Inside Urban Green

Valcent » Paignton Zoo Wins a Top National Horticulture Award

It was good to see the Paignton Zoo project get the recognition it so richly deserves. I hope to be in the U.K. next year and see their VertiCrop system. It will be interesting to see how Valcent does in the new age of food production technology. It is fascinating to watch a new industry evolving.

via www.zandavisitor.com

The Norah Stucken Award is for outstanding projects which have made a significant impact on horticulture. It is given to amenity or conservation projects, the development of a new crop, a major book or a series of research papers. Nominations have to be supported by five Institute Fellows or Members. The Zoo was nominated for the award by the South West Branch of the Institute of Horticulture.

The Zoo’s Curator of Plants and Gardens Kevin Frediani said: “This is a great honour – for a horticulturalist it is like winning a Grammy!”

Iain Park, from the University of Exeter, who is the Institute of Horticulture South West Branch Chair, said: “The South West Branch of the Institute of Horticulture is delighted that Paignton Zoo's innovation has been nationally recognised. We are so pleased, as professional horticulturalists, that the Zoo promotes the value of horticulture and food production to a public audience, helping us raise the profile of our industry.”

Kevin: “VertiCrop is designed to grow crops where they are needed – in towns and cities. It uses automatic irrigation and hydroponic technology, meaning it grows plants without soil, so it doesn’t need good agricultural land which can be used to grow staple crops instead. Growing crops vertically also reduces the area of land needed and by growing food near to where it is consumed there are no food miles attached.

A Kennedy Valcent Video Plug

How much magic still remains in the Kennedy name? We may find out since Robert Kenndy, Jr. and Stephen Kennedy Smith have associated themselves with the Valcent VertiCrop hydroponic system.

This video was my first opportunity to hear them both plug Valcent. I wasn't particularly impressed with these interviews but recognize that their family name still has clout in the marketplace. Have a look and see what you think. Are they persuasive?

VertiCrop Will Be Growing Fresh Salads In Hong Kong

I think of this VertiCrop hydroponic growing system as a giant "salad spinner". It doesn't really spin but it sure does rotate and it will soon be growing fresh salads in Hong Kong, one of my favorite cities in the world. It's New York east to me, make that Far East.

Valcent, inventor of the system, has signed an agreement with VF Innovations Ltd. (VFI) to install one VertiCrop demonstration system and then form a joint marketing venture. After Hong Kong, who knows where else the giant salad spinners will be growing fresh food in China.

via www.marketwatch.com

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA, Jun 16, 2010 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- Valcent Products Inc.  today announces that its wholly owned subsidiary, Valcent Products (eu) Limited signed an agreement to supply a VertiCrop(TM) high density farming system to Hong Kong's VF Innovations Ltd. (VFI), a new company specifically created to foster innovation in vertical farming. Valcent is currently in discussions to form a Hong Kong-based partnership with VFI to manufacture and distribute the company's vertical growing systems for the Peoples Republic of China (PRC). 

Valcent: Seeking Demonstration Project Funding

It will be interesting to see where this Valcent demonstration project lands. Will it be in the U.S.?

It is certainly possible with JFK, Jr. and Steven Kennedy Smith, Jr. influencing the decision from the inside. 

via www.businessgreen.com

Valcent Products seeking £300,000 (U.S. $427,290) investment to fund development of innovative vertical farming rig demonstration project

For years the concept of vertical farms has been consigned to the pages of architect's notebooks, but now a British-Canadian firm is poised to turn vertical farming into a reality – albeit on a smaller scale than the farm skyscrapers you find in science fiction novels.

News From Valcent

Will the U.S. develop serious competition for urban agriculture pioneer Valcent? At this time, it does not look like it.

Another American just joined Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. on the Valcent advisory board. The company is headquartered in Vancouver, B.C., but is really based in the U.K.

Many years ago I watched our interior plantscaping industry sail to England on the good ship Rentokil. That event gutted a significant pool of entrepreneurs who either sold out to the company known as "The Royal Ratcatcher" or left the industry.

The interior plantscaping unit of Rentokil is now known as Ambius. I monitor this company regularly and find them to be doing little or nothing to enrich our horticultural education or our society. The day Chicago based Tropical Plant Rentals sold out was a sad day in the history of American horticulture.

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

Valcent VertiCrop System Demonstration At The Paignton Zoo

via www.youtube.com

This is an excellent demonstration and explanation of the Valcent VertiCrop system at the Paignton Zoo in the UK. I observe that these plants are not quite as robust as those grown in artificial soil media in sub-irrigated planters (SIPs). What is not known, however, is their age. We need to know more about their life cycle.

What is clear is that these systems will be feeding people in the near future. It will be interesting to see where they appear. Stay tuned! 

Vertical Urban Agriculture Through Australian Eyes

This is an informative article about vertical urban agriculture from The Age in Australia.

The author makes much of New York City, and the publicity associated with Dickson Depommier and his sky farm ideas. In my view, New York is anything but the center of modern urban food production thought.

Of course my opinion is most likely warped by the overabundance of dirt huggers I encounter in my daily research. Widespread use of dirt gardening in the city is pure fantasy as a solution for urban food production and water conservation issues. 

via www.theage.com.au

As land and water diminish, innovative ways to feed the world may just save our lives, writes Richard Cornish.

IT'S 2049. Food security is of the highest concern. There are 9 billion people on earth and most of them live in cities. To keep the population fed, politicians, scientists and big business have joined forces to create new food sources where the line blurs between technology and farming.

Valcent Selected As One Of The Ten Best Companies In the World For A Sustainable Future

Valcent VertiCrop system is in the news again. There is much more to say about this after seeing the doc today. Time out! Stay tuned!

via money.cnn.com

LAUNCH, a global initiative whose Founding Partners include NASA, USAID, the U.S. State Department and Nike, which identifies and supports innovative work poised to contribute to a sustainable future, has selected Valcent's VertiCrop™ vertical farming technology as one of ten global innovations from a field of 150 pioneering projects. As one of ten featured leaders in sustainability, Valcent will present their advances on large scale hydroponic agriculture at the premiere LAUNCH event at the Water at Kennedy Space Center on March 16th to 18th 2010.

"Our world's balance between demand and supply of food is sensitive to climate change, fuel demands, access to water and our investments in research and infrastructure," said Stephen Kennedy Smith, President of Em-Link LLC, the Boston-based Master Distributor for Valcent in the United States.

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.