the misters.

"Glasir is a project that seeks to utilize a tree's adaptable growth processes as a dynamic framework for high-yield, vertical farming," said Framlab.

"Through the elevation and distribution of production modules, the system enables high-yield, local production of greens and vegetables, while engaging with the streetscape as a distinct new urban figure."

In addition to the Production Module and the Growth Module, the Occupation Module would provide platforms and pathways for people to move through the structure.

Framlab imagines that each Glasir would be fitted with artificial intelligence (AI) sensors that would be used to monitor plant growth and environmental conditions. Eventually, the AI would be used to inform how to grow each structure.

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The modules would be stacked by crane-equipped trucks but the team also has plans to implement drone transit that would eventually both build and deliver modules, when the technology is proven viable.

It also imagines that in the future drones would also be used to deliver food to local residents.

In addition to its function as a source for harvesting food, Glasir could also serve as a social space for people offering shade and shelter during the day and illuminating its surroundings at night.

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Framlab was founded by Norwegian designer Andreas Tjeldflaat, and has offices in Bergen, Norway, and New York.

In 2017, the studio proposed adding clusters of honeycomb-like pods to the sides of buildings to address New York City's growing homeless population.

Other vertical farming proposals include a modular housing complex by Precht in which residents produce their own food, a multi-storey bamboo-framed structure by Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners and a conceptual skyscraper by Pawe l Lipiński and Mateusz Frankowski envisioned for locations across sub-Saharan Africa.

Can You Fit A 2-Acre Garden In A Shipping Container?

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WRITTEN BY SAM BURNS

As the bustling streets of Brooklyn, New York rumble nearby, most passersby have no idea there’s a bountiful garden just steps away. It may have something to do with the fact that this garden’s not in a field or in someone’s lawn but in a parking lot, with acres and acres of fresh food growing inside shipping containers! 

When people can’t go to the farm, why not bring the farm to the people? That’s what Square Roots is doing by growing fresh, nutritious food in cities to feed the communities around them.

Tucked away inside your everyday shipping container is the equivalent of a two-acre farm. Leaves from a variety of herbs and greens line the walls in columns, as purple lights shine on them and young farmers are hard at work tending to their needs. Let’s take a look at how this all works and what it means for our future with food!

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Courtesy of Square Roots

As we face growing populations and changing climates, our ability to grow enough food to support everyone’s health remains in question. But this fascinating look into the future of food with Square Roots gives us the inspiration to keep pushing the barriers on our definitions of what “farming” is, where it happens, and who does it.

On a mission to bring nutritious food to people living in the city and counteract the nutrient loss that happens in our typical food system (when produce is shipped many, many miles), Square Roots is perfecting a sustainable model of farming that can change what we can eat in our growing cities.

To give us an introduction to their work, here’s BEME News:

Dive deeper into Square Roots!

Square Roots has sure been up to a lot in the two years since that video was released! Not only are they continuing their awesome Next-Gen Farmer Training Program to help young people get started in the industry, but they’ve also taken major steps to increase the transparency of information about our food and access to it with some amazing new launches!

Since Square Roots has data collection and technology in their DNA, they’ve decided to let the public in on it. In late 2018, they started putting QR codes on the back of all of their produce packaging so consumers can read the life story of their food; where it was grown, when, how, and by whom! Think about that: when was the last time you knew who picked that bag of spinach you just plucked off the shelf? Or what sort of environment it’s coming from? Square Roots Transparency Timeline lifts the curtain on the stories of our food system and hands the consumer more power. (Read more about their Transparency Timetable here!)

Last year, Square Roots opened its first farm campus outside of New York City!

Gordon Food Service, one of the United States’ leading foodservice providers, has signed on to have Square Roots campuses of indoor farms built on or around their distribution and retail centers around the country. Square Roots wrote in their blog that:

“It’s been exciting for us to witness a company as large as Gordon Food Service move so fast to address the increasing consumer demand for locally-grown food. It’s also very clear that Gordon Food Service takes its role as a responsible member of the food supply chain seriously. They recognize that, at their scale, adoption of innovative solutions like Square Roots can drive significant positive change throughout the entire foodservice industry.” 

We couldn’t agree more! When the goliaths in any industry shift their practices, they can begin a huge ripple effect. And this first farm is surely a big one. Read more about the farm–which they opened in September 2019 (congrats, y’all!)–in this blog post!

You can learn more about Square Roots by visiting their website or touring one of their farms in person! And subscribe to their blog to receive updates from them directly in your inbox. (They post great stuff! I highly suggest taking a look.)

Give them a follow Instagram and Twitter to stay connected!

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View of the Square Roots Brooklyn Farm Campus | Courtesy of Square Roots

Can you imagine what it’d be like if your family had access to fresh food all year round?

How would that impact your lives? As our societies and populations have grown steadily over the years, it seems like we’ve been scrambling to establish a food industry that can accommodate our needs. But something else has been happening as humanity grows: our innovations have adapted. We’ve developed new technologies and uncovered more secrets from the natural world, meaning, we have an immensely better grasp on how plants grow and the tools needed to help them. Every year inches us closer and closer to a solution.

Square Roots is a really great piece of the puzzle, but of course, they aren’t the only ones using their knowledge to make a dent in this problem.

What can you do?

Well first, if you live in New York City you can use this locator to see if Square Roots is selling their produce at a market near you. (And make sure you scan those neat QR codes on the back of their produce—they’ll give you all of the information about who grew the food and where it comes from!)

But for the rest of us without a shipping container garden in a parking lot nearby, what can we do? I’ll just give you one piece of advice (and trust me, I’m giving it to myself as well): grow a plant inside! Any plant! Basil, thyme, spinach, tomatoes, strawberries, I don’t care. If you can avoid buying one product at the market, that’s a great start. Plus, you’ll know exactly where that wonderful basil on your hunk of mozzarella came from. This article can give you some ideas.

If that doesn’t seem like something that’s possible, there are also great directories to find farmer’s markets and CSA’s near you! A simple Google search should suffice in pulling up your local options. But for those living in the United States, the Department of Agriculture’s farmer’s market and CSA directories are a really great resource. Just click those respective links and enter your zip code to see what’s happening near you!

Do you have any other tips? Share with us on Twitter or Facebook!

Stay open to new possibilities!

• Sam

“No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.” —Albert Einstein 

The Growing Technology of The Future on Master Chef Sweden

January 22, 2020

Now the smart farming technology of the future is making a real entry into the Swedish households via TV.

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The chefs participating in the popular TV4 program Master Chef Sweden spice up their dishes by harvesting vegetables directly from the hydroponic herb-wall, installed in the studio. The system is supplied by foodtech company Swegreen.

Master Chef Sweden is one of Sweden's most popular television programs with viewership figures of around 1.3 million per episode. The program runs on TV4, and celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. To spice up the decade anniversary season, the production company Meter Television together with TV4 decided to let the competing chefs harvest vegetables on-site while broadcasting.

Hydroponic growing technology builds upon crops growing in vertical planting systems without the use of soil, where nutrients are added and solute into the irrigation water. The technology allows for cutting down up to 99% of the water consumption figures compared to traditional farming. Swegreen has installed two hydroponic green walls in the studio of Master Chef Sweden, one with leafy greens and diverse salads and one with different herbs and spices.

Swegreen runs one of Europe's largest fully circular and smart urban farming facilities, at Kungsholmen in central Stockholm on floor -3 of the iconic Newspaper Tower, DN.

- The new hydroponic and vertical farming technology enables the cultivation of greens and herbs in the urban environment and creates great settings for sustainable and local food production. At our facility, we can recycle both water and nutrients as well as energy by the help of our advanced technology; and of course, we distribute our products locally to avoid unnecessary transportation, says Swegreen's CEO, Andreas Dahlin.

- To begin with, we are proud of the collaboration with Master Chef Sweden and for allowing the TV audience to see and get to know about the herb-wall in one of the country's most popular TV programs. In addition, we hope to raise consumer awareness over the sustainability issues in our mainstream food chains and that food could be produced close to where it is consumed, says Andreas Dahlin.

SweGreen is an innovation and technology company providing futuristic, smart and circular solutions for controlled-environment urban farming which enables vertical farming entrepreneurs to use it under a licensed model, by the help of remote monitoring and data-sciences.

For more information:

Andreas Dahlin, CEO, andreas.dahlin@swegreen.se +46(0)709-240032
Sepehr Mousavi, Chief Sustainability Officer, sepehr.mousavi@swegreen.se +46(0)733-140033

US: Local Bartender Opens Hydroponic Farming Company In Patchogue New York

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February 5, 2020

Nicholas Esposito

Many locals in Patchogue know Cory Mahony for his skills behind the bar at James Joyce Pub.

What most don’t know is after his late-night shifts, he heads a few blocks west in the village to a 1,000-square-foot building.

There, he takes his bartending gear off and begins his passion work as a hydroponic farmer.

For the uninitiated, hydroponics, known as vertical farming, is a growing style using technology to produce food in a “controlled, soilless setting,” according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

“With hydroponics, you use 90 percent less water than traditional farming and everything grows 50 percent faster,” said Mahony.

The 24-year-old first learned of the style while flipping through a Forbes Magazine article.

“I read about it a couple of years ago,” said Mahony. “I thought it was so cool, so fascinating.”

So he began doing his due diligence. He bought books and spent countless hours researching online.

He remembers the first thing he ever grew in his parents’ house in Holbrook.

“It was basil,” he said. “It actually came out really good.”

Then he made arugula. Then butterhead lettuce.

He shared his yield with his friends and family, and they all loved it.

“I felt I can do it after that,” he said.

Mahony told GreaterPatchogue that hydroponics is a forgiving style of farming because you can fine-tune the plants by adjusting nutrient levels, the light intake, and how acidic or basic crops are.

“You can ‘hack the plants,'” he said. “You can change the flavor profiles by changing these factors.”

After graduating from Stony Brook University with a degree in business and entrepreneurship, he began his work as a bartender. His goal was to stash away as much cash as possible so he could move his growing operations to a larger location.

After two years, Mahony found the perfect spot for his company, Urban Fields Agriculture, at 37 Bransford Street in Patchogue.

“It was 2 a.m. at [James Joyce] and a real estate agent was at the bar,” Mahony said. “She pulled out the MLSLI app, we saw the spot, and I checked it out first thing in the morning.”

He officially moved into the space three months ago.

He’s growing what made him famous amongst friends: basil, arugula, and lettuce. Mahony also grows nutrient-packed microgreens. And everything is organic and GMO-free, he says.

“You can grow anything, too,” added Mahony. “I’d like to stick to the leafy greens because they grow faster.”

Urban Fields Agriculture’s first harvest was last month.

He plans to sell his products to local restaurants and, eventually, nearby supermarkets.

Dave Chiarella, co-owner of PeraBell Food Bar in town, is a big fan of Mahony’s work.

“The basil is delicious and beautiful,” said Chiarella.

The Main Street restaurant uses the local farmer’s crops in its cocktails.

“We make a nice bourbon drink with them and named it the Urban Bourbon,” added Chiarella.

As he continues to grow his business, Mahony looks forward to filling the nearby eateries with his freshly-grown products.

“There can be a blizzard outside and I am still coming with your locally, grown order,” said Mahony.

To learn more about Urban Fields Agriculture, click here.

Scroll down for photos.

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The soilless crops at Urban Fields Agriculture

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Cory Mahony at his 1,000-square-foot farming facility in Patchogue

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Cory Mahony plucking some basil

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Argula growing at Urban Fields Agriculture

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Cory Mahony harvests his first basil in Patchogue

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Nicholas Esposito Content Manager

Nick Esposito is Greater Long Island's content manager and an award-winning journalist who studied at St. Joseph's in Patchogue. If you have story ideas, please email him at nicholas@greaterlongisland.com.