Inside Urban Green

The New Urban Farmers

The vertical garden in the photo is not identified in the article.

Ed Harwood, CEO and Founder of AeroFarms and I share the same vision about the future of localized urban food production. I believe he and his company are on the right path.

The only difference is my advocacy of also putting the power of personal food production in the minds and hands of individuals via the use of sub-irrigated planter (SIP) systems.

Each citizen has a right to accurate and up-to-date information particularly when paid for by tax dollars. The out-dated information we are now getting for our tax dollars from the USDA Extension Program is a national disgrace. Are you doing anything about it?

via www.greentechmedia.com

Who will feed the world in the future? Urbanites, according to AeroFarms’ Ed Harwood.

Valcent Launches AlphaCrop, A Smaller Version Of The VertiCrop System.

My guess is that we will see one of these AlphaCrop systems here in NYC in the not too far distant future. This version of the system may be a little too much for a row house backyard, but there are many other potential homes for them.

Evidently there are also smaller versions of the AlphaCrop system on the way. Stay tuned. Maybe you can be the first one in your neighborhood to grow fresh food in a space age vertical garden with no need for dirt.

Via Valcent.eu Scroll down to the bottom for a preview video of the AlphaCrop prototype.

AlphaCrop™ offers the advantage of High Density Vertical Growing to a wide range of producers from smaller commercial growers, to amateur gardeners, smallholders, community co-operatives or allotment associations. Larger commercial growers may also employ AlphaCrop™ to compliment their VertiCrop™ systems and to produce a wider range of crops including baby carrots, salad potatoes and strawberries.

This innovative new system enhances yields and provides excellent returns for a moderate investment:

Read the press release via CNNMoney.com

SmartPlanet: Rethinking Agriculture With Genetic Engineering

Are we doing a good job of motivating and educating more young women to be future Pan Ronald's? From where I sit, I think not.

For the future of our country, let’s hope the Obama administration really does something effective in the way of education reform...and of course...this should not be a partisan issue.

Via: SmartPlanet

Many consider genetically engineered food controversial, but to Pamela Ronald a UC Davis professor, it could be the answer to feeding the world. Twenty five percent of the world's rice is grown in areas that are very prone to submergence, and after three days rice will die. Ronald's lab has genetically engineered rice to help the plant be tolerant to stress and disease. The varieties her team has developed can survive for two weeks underwater and are expected to improve the livelihood of millions of farmers in developing countries.

Introducing AlphaCrop: Entry Level Vertical Farming

Valcent announced AlphaCrop, a food production system scaled in size for much wider use than their VertiCrop system.

Without knowing the cost, it is hard to tell at this time how many families will be able to afford one but it appears to be in range of the consumer market. It is clear, however, that it offers small business potential.

One thing is apparent. Valcent is a very serious player in the field of urban food production. It even offers a houseplant-sized product (Europe only at present) called “The Tomorrow Garden”

It does not appear at this time that the U.S. has a horse in this race. What we do have, however, is horse and buggy thinking. We are simply stuck in the dirt, in a backwater of Victory Garden nostalgia.

VertiCrop Urban Food Production System

via www.youtube.com

Back in the '60's a few of my IBM customers still had 705 vacuum tube computers like the one above. I'll never forget them. 

Then in 1964, IBM revolutionized the business world with System 360 solid-state computers. What an exciting time it was to be in what was then called the data processing industry. What a glorious era it was for IBM.

What is still hard for me to believe is that I am typing this post on a laptop with far more power than those groundbreaking System 360 computers.

I see this leading edge urban food production system from Valcent in the U.K. as analogous to the vacuum tube computer age, not yet at the System 360 stage.

Just as it has been in the computer age, it will be interesting to look back on the VertiCrop system as we travel through a new age of urban food production.

It is the future and in my view, we in America are lagging behind thanks to our retrogressive horticultural establishment that is still so much in love with dirt.

Part Of The Future Of Urban Food Production

Part of the residue from the decline in American manufacturing is an abundance of empty factory buildings that once housed workers and machinery.

The building in this photo once produced machinery for Harnischfeger Industries in Milwaukee. It is now home to a prototype aquaponics business. It produces both fish and fresh vegetables.

There are aquaponics, hydroponics and sub-irrigated planter (SIP) food production opportunities like this in empty buildings all over the country. These buildings represent a significant potential for new green business opportunities and new green jobs.