Urban Farms. They Might Save the World.
Getting food to your mouth actually requires quite a large carbon footprint. That water that was shipped from Canada? That kiwi in from New Zealand? That steak from Chicago? It all requires good ol' gasoline to get to you. It makes a world of difference if you are close to your food source. "But I live in giant city," you say, "and I don't eat rat!" Ah, then, that's why we need urban farms.
Brought to us in 1999 by Dickson Despommier, a professor of public health at Columbia University, "vertical farms" were studied by Despommier and his graduate students for a class on medical ecology, the study of how the environment and human health interact. (Damn, I should have taken classes that weren't thermodynamics and separation processes.) The idea was, essentially, farms in cities. Because footprints are small in cities, the buildings would extend upwards, which provides benefits of its own.
Well, Professor Despommier's idea is getting traction. The New York Times reports that Scott Stringer, the Manhattan borough president, is trying to make these a reality.
All photos are from the New York Times.
Brought to us in 1999 by Dickson Despommier, a professor of public health at Columbia University, "vertical farms" were studied by Despommier and his graduate students for a class on medical ecology, the study of how the environment and human health interact. (Damn, I should have taken classes that weren't thermodynamics and separation processes.) The idea was, essentially, farms in cities. Because footprints are small in cities, the buildings would extend upwards, which provides benefits of its own.
Well, Professor Despommier's idea is getting traction. The New York Times reports that Scott Stringer, the Manhattan borough president, is trying to make these a reality.
Despommier and his students envisioned 30-story building that could provide food for 50,000 people. There are challenges a go-go. First off, even the smallest footprint, in a city, is very expensive and there is a bucket of competition for space. As Armando Carbonell is quoted in the NYT, "Would a tomato in lower Manhattan be able to outbid an investment
banker for space in a high-rise? My bet is that the investment banker
will pay more.” The construction of the very building requires an amazing amount of energy, what with throwing up all of that steel and concrete. That goes against the very principals of the tower. Once the vertical farm is up, how do you keep insects and bacteria from invading your crops?
The buildings would also use renewable energy (solar, wind and wastewater). Because the crops are in a controlled environment (like in your living room), they are free from the effects of weather like cold, hail, floods, monsoons, hurricanes, drought... all that stuff that ruins millions of tons of food annually. NASA's also very interested, thinking this is the way we'll grow crops in space. Oh, and I must say, these crops would be all hydroponic, which means you'll get a whole MOUTH full of cucumber when you eat one of these. Strong stuff.
But could this actually work? Let's check in with downtown Seattle, where a small-scale vertical farm won a design competition in 2007. Designed by Mithun, a Center for Urban Agriculture, would supply about a third of the food consumed by the 400 residents. Here is a photo.
Me likey. The design has piqued other cities' interests, like Portland, OR and NYC. As I mentioned, the president of Manhattan borough is interested in making this a reality, and I'd be all for that. The most obvious problem, though, is that the 30-story buildings that Dickson Despommier has designed would cost hundreds of millions of dollars to put up. Until diminishing greenhouse gas emissions tops our priorities, I don't see this happening.
I sure do wish it was our top priority. Urban farms are some HAWTaction [hot ak-shuh
n].
The buildings would also use renewable energy (solar, wind and wastewater). Because the crops are in a controlled environment (like in your living room), they are free from the effects of weather like cold, hail, floods, monsoons, hurricanes, drought... all that stuff that ruins millions of tons of food annually. NASA's also very interested, thinking this is the way we'll grow crops in space. Oh, and I must say, these crops would be all hydroponic, which means you'll get a whole MOUTH full of cucumber when you eat one of these. Strong stuff.But could this actually work? Let's check in with downtown Seattle, where a small-scale vertical farm won a design competition in 2007. Designed by Mithun, a Center for Urban Agriculture, would supply about a third of the food consumed by the 400 residents. Here is a photo.
Me likey. The design has piqued other cities' interests, like Portland, OR and NYC. As I mentioned, the president of Manhattan borough is interested in making this a reality, and I'd be all for that. The most obvious problem, though, is that the 30-story buildings that Dickson Despommier has designed would cost hundreds of millions of dollars to put up. Until diminishing greenhouse gas emissions tops our priorities, I don't see this happening.I sure do wish it was our top priority. Urban farms are some HAWTaction [hot ak-shuh
n].Join the HAWTaction reader group on Facebook.
A complimentary approach with vertical farming is sub-acre SPIN-Farming which is now being practiced throughout the U.S. and Canada. SPIN makes it possible to earn $50,000+ from a half acre by growing vegetables on land bases under an acre in size. SPIN farmers utilize relay cropping to increase yield and achieve good economic returns by growing only the most profitable food crops tailored to local markets. SPIN's growing techniques are not, in themselves, breakthrough. What is novel is the way a SPIN farm business is run. SPIN provides everything you'd expect from a good franchise: a business plan, marketing advice, and a detailed day-to-day workflow. In standardizing the system and creating a reproducible process it really isn't any different from McDonalds. So by offering a non-technical, easy-to-understand and inexpensive-to-implement farming system, it allows many more people to farm, wherever they live, as long as there are nearby markets to support them, and it removes the two big barriers to entry – sizeable acreage and significant start-up capital. By utilizing backyards and front lawns and neighborhood lots, SPIN farmers are recasting farming as a small business in cities and towns and "right sizing" agriculture for an urbanized century. While vertical farming will still take some time to get off the ground, sub-are farming is already showing how agriculture can be integrated into the built environment in an economically viable manner.
Great comment, Roxanne. Now you have me wanting a back yard. Don't be surprised if you see a SPIN post on HAWTaction in the next few weeks. I want to learn more...
Thanks for reading, and thanks for the comment.
John
I can't wait for my hydroponic garden salad.
I'm the best blogger, ever.
- JLF
I really think this is an amazing way to cut costs in every aspect of farming...I think the SPIN idea is a great thing to do either way but building these vertical towers in major cities will drastically reduce the growing food shortage in our world today. Im involved in trying to get the first tower up an running: http://www.thepoint.com/campaigns/vertical-farm-in-new-york-city
Good luck, Stephen! I'd love to see one of these in Brooklyn!