Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Monday, November 2, 2009
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Pasona O2
An underground rice and vegetable field beneath an office building in Tokyo's Otemachi business district. This urban farm - in what used to be the vault of a major bank - is maintained using computer-controlled artificial light and temperature management. It was brought into being by a personnel company as a means of providing agricultural training to young people who are having trouble finding employment and middle-aged people in search of a second career.
The "field" has an area of about 1,000 square meters. Tomatoes, lettuces, strawberries, and other fruits and vegetables are grown, as well as flowers and herbs (100 different produces). There is also a terraced paddy field used to grow rice.
The "field" has an area of about 1,000 square meters. Tomatoes, lettuces, strawberries, and other fruits and vegetables are grown, as well as flowers and herbs (100 different produces). There is also a terraced paddy field used to grow rice.
Modern Green Roof Technology
Green Roof Service LLC’s latest project pushes the limits even further and arguably, I believe it will be the most interesting project in the world! In September, 2008, we installed 15,000 sf of green roof on the cruise ship Celebrity Solstice at Meyer Werft (Ship Yard), in Germany. We literally shipped a green roof from Germany to the U.S., and soon it will sail all across the world.
Green Roof Statistics:
Type: Intensive with pre grown vegetative grass mats.
System: Custom engineered with modified Optigreen AG components.
Thickness overall: 5 inches.
Drainage layer: 1 ½ inch modified Optigreen FKD 40 Drainage board.
Growing media from Germany: Optigreen custom blend with 530 kg/cbm dry and 850kg/cbm saturated weights.
2 dimensional geo grid as reinforcement.
Vegetated grass mats: Soil-free turf of Agrostis stolonifera L93, or creeping Bentgrass (a cold season grass). Mowing Height: 10-15 mm
Green Roof Statistics:
Type: Intensive with pre grown vegetative grass mats.
System: Custom engineered with modified Optigreen AG components.
Thickness overall: 5 inches.
Drainage layer: 1 ½ inch modified Optigreen FKD 40 Drainage board.
Growing media from Germany: Optigreen custom blend with 530 kg/cbm dry and 850kg/cbm saturated weights.
2 dimensional geo grid as reinforcement.
Vegetated grass mats: Soil-free turf of Agrostis stolonifera L93, or creeping Bentgrass (a cold season grass). Mowing Height: 10-15 mm
Vertical Farming
The concept of indoor farming is not new, since hothouse production of tomatoes, a wide variety of herbs, and other produce has been in vogue for some time. What is new is the urgent need to scale up this technology to accommodate another 3 billion people. An entirely new approach to indoor farming must be invented, employing cutting edge technologies. The Vertical Farm must be efficient (cheap to construct and safe to operate). Vertical farms, many stories high, will be situated in the heart of the world's urban centers. If successfully implemented, they offer the promise of urban renewal, sustainable production of a safe and varied food supply (year-round crop production), and the eventual repair of ecosystems that have been sacrificed for horizontal farming.
The Living Skyscraper:
Year-round crop production; 1 indoor acre is equivalent to 4-6 outdoor acres or more, depending upon the crop (e.g., strawberries: 1 indoor acre = 30 outdoor acres)
No weather-related crop failures due to droughts, floods, pests
All VF food is grown organically: no herbicides, pesticides, or fertilizers
VF virtually eliminates agricultural runoff by recycling black water
VF returns farmland to nature, restoring ecosystem functions and services
VF greatly reduces the incidence of many infectious diseases that are acquired at the agricultural interface
VF converts black and gray water into potable water by collecting the water ofevapotranspiration
VF adds energy back to the grid via methane generation from composting non-edibleparts of plants and animals
VF dramatically reduces fossil fuel use (no tractors, plows, shipping.)
VF converts abandoned urban properties into food production centers
VF creates sustainable environments for urban centers
VF creates new employment opportunities
We cannot go to the moon, Mars, or beyond without first learning to farm indoors onearth
VF may prove to be useful for integrating into refugee camps
VF offers the promise of measurable economic improvement for tropical and subtropicalLDCs. If this should prove to be the case, then VF may be a catalyst in helping to reduce or even reverse the population growth of LDCs as they adopt urban agriculture as a strategy for sustainable food production.
VF could reduce the incidence of armed conflict over natural resources, such as waterand land for agriculture
The Living Skyscraper:
The Living Tower:
Advantages of Vertical Farming:
Year-round crop production; 1 indoor acre is equivalent to 4-6 outdoor acres or more, depending upon the crop (e.g., strawberries: 1 indoor acre = 30 outdoor acres)
No weather-related crop failures due to droughts, floods, pests
All VF food is grown organically: no herbicides, pesticides, or fertilizers
VF virtually eliminates agricultural runoff by recycling black water
VF returns farmland to nature, restoring ecosystem functions and services
VF greatly reduces the incidence of many infectious diseases that are acquired at the agricultural interface
VF converts black and gray water into potable water by collecting the water ofevapotranspiration
VF adds energy back to the grid via methane generation from composting non-edibleparts of plants and animals
VF dramatically reduces fossil fuel use (no tractors, plows, shipping.)
VF converts abandoned urban properties into food production centers
VF creates sustainable environments for urban centers
VF creates new employment opportunities
We cannot go to the moon, Mars, or beyond without first learning to farm indoors onearth
VF may prove to be useful for integrating into refugee camps
VF offers the promise of measurable economic improvement for tropical and subtropicalLDCs. If this should prove to be the case, then VF may be a catalyst in helping to reduce or even reverse the population growth of LDCs as they adopt urban agriculture as a strategy for sustainable food production.
VF could reduce the incidence of armed conflict over natural resources, such as waterand land for agriculture
Source: http://www.verticalfarm.com/
The Advantages of Simplified Hydroponics
Hydroponics, combining two Greek words that mean "water working," is a system that allows gardeners to grow more plants in a given space and that produces larger plants in a shorter time. Some advocates say the method improves the taste of garden crops too. What’s more, the plants best suited to hydroponics - cucumbers, tomatoes, and leafy plants such as lettuce and fresh herbs - are the very ones treasured by many city dwellers.
Most hydroponics systems are comprised of beds known as "grow modules" that are filled with an inert "substrate," or growing medium such as vermiculite or sawdust, which replaces soil to hold plant roots and moisture. A liquid nutrient solution runs through the beds to feed the roots. These roots are always kept moist, but are aired periodically so they don’t rot.
Commercial hydroponic systems can be intensive and expensive. In some cases, gangs of timers turn elaborate electric pumps and grow light systems on and off several times an hour. But hydroponic growing can also use simple technology. Yields from these "passive" systems are lower than from the intensive ones, but still better than a regular garden’s. Startup costs and maintenance are also lower. And unlike many larger, higher-tech hydroponic systems, the low-tech approach uses no electricity to water the garden.
Source:http://www.alternatives.ca/eng/our-organisation/national-program/the-rooftop-garden-project/article/urban-agriculture-reaches-new?lang=fr
Most hydroponics systems are comprised of beds known as "grow modules" that are filled with an inert "substrate," or growing medium such as vermiculite or sawdust, which replaces soil to hold plant roots and moisture. A liquid nutrient solution runs through the beds to feed the roots. These roots are always kept moist, but are aired periodically so they don’t rot.
Commercial hydroponic systems can be intensive and expensive. In some cases, gangs of timers turn elaborate electric pumps and grow light systems on and off several times an hour. But hydroponic growing can also use simple technology. Yields from these "passive" systems are lower than from the intensive ones, but still better than a regular garden’s. Startup costs and maintenance are also lower. And unlike many larger, higher-tech hydroponic systems, the low-tech approach uses no electricity to water the garden.
Source:http://www.alternatives.ca/eng/our-organisation/national-program/the-rooftop-garden-project/article/urban-agriculture-reaches-new?lang=fr
New Vancouver urban farm built on asphalt parking lot
A pilot farming project in Canada’s poorest area code is bringing dirt – without the hurt – to Vancouver’s gritty Downtown Eastside.
Volunteers worked tirelessly Saturday to build a community garden. Although urban community gardens are becoming common sights across Metro Vancouver, the East Hastings Street location is quite different because it will be a fully functional farm once completed.
Volunteers worked tirelessly Saturday to build a community garden. Although urban community gardens are becoming common sights across Metro Vancouver, the East Hastings Street location is quite different because it will be a fully functional farm once completed.
Urban Agriculture
The processes of population growth and urbanisation will lead to a more or less equal world-wide distribution of population in rural and urban areas by the year 2025. At present, however, there are great differences between the continents. Due to the rapid growth of Southern African cities, the basic needs of the citizens (shelter, food, education etc) are being undermined. Poverty levels in cities are high and research shows they are tending to increase. Recent surveys suggest that the locus of poverty is shifting to urban areas, making food insecurity and malnutrition an urban as well as a rural problem.
Urban agriculture is one of the livelihood strategies that vulnerable urban dwellers engage in. The main differences from rural agriculture are limitations of space, access to land, and water quality. In view of the lack of transport in many developing countries, the production of fresh, perishable vegetables in urban areas can be considered as “niche production”, complementary to the rural production of staple food.
Urban horticulture is dominating urban food production in many countries. Climatic and cultural conditions clearly affect the kind of production. Production sites are gardens, open spaces (often illegally occupied), road strips and riverbanks, fishponds, rivers, lakes and the proper houses of the families. Urban agriculture is typically informal, often illegal but wide spread, and often done under extremely difficult conditions.
Technical assistance to cities is needed to take advantage of the benefits of urban agriculture for city development and urban food security. Urban agriculture may help to solve some of the problems of city authorities through integrated programmes of waste water re-use and organic waste recycling, as well as through the integration of market wastes with urban fodder consumption.
Source:
http://www.actahort.org/members/showpdf?booknrarnr=643_29
Urban agriculture is one of the livelihood strategies that vulnerable urban dwellers engage in. The main differences from rural agriculture are limitations of space, access to land, and water quality. In view of the lack of transport in many developing countries, the production of fresh, perishable vegetables in urban areas can be considered as “niche production”, complementary to the rural production of staple food.
Urban horticulture is dominating urban food production in many countries. Climatic and cultural conditions clearly affect the kind of production. Production sites are gardens, open spaces (often illegally occupied), road strips and riverbanks, fishponds, rivers, lakes and the proper houses of the families. Urban agriculture is typically informal, often illegal but wide spread, and often done under extremely difficult conditions.
Technical assistance to cities is needed to take advantage of the benefits of urban agriculture for city development and urban food security. Urban agriculture may help to solve some of the problems of city authorities through integrated programmes of waste water re-use and organic waste recycling, as well as through the integration of market wastes with urban fodder consumption.
Source:
http://www.actahort.org/members/showpdf?booknrarnr=643_29
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