What Will Farming Look Like in 2050? As it stands, Big Agriculture companies like Monsanto dominate the farming industry with their patented, genetically-engineered crops. The burgeoning organic movement has slowly shifted the tide, but it's still hard to imagine a day when the small, organic growers hold sway over the multinational corporations that are currently in charge. Protofarm 2050, a project put together by Design Indaba, tries to imagine what such a sustainable farming future might look like--and how we can get there. Protofarm 2050 acknowledges that there is no silver bullet with the problem of sustainable farming, and instead focuses on an array of scenarios that could become viable in the future. So what makes Design Indaba think this will actually happen? Want to see what a sustainable future food system might look like? [Protofarm 2050]
Affnan's Aquaponics This Tokyo office building doubles as an urban farm (photos) 1/13 10 of 13 Pasona Group might be one of the largest staffing agencies in Japan, but it also has to have the most biodiversity in any corporate headquarters. In the company's 215,000 square foot office building in downtown Tokyo business meetings mix with broccoli fields, seminar rooms double as growing spaces for salad greens, guests are greeted by a rice paddy, and workspaces are separated by fruit trees. The building uses 43,000 square feet for growing space (20 percent of the building) for 200 different species of vegetables, fruits, and rice. But it's not just a novelty concept, all of the plants are maintained by Pasona's employees along with an agricultural specialist. And the food that's harvested is used in the building's cafeteria. Here's a look.
Inside Urban Green New York Sun Works: The Science Barge The Science Barge is a prototype, sustainable urban farm and environmental education center. It is the only fully functioning demonstration of renewable energy supporting sustainable food production in New York City. The Science Barge grows tomatoes, cucumbers, and lettuce with zero net carbon emissions, zero chemical pesticides, and zero runoff.From May to October 2007, the Science Barge hosted over 3,000 schoolchildren from all five New York boroughs as well as surrounding counties as part of our environmental education program. In addition, over 6,000 adult visitors visited the facility along with press from around the world. The Science Barge: now in Yonkers, New York The ownership of the Science Barge program has been assumed by Groundwork Hudson Valley, located in Yonkers, NY. “The Science Barge is not only an invitation to ideas and learning, but to change.” Read more: ShareThis
Four Simple Do-It-Yourself Soil Tests Learning as much as you can about your soil will help you decide what needs to be done to make it ideal for the plants you want to grow. If you can learn about your soil’s texture, composition, drainage, acidity, and mineral density, you will avoid, up front, the disappointing results that can occur when your soil is unsuitable for your dream garden. Soil Test #1: The Squeeze Test One of the most basic characteristics of soil is its composition. In general, soils are classified as clay soils, sandy soils, or loamy soils. Clay is nutrient rich, but slow draining. To determine your soil type, take a handful of moist (but not wet) soil from your garden, and give it a firm squeeze. It will hold its shape, and when you give it a light poke, it crumbles. Now that you know what type of soil you have, you can work on improving it. Soil Test #2: The Percolation Test It is also important to determine whether you have drainage problems or not. Dig a hole about six inches wide and one foot deep.
AGRITECTURE Fish Farmacy, LLC - University of Arizona Controlled Environment Aquaponics Greenhouse The University of Arizona' Controlled Environment Aquaponics Greenhouse was constructed in the summer of 2008. Intensive aquaculture production was integrated with intensive greenhouse hydroponic vegetable production. The 2,500 sq. ft multi-bay greenhouse is capable of producing approximately 480 - 960 kilograms (1,058 - 2,116 pounds) of tilapia and 13,312 – 26,624 plant crops per year (depending on the crop). Environmental monitoring and control systems allow the grower to optimize the environmental parameters for maximizing crop yields. Water chemistry is maintained and nutrients are supplemented to meet the target crops nutritional demands. Organic Materials Review Institute (OMRI) certified organic plant cultivars are grown using biologically processed fish effluents and OMRI listed organic nutrient supplements. Fish are reared from egg to a harvest size of 1 kilogram (2.2 pounds). There are two plant production bays (625 ft² each) with individual environmental controls.
About the Urban Homestead project | Urban Homestead ® - Path to Freedom In the mid-1980s, our family set out to do the seemingly impossible: To create a new revolution in sustainable urban living. Finding ourselves owning a run-down circa 1917 craftsman-style house in the metropolis of Pasadena (the 7th largest city in Los Angeles County) and just 15 minutes from downtown Los Angeles with the intersection of 134 and 210 freeways 30 yards from our home, we shelved our dreams of idyllic country living and "five acres and independence" and decided to do what we could, with what we had -- RIGHT NOW. No one thought it was possible. Residents in our low income, mixed race neighborhood thought we were the "crazy white folks." We forged ahead, calling our project the Urban Homestead® model and with no small means of blood, sweat and tears, we worked to transform this ordinary 66' x 132' urban lot [LINK: Comparison Diagram of Property ] into a self-sufficient city homestead with an organic garden that now supplies us with food year-round.
MIT City Farm | As part of the City Science Initiative at the MIT Media Lab, ... vegitecture Digging through the archives based on the last couple of posts, I was definitely struck by the myriad shapes and sizes that these vertical farming proposals take and the overall excitement that has grown in a short amount of time. This caused me to want to dissect them a bit further in terms of form and function for growing food in efficient ways. First a bit of background from the 'invention' of vertical farming on this video featuring Dr. Dickson Despommier. Discounting for a second those proposals that incorporate indoor hydroponics using artificial light - the idea of growing in buildings using sunlight is the focus (some info about the indoor varieties) of many other projects out there. These proposals include this one from last year which got a lot of attention, Harvest Green by Romses Architects, featuring vertically integrated food production. :: images via Treehugger Another smaller scale example from Romses Architecture features the idea integrated into a eco-community.