SEP 20

A Columbia University microbiologist, Dickson Despommier, advocates 30-story skyscrapers that would, each, be able to grow food for 50,000 people, taking up roughly one city block. From Plenty Magazine, The Farmer in the High-Rise

"It's not just a way of generating food," says Despommier. "It's a way of dealing with municipal waste, recycling water, and using methane digestion to help a city be sustainable."

In 2001, the Dutch agriculture minister supported building a vertical farm in Rotterdam called Deltapark, in response to flooding farmland, livestock diseases such as swine fever, and growing agricultural pollution. Though the park hasn't been built, the idea of linking several industries together to reduce the environmental burden of agriculture has become increasingly popular, says Jan Broeze, the Wageningen University scientist who dreamed up Deltapark. "If you cluster various activities, like greenhouses, fish farming, and manure processing, then you create a sufficient scale for more sustainable food production," says Broeze, who is working with a group of farmers in Holland to link a chicken farm, a manure processing system, and greenhouses. "The idea is to use wastes from one industry to sustain another."

The Vertical Farm Project has received considerable press attention recently, with articles in Popular Science, US News and World Report, and a great piece in New York Magazine which begins:

Urban farming has always been a slightly quixotic endeavor. From the small animal farm that was perched on the roof of the Upper West Side's Ansonia apartment building in the early 1900s (fresh eggs delivered by bellhop!) to community gardens threatened by real-estate development, the dream of preserving a little of the country in the city is a utopian one. But nobody has ever dreamed as big as Dr. Dickson Despommier, a professor of environmental sciences and microbiology at Columbia University, who believes that "vertical farm" skyscrapers could help fight global warming.

Imagine a cluster of 30-story towers on Governors Island or in Hudson Yards producing fruit, vegetables, and grains while also generating clean energy and purifying wastewater. Roughly 150 such buildings, Despommier estimates, could feed the entire city of New York for a year. Using current green building systems, a vertical farm could be self-sustaining and even produce a net output of clean water and energy.

By the year 2050, nearly 80% of the earth's population will reside in urban centers. Applying the most conservative estimates to current demographic trends, the human population will increase by about 3 billion people during the interim. An estimated 10⁹ hectares of new land (about 20% more land than is represented by the country of Brazil) will be needed to grow enough food to feed them, if traditional farming practices continue as they are practiced today. At present, throughout the world, over 80% of the land that is suitable for raising crops is in use (sources: FAO and NASA). Historically, some 15% of that has been laid waste by poor management practices. What can be done to avoid this impending disaster?

The Vertical Farm Project is the home site for this concept and offers a very robust and sophisticated look at the opportunities and options for going vertical with food production. There is a lot of tremendously interesting material there, with serious looks at challenges and benefits.

If you are at all tempted by the discussion, the Vertical Farm Project site is recommended for a look.

Comments (20)

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Giant 30 story filters
written by Paul Hughes, September 22, 2007

The corporeal sense of 30 story vertical ag is that of organs, multi tasking organs that are vital to sustaining the organism/system.

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Try It
written by bpg131313, September 24, 2007

I don't see why we can't try it. We don't know if something like this will work because it's not something we've done before. I know it's an odd sounding idea, but I'm willing to give them a chance to make it work. Let them build them. Let's see the results. I hope it works because it'll bring food production into the city.

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vertical urban farms
written by Marilyn Terrell, September 24, 2007

Check out this and other stories about sustainable cities on the Carnival of Cities, hosted this week on Intelligent Travel: http://intelligenttravel.typep...f-cit.html

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Low hanging fruit
written by Paul Barthle, September 25, 2007

The concept of urban farming will be a necessity if we don't find a suitable energy source before petroleum becomes prohibitively expensive. The first step should always be as a proof of concept and should target products that would return the most benefit for the dollar. Choose crops that are most valuable at each location. Strawberries are summer produce in New England, but are late winter crops her in South Florida. They don't travel well and are most valuable at the beginning of the season, before the market is flooded with premium fruit. Imagine locally grown crops that are same day fresh when snow is falling outside! Prove that it can be profitable and you'll see more investment, and almost as importantly, lobbying for municipal tax credits because of the environmental benefits of local production.

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A radical but great idea
written by mangut sm, September 29, 2007

this is perhaps the boldest response by environmentalist to emerging environmental issues. it will inspire futuristic arhitectural expressions and will make architecture relevant in the drive to improving the human condition.

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Living Tower
written by lorenzo, October 27, 2007

more informations on http://www.livingtower.new.fr

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...
written by Sylvie Pollard, November 20, 2007

I love this idea, it is definitely something that can be done speedily, when politicians stop spending on wars. We need the countryside to be as wild as possible, but we need to grow white daisies everywhere. We also need white buildings, maybe just roof tops, all over the world, in cities, towns and villages. If the albedo effect dropped by a tenth from today's level, the effect would be comparable to a 5 fold increase in atmosphere concentrations of co2. Given the amount of snow and ice were losing each year, I think this is a matter of urgency. The warmer the atmosphere becomes the sooner the methane crystals of the ocean will melt, not to mention the permafrosts in Siberia, (happening already) which will cause firestorms killing everything in it's wake! Deforestation has to stop instantly, with replanting of the tropical forests instead. The planting of clover replenishes the soil as well as soaking up a lot of co2. We need electric cars, solar or wind-hydrogen power and solar power platforms at sea. With all this and vertical farming we might have a chance. Do our leaders have this knowledge and/or the political will? I doubt it!

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...
written by Igor, December 29, 2007

Several years ago I worked above idea of the multi-storey isolated hothouses - if to whom interestingly:
http://ivs2x.narod.ru/creativi...ts_en.htm
and here in Russian, with pictures and hardly more full:
http://ivs2x.narod.ru/creativity/MyCreativity/IdeasAbout/Plants.htm

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My Vertical Farm Design is up there....
written by Chris Jacobs, June 06, 2008

I've worked very hard to get the Vertical Farm in the spotlight...including the design of the vertical farm you see on this blog. Make sure to check out the New York Magazine article. http://nymag.com/news/features/30020/ and my website http://www.chrisjacobs.com

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Vertical Farm in NYC
written by Stephen, July 28, 2008

I've seen your design and I love it. I really want to see further progress on this concept because I think this is could be a solution to are rising food shortage…I am involved in a campaign to build the first functioning tower: http://www.thepoint.com/campai...-york-city

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written by anaïs, March 19, 2010

To my mind, this vertical farm isn't useful. Indeed, why do we implant farms in cities while we have farmers who have the potential to feed the world population. With the trend of organic production, we are going now to grow our tomatoes in buildings which will be sold to the middle class because they will be the only ones who can buy vegetables grown in town. Now it's up to the population to know what they want to eat. Consumers do not agree with GMO but this type of production is simply ridiculous!!

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vertical farm project
written by mark, March 19, 2010

I think the vertical farm project is a good idea to answer nutrition problems in many developing countries. With this project, we can feed a lot of people. But the problem of this building it's that the tomato plants are in the city and so amidst pollution from the cars. It's not organic food either, it's a trend. so this building doesn't answer to the consumers' aspirations, but it can help poor countries and it doen't need a lot of space. I think governments should help farmers to produce more. it's my point of view. for the Netherlands, it can be part of the solution because in this country the level of the sea is rising.

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A good idea...
written by charles, March 19, 2010

I think it's a good concept because it's the latest solution to produce food in the city. the advantage it's about the little space used to produce intensive food.

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written by laetitia, March 25, 2010

i think Vertical Farming isn't a good idea
because it means agriculture and farmers in the countryside will disappear. Vertical Farming isn't as pretty as real agriculture.
It isn't natural !

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written by lolo, March 25, 2010

I don't agree with this project because it isn't natural.The countryside will be deserted by farmers and not looked after.I am angry

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vertical farm project
written by stéphane, March 25, 2010

The vertical farm project is fantastic for the USA,it is a big project. I am not sure that it will be a success because it is not natural.

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Vertical farm project
written by julian, March 25, 2010

I am a student farmer in France, your project is a good idea for America and the Netherlands to produce intensive,it is an imposible project for it is not natural and respectful of the French culture.
I am for the protection of the contryside in france

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written by Benji, March 25, 2010

it is a pity because the countryside is dying; this project represents the end of farmers it is not possible in france because French farmers love their countryside

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written by clement, March 25, 2010

The vertical project is a stupid project.
The products won't be of good quality. There won't be farmers in the countryside to maintain landscapes. There won't be people who will live in the countryside

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