Inside Urban Green

TEDxManhattan - Marianne Cufone - Recirculating Farms Coalition

This is Marianne Cufone's TEDxManhattan presentation mentioned in this prior post about her and the Recirculating Farms Coailition.

Keep in mind that sub-irrigated planters (SIPs) for consumer use have the same water-conserving benefit of a recirculating farm. You might think of them as cousins in their environmental mission. There is no runoff and waste of water in a closed-system SIP. Aside from a small amount of evaporation, all of the water goes directly to the plant's root sytstem.

Note the green TEDx logo on stage. If  you have not seen it, check out Frieda Lim's How to Cultivate a (TEDx) Logo video. The logo has a surprising secondary function.

via TEDx YouTube Channel

Marianne Cufone is the Executive Director of the Recirculating Farms Coalition. She is an environmental attorney, and long time sustainable food advocate. Marianne is a professionally trained health supportive chef.

She has worked in natural resources management, focused on oceans, fisheries and seafood, for over a decade, in which time she has challenged and helped write and pass many significant state and federal policies and laws.

She directed the fish and oceans program at Food and Water Watch (2007-2011), managed the Gulf, South Atlantic and Caribbean fisheries programs for the Center for Marine Conservation (1999-2003), and is the founder and managing partner of Environment Matters, a consulting group that provides legal, policy and communications support to non-profit organizations (2003-present).

Previously, as an adjunct professor in law and environmental studies, and currently, as a guest lecturer at various academic institutions, Marianne helps to develop future advocates.

 

At UCLA » Re-Imagining Agriculture: Sustainable Agriculture Entrepreneurship in Southern California

If your interest is entrepreneurial urban agriculture, there is a do-not-miss event coming up at the UCLA Anderson School of Management on Wednesday, March 7, 2011 from 6 to 9 pm .

If I were still living in Southern California, I would be there in a heartbeat. There are people on the panel who are in the forefront of modern method urban food production. I would love to hear and meet them.

Here is the lineup:
 
Colin and Karen Archipley, founders of Archi’s Acres and the Veterans Sustainable Agriculture Training (VSAT) program. They are located in San Diego North County and include hydroponics in their production and training.  Among other locations, they sell produce at the Hillcrest Farmers Market in my old San Diego neighborhood. That brings back good memories.

David Rosenstein: Founder of EVO Farm, an urban farming organization in Los Angeles. EVO Farm operates the only commercial aquaponics farm in L.A. David is Chair of the Aquaponics Association – Western Region. He also serves on the Los Angeles Food Policy Council.

Pierre Sleiman: Founder and CEO of Go Green Agriculture, located in Encinitas, San Diego. Go Green Agriculture is a Southern California leader in hydroponics and the integration of information systems technology with greenhouse automation.

Jesse DuBois and Dan Allen: Founders of Farmscape Gardens, a Los Feliz, Los Angeles based   gardening business that provides organic garden installation and maintenance throughout Southern California. They provide a variety of modern looking raised beds and planters. It does not appear, however, that they are sub-irrigated.   

tickets via seedstockandersonevent.eventbrite.co

Sub-irrigation (SIPs) = Simple Hydroponics

In a prior post about the TEDxManhattan How to Cultivate a Logo video, I called the TEDx logo planter a hydroponic lettuce grower. How come? As revealed in the video it is clearly a sub-irrigated planter aka SIP (prior posts).

Actually, it’s both. The logo planter is a SIP as well as a simple form of hydroponics without an air pump. If the public is confused by all of the terminology used for various forms of food growing systems it is no surprise.

We have an overabundance of names for a variety of systems for growing plants. Pared down to the basics however, just about all of them are variants of hydroponic growing even though we use different names for them. It is a language and education issue rather than the “engineering” of the methods.

Sub-irrigation (aka SIPs) is an accurate term for systems that use solid (i.e. soil) media contained over the top of a water and oxygen reservoir system. Up to now, I have refrained from calling it hydroponics in the consumer market for a couple of reasons.

1. Hydroponics implies complexity and the need for plug-in power for oxygenation. SIPs are simple to make and do not require power. You do not need to be a rocket scientist to understand how they work

2. In the past, hydroponics has been heavily associated with marijuana growing. I have shopped in many hydroponics retail stores over many years and observed the traffic and the conversation. It is mostly a male clientele and they’re not talking about growing lettuce. This will change over time and these stores will become more family and children friendly.

With the emerging popularity of aquaponics (prior posts), hydroponics is gaining a more family-friendly image. Millions of people will be raising fish and vegetables in home aquaponics systems in the future. Much like the evolution of personal computers and mobile phones, these systems will become more affordable, less complex and user-friendlier. Currently they are not a mass-market product, but I predict they will be.

Back to hydroponics SIPs. These photos reveal what is going on in the hidden zone of a typical sub-irrigated planter. It happens to be a window box SIP that grew lettuce on my fire escape. Obviously, this is a healthy and robust root system. The upper zone in the soil media contains a soil-media root system but look at the mass of white roots that were growing in the water/oxygen chambers. They are “water roots” that have a different cellular structure than "soil roots".

Plants roots are incredibly aggressive in finding water. It is a matter of survival!

Clear SIPs help immeasurably in understanding this. While capillary action is elevating water from the reservoir, the roots are making a beeline down to find it. This is why these systems work so well even when the physical height limitation of capillary action is exceeded.

Only time will tell how affordable aquaponics systems will become. At this time however, various forms of sub-irrigated planter hydroponics represent the best choice for millions of city dwellers around the world.

Photo reveals the inverted (recycled) nursery flat that forms the water & oxygen reservoir. Bottom of fill pipe (recycled water bottle) lower right. The window box is a typical planter found in big box stores. It is too small as demonstrated by the root mass. Wider and half again or twice as deep would be much better.

 

Aquaponics Now Has an International Organization

Perhaps you have seen articles about aquaponics in the media. Just a little bit of web research shows that aquaponics is definitely a hot topic in urban food communities across the country and around the world. 



Aquaponics (prior posts) is a food growing method that combines aquaculture (the raising of fish) in a symbiotic relationship with hydroponic plant growing. The fish waste provides nutrients to the plants.

The movement is now organized under the banner of the recently formed Aquaponics Association. They have a very active website and an Annual Conference. The second annual conference will be in Denver, Colorado, September 22-23, 2012. Last years conference was held in Orlando, Fl in September. They also conduct workshops and tours throughout the year.

The association already has over 4,000 members (they call themselves "aquapons") and is adding them at the rate of about 15 per day. These are impressive numbers and a testimony to the importance of aquaponics as both a small business and personal food production method.

As you may know, two of the most publicized aquaponics businesses are Growing Power and Sweet Water Organics in Milwaukee. Growing Power also has a facility in Chicago called Iron Street Farm.

Stay tuned. The veggies are growing and the fish are swimming close by.

Marianne Cufone » Recirculating Farms Coalition

Marianne Cufone is Executive Director of the Recirculating Farms Coalition and now lives in New Orleans. She spoke at the recent TEDxManhattan event "Changing the Way We Eat" this past Saturday. I regret not being well enough to attend and meet Marianne and other participants.

The TEDxManhattan video of her presentation will be uploaded in the coming weeks. In the meantime you can learn about the coalition in this video featuring Marianne. It is a look into the future of urban agriculture and more than likely a peek into the future of personal food production.

Few people understand that sub-irrigated planters (SIPs) are actually highly productive and versatile hydroponic micro recirculating farms for personal food production. They save water and can also save the lives of children who might otherwise be exposed to lead poisoning from often-contaminated city soil.

Thanks to the rather dumbed down consumer horticulture education system in the U.S. people (including the USDA Extension Program) call them "self-watering" planters. If there is a horticultural "ignorance barometer" in the U.S., the widespread usage of this term is it.

Are Rooftop Hydroponic Greenhouses The Future Of Urban Agriculture?

There have been many articles about BrightFarms because of the recent publicity about an agreement with McCaffrey’s Markets.

I thought this interview was more revealing and informative than most of what I have read. Read on and see what you think.

It will be interesting to see how greenhouse hydroponics fares as a business. As we know from the mobile digital world things can change very quickly. One thing I believe, however, is that there is more business potential for greenhouse hydroponics or aquaponics than there is for throwing dirt on a roof and calling it a "farm". That's a tough way to make a living.

via www.perishablepundit.com

Urban agriculture is a big thing now. Last year, The New York Produce Show and Conference took a tour of a rooftop farm. It was awe inspiring to see farming with a backdrop of the Manhattan skyline. This year, we are going to see a small prototype of a greenhouse that one firm wants to put on the roof of supermarkets all across America. We asked Pundit Investigator and Special Projects Editor Mira Slott to find out more:

Benjamin Linsley
Vice President
Business Development & Public Affairs
BrightFarms
New York, New York

Q: How did BrightFarms come about?

A: BrightFarms is the successor company to several others. We’ve been working five years putting greenhouses on rooftops, now exclusively with supermarkets. We strategize turn-key solutions, where we design, finance, build and operate hydroponic greenhouses on rooftops of supermarkets or nearby locations, sometimes in the back of their distribution center.  

Q: Which retailers are involved, and are any of these rooftop greenhouses up and running?

A: We’ve just announced an agreement with McCaffrey’s Markets in Langhorne, Pennsylvania, to build and operate a greenhouse farm directly at one of its grocery stores. We’ve been in negotiations and are developing greenhouse plans with McCaffrey’s and two additional supermarket chains the last eight months, and we’ve received a lot of interest from other leading retailers about our business model. At this point, the downside is that none of the greenhouses on that scale have been built yet. Our first three supermarket greenhouses are scheduled to be built next year. Read more...

Lead-Free Local Lettuce From Gotham Greens

Gotham Greens co-founders Jennifer Nelkin and Viraj Puri

Fresh lead-free local lettuce from Gotham Greens

This looks like the most likely future of local urban food. It is hygienic, highly productuve and makes more business sense than throwing dirt on a roof. Check out the article and photo set for more information about this leading edge project.

via www.wired.com

NEW YORK CITY — On top of an old bowling alley in industrial northern Brooklyn sits an expansive translucent greenhouse. Inside, a bounty of produce thrives under the supervision of a computer-controlled network of sensors, motors and plumbing.

The 15,000-square-foot hydroponic greenhouse facility, called Gotham Greens, is reputedly the first commercial-scale urban operation of its kind in the United States. Thousands of lettuce and basil seedlings were plopped into a soil-less farming system in May. Since then, three local entrepreneurs say their operation is on track to deliver 100 tons of produce by the one-year mark.

Chicago » O’Hare International Flies Greener With Space Age Grow Towers

Bravo Chicago! Way to go! It warms my heart to see this visionary project. These look like the same aeroponics towers that created the spectacular rooftop garden atop the Bell, Book & Candle Restaurant in Manhattan. We will see many more of these highly productive vertical gardens in the future.

Many thanks to Seedstock.com for making my day. It's a great "get" by a very cool website.

Press Release via www.hmshost.com

On September 16, 2011, Rosemarie S. Andolino, Commissioner, Chicago Department of Aviation (CDA) (left) and Elie W. Maalouf, President and CEO, HMSHost cut the ribbon for the grand opening of the O’Hare Urban Garden, a unique, environmentally-friendly aeroponic garden located in the mezzanine level of Terminal 3, G Concourse. The new 928-square-foot aeroponic garden is a joint effort between the CDA and HMSHost, a world leader in travel dining and shopping. The vegetables harvested from the garden will be used at HMSHost’s O’Hare restaurants and include sweet basil, cilantro, Bibb lettuce and habanero peppers.

Kansas City » Meet Jason Fields of The Urban Farming Guys

The name Jason Fields may not be a household name to you today but it may well become one in the not to far distant future.

Jason is one of the Urban Farming Guys (families) in Kansas City. I see him as a present day Bob Vila of the original This Old House on PBS. He is a talent in every good sense of the word.

Like Giacomo Salazonni, he comes across as a counter-culturist with his head screwed on straight. I look forward to meeting him one day. He has the same type of energy and enthusiasm as I have seen from the Buster brothers of Global Buckets renown. America desperately needs thousands more young people like the Urban Farming Guys and Buster brothers. They represent our future.

You can listen to a podcast interview with Jason and watch other Urban Farming Guys (and gals) on YouTube sharing their enthusiasm and experiences with urban renewal and urban farming that I call urban greenscaping. Go guys!

Interview with Jason

via www.thesurvivalpodcast.com

Today Jason Fields joins us from The Urban Farming Guys. Jason is part of a group of about 20 families who have purposefully uprooted from out of their comfortable suburban homes. They then relocated to one of the worst neighborhoods in Kansas City with the goal of transforming it.

Urban Food Production » BrightFarms to Have New Rooftop Headquarters and Greenhouse

 

photo via www.flickr.com

More news from the rooftop hydroponic food business. It will be interesting to see how many companies join in and how many rooftop food production units there will be in the next couple of years. Let the games begin!

via www.nydailynews.com

 

Queens is set to become the home of the nation's largest rooftop hydroponic greenhouse.

BrightFarms, a Manhattan-based firm that designs, builds and operates high-tech farms, is gearing up to move its headquarters to Long Island City, company officials said Monday.

"The area is on the rise," said BrightFarms CEO Paul Lightfoot, 41. "We want to make Long Island City the center in the produce supply chain in the United States."

The company is in the final stages of negotiations to lease a 32,000-square-foot space on top of a building near LaGuardia Community College.

"The buildings in the area have strong roofs available to construct on top of them," said Lightfoot, referring to the area's industrial pedigree.

BrightFarms is investing $1 million to build a 25,000-square-foot rooftop hydroponic greenhouse and 7,000 square feet of office space, Lightfoot said. The venture is expected to bring about 25 jobs to Queens in the first year and 30 more in the next two years.