Public Works: Vertical Farming

By Patrick Metzger

A new breed of urban farm visionaries says "Go big, or go home."

You’ve likely heard of the 100 mile diet: sourcing all your food from farmers within 100 miles of home. But what if you could keep the kids in comestibles from a farm a couple of subway stops away?

In recent years, awareness of the health and environmental benefits of locally-grown food has spiked, with commensurate increase in demand. Meanwhile, the relentless press of humanity continues to chew up Ontario farmland like a swarm of bipedal locusts, replacing crops with fibreboard townhouses and strip mall 7-11s, while the ghost of Tom Malthus nods with grim satisfaction.

To help supply meet demand, there’s a growing interest in urban farming, both here and around the world. Toronto already boasts more than two hundred community gardens which help supply inexpensive, nutritious food to Torontonians, while also teaching old-school skills to those tilling their hobbit-sized fields.

Still, the output of community gardens is necessarily small. Available land is limited, production is labour-intensive, and distribution is logistically challenging. But what if we could figure out urban food production on an industrial scale? What if we had downtown farms that could feed not just a few households, but whole neighbourhoods?

Welcome to the vertical farm.

A few years back Gordon Graff, a University of Waterloo architecture grad student, proposed a towering urban farm for downtown Toronto. The boldness and novelty of the idea grabbed headlines, but the $1.5 billion price tag failed to attract developer interest.

However, high-rise farming is moving forward elsewhere. Alterrus has begun construction on a 5,700 square foot hydroponic facility atop a parking garage, which will grow leafy green vegetables in a “vertical growing system.” Besides being more efficient space-wise than single-level farms, the company claims their technology produces higher crop yields and uses fewer resources than conventional field agriculture.

On a larger scale, Plantagon, a Swedish company majority-owned by the Onondaga Nation in New York state, has broken ground on their first vertical greenhouse in Linköping, Sweden. Expected to be in production by 2014, the 57 metre (approximately 15 storey) structure (pictured at right) not only grows green, but will use waste CO2 and other outputs from nearby industrial facilities to run the operation.

Plantagon also says that their technology needs only five per cent of the water necessary for crops grown using traditional methods, and being indoors, doesn’t require the use of pesticides.

The Swedish installation is essentially a pilot. Ultimately, Plantagon aspires to building greenhouse skyscrapers that can feed thousands.

But urban industrial farming isn’t all visioneering and pie in the sky. A test farm has been up and running in South Korea since 2011. A larger working vertical farm has been operating since last year in Singapore, and now produces and sells half a ton of vegetables per day.

The idea has its detractors. Skeptics argue the whole idea is unscalable, and that large vertical farms would be insatiable consumers of energy to keep the plants lit, healthy, and harvested—the Plantagon greenhouse will be powered by a diesel generator, surprising for a notionally green installation. They also point to the limited types of crop that can practically be grown in vertical facilities, and to the human labour needed to substitute for machines used on conventional farms.

High rise factory farming may be less bucolic and more Bladerunner than we’d prefer. But with the population of the GTA expected to rise to 9.3 million people by 2036 (and that of the planet to a staggering 9 billion) and urbanization, climate change, and other human folly shrinking existing cropland, Cityplaces full of spinach may be the only thing standing between us and Soylent Green.

 

Source: TorontoIs

 

A. M. Awan
(Author)

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A M Awan Currently working as Marketing Executive at Oasis Agro Industries Pakistan, and hobbies to read about agriculture, share latest information with others

Going Organic

“Going Organic”

As this article will show, “going organic” is not simply a question of changing your brand of pesticide or fertilizer (though you may well do this). It involves a change of approach, treating the garden as a complete entity where natural systems are promoted and encouraged to thrive. You will start developing long-term strategies for maintaining soil fertility and managing pests and diseases.

Getting started

The best way to go organic is to take the plunge—to start using organic methods, and give up chemical methods, in every area of your yard at once. This article is full of practical advice to help in the conversion process, whether you’re starting with bare ground, clearing a weed patch, or converting an existing garden. These practical guidelines let you know just what is, and isn’t, appropriate to do or use in an organic garden. They concentrate on practices that aim to make a garden as self-sufficient as possible—but, recognizing that there may be a need to buy organic fertilizers, for example, or to use a pest-killing spray, particularly when you are converting a garden, the Guidelines also advise on what products are acceptable.

How long does it take?

Commercial growers converting to organic methods are required to go through a transition period, usually three years. During this period the land is managed organically, but produce cannot yet be sold as organic. Depending on past management, you may find that your garden takes time to adapt, or everything may flourish from the start! 

Change the way you shop

Organic gardening products are available in some garden centers. specialty mail order catalogs usually supply a greater range. In an ideal world, anything you use in an organic garden would itself have been grown or produced organically. unfortunately, this is not yet possible; although the range is growing, at times you will have to use conventionally grown seed, for example, or manure from animals not raised organically. To conform to the organic principles of sustainability, always try to reuse and recycle waste materials from your own garden and locality. One exception to this rule is to dispose of any unsuitable pesticides and herbicides as soon as possible. However, you must not add these to household trash or pour them down sinks or sewers. Call your university extension for advice on disposing of them safely.

Outside help

If you are new to organics, or simply need advice or new ideas, there are organizations that can help. Organic gardening groups can be found all over the country, and these are especially helpful for advice on local subjects such as tackling problem soil. Your university extension service may be able to suggest organic solutions to pest problems. And many of the large gardening websites have organic forums where you can find advice or encouragement.