Why Urban Farms and Indoor Planting Are the Future? (2024)
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Why Urban Farms and Indoor Planting Are the Future?
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Written by Marília Matoso | Translated by Diogo Simões
Do you know what urban farms are? Have you ever thought about growing your own food at home in your garden or in specialized freezers? Transporting food for consumption in cities is one of the major environmental (and financial) pollution problems in the world today.
In a 2020 interview with Trip magazine, indigenous leader Ailton Krenak made the following observation that caught my attention: “Whatever you consume in the city, you do not produce in the city. It was there that the children’s idea that milk comes from a small box was born, because they don’t see the cow. And that water comes from the faucet, or the bottle, because they don’t see the source."
If every city in the world produced 10% of its food indoors, it would allow 34,000 m2 of land to be returned to forests every year. — Dickson Despommier, Columbia Professor of Public Health and Microbiology
Have you ever thought that the apple you eat could have come from thousands of miles away or even from another country? A giant cost of gasoline, packaging, distribution for a fruit?
In addition, we also lose the connection with food and nature. It is not uncommon to find children who do not know that potatoes grow underground and that nuts come from cashew seeds. When we don't know where what we eat comes from, we don't value what we have on our plate.
The World’s Largest Urban Farm
With this in mind, the current mayor of Paris, Ana Hidalgo, has just opened the largest urban rooftop farm in the world in the French capital. The project reinforces the thesis that large amounts of healthy food can be grown on a 100% urban farm and in a community way.
Urban agriculture projects aim to bring more green areas to cities by using building roofs for growing vegetables.
The urban farm in Paris is approximately 14,000 square meters and has more than 30 different species of plants that will use organic farming methods. Parisians have the opportunity to rent out areas for their own vegetable gardens. There are 135 one-square-meter plots available for rent. The annual rental price is 320 euros, but come on, how much do you spend on vegetables per year?
If you do not want to rent a lot, you can also buy vegetables through a certified collection point, reducing the need for transport to areas far from the city.
Collaborative Food
Food Studio is a branch of Ideo, a company specialized in design solutions, which seeks to rethink people's relation with food and its impact on cities and the environment.
In a recent interview with CityLab, the project's lead designers see the future of food as collaborative: communities will buy and grow food together in schemes much like urban farms, and will distribute this ready-to-eat food among them. One part will do the planting and the other will cook for those who need to work or study.
Very similar to what our ancestors did in the Neolithic period. A return to the past? I see this as survival for the future.
In fact, this view fits a lot with the research that we have already talked about here about how collaborative and community strategies will ensure survival in times of a pandemic at the expense of large distributions and corporations.
This would also guarantee food for a large part of the population, which does not have access to supermarkets and large food distributors, through government programs to donate seeds to be planted on roofs and rooftops.
Indoor Planting
There are also several companies working with indoor planting strategies, that is, growing food in homemade “refrigerators”, inside houses and apartments.
Startups like Willo have already been thinking about strategies for how to grow food indoors with closed vertical farms, which can later be operated in condominiums or buildings, supplying a local community.
Another company in the same field is Infarm, which together with IDEO built a vertical homemade farm using the concept of “farming as a service”. Through a monthly subscription plan, people can have their little farm monitored and will receive seeds and fertilizer at home in packages to take care of the plants according to their nutritional needs.
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Infarm's Indoor Growing. Image courtesy of IDEO
IDEO has even been rethinking how kitchen interiors might change if these initiatives really start to succeed. Compact and extremely functional kitchens adapted for the reuse and treatment of freshly harvested products can become a trend.
Questions
What other strategies can we think of to improve food distribution and cultivation?
How will these services impact the architecture?
What other initiatives can you think of to take advantage of land and roofs in your city?
How can architects and designers rethink food and its spaces?
Via Tabulla.
Cite: Matoso, Marília. "Why Urban Farms and Indoor Planting Are the Future?" [Por que fazendas urbanas e plantio indoor são o futuro?] 03 Jul 2022. ArchDaily. (Trans. Simões, Diogo) Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/984274/why-urban-farms-and-indoor-planting-are-the-future> ISSN 0719-8884
As well as fewer miles and less water, indoor farming doesn't require pesticides. This is better for the environment and human health as it eliminates the risk of water contamination due to run-off, and is in line with increasing consumer demand for non-GMO produce.
Technology Integration: Urban farming is becoming more data-driven and tech-savvy. Smart sensors, automation, and artificial intelligence are being used to monitor and optimize crop growth. This technology-driven approach enhances productivity and resource efficiency.
The vertical farming market is expected to grow from $ 4,300 million in 2021 to $ 19,864.8 million by 2028. It is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 24.4% from 2021 to 2028. Over the years, the vertical farming market has picked up significant momentum.
Urban agriculture allows for the development of a variety of environmental, economic, and social benefits to the surrounding communities. Urban farming can reduce transportation costs, help reduce runoff associated with heavy rainfall, and lead to better air quality.
Urban agriculture is emerging as a beacon of innovation and sustainability in the heart of our cities. These city farms can enhance food security, food equity, climate change resilience, deliver environmental benefits, and create green jobs.
“Urban agriculture offers a variety of social, nutritional and place-based environmental benefits, which make it an appealing feature of future sustainable cities. This work shines light on ways to ensure that urban agriculture benefits the climate, as well as the people and places it serves.”
Urban farming is a response to a variety of pressures. Large parts of the developing world are facing shortages of water and arable land, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization says. Governments and other sponsors have supported urban food-growing projects in Cuba, Colombia, Botswana and Egypt.
Plants in indoor farms are protected from unexpected changes in the weather, as well as from pests and many diseases found outdoors. Farmers can control temperature and airflow in the facility as well as the amount of water, nutrients, and light each plant receives.
Indoor vertical farms can grow 365 days per year, regardless of the weather conditions. Vertical farms are not susceptible to the impacts of storms or extreme weather events in the way conventional farms are. A climate-controlled environment allows for year-round, reliable food production.
Growing vertically allows for conservation in space, resulting in a higher crop yield per square foot of land used. Vertical farms are mainly located indoors, such as a warehouse, where they have the ability to control the environmental conditions for plants to succeed.
So, urban farming helps to create jobs for people in the community. Provides Money for Local Government: Lands set aside for urban farming by the government are a source of money for local governments.
Additionally, it makes fresh food cheaper, allowing people in low-income areas access to affordable produce. Urban farming can help reduce poverty because when more people have jobs and are able to buy, it fuels the economy, creating even more opportunities.
Is urban farming profitable? Looking at the rate of expansion, it must be. The growing urban population is a contributing factor in urban farming activities such as derelict buildings and revamping derailed warehouses, which has increased the local production of food.
Urban farming may help with a city's environmental, social, and economic challenges. Plants can improve the Earth's climate by reducing heat during the warm season, and they can retain water during intense rains, reducing the risk of floods.
City-grown fruits and vegetables are more carbon-intensive than conventionally grown crops, but there are ways to address their emissions. Rooftop farming in Brooklyn, New York.
Future agriculture will use sophisticated technologies such as robots, temperature and moisture sensors, aerial images, and GPS technology. These advanced devices and precision agriculture and robotic systems will allow farms to be more profitable, efficient, safe, and environmentally friendly.
Future agriculture will use sophisticated technologies such as robots, temperature and moisture sensors, aerial images, and GPS technology. These advanced devices and precision agriculture and robotic systems will allow farms to be more profitable, efficient, safe, and environmentally friendly.
Urban farms have made it easier for communities to access fresh food. With the right infrastructure, City Hall believes it has the potential to improve Dallas' dining and food systems.
We are entering a new era of technology- enabled growing, where indoor vertical farming, or Controlled Environment Production (CEP), is considered one of the best opportunities to boost the production of a range of crops whilst maximising quality, nutrition and visual appeal that will help maintain and, in many cases, ...
There are several practical benefits of urban farming. Let's take a closer look at some of the most common. Locally raised products: It takes a lot of energy to ship produce across the globe. Urban farming can help provide more local sourcing options.
Introduction: My name is Neely Ledner, I am a bright, determined, beautiful, adventurous, adventurous, spotless, calm person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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