Urban Farmin

g Technolo

gyReasonable

Supplements to Traditional

Farming

What is wrong with traditional farming?

Food Loss

Food Waste

Food Shortage

Dry winter

sparks fears of

another food

crisis in North

Korea

By THE WASHINGTON POST

February 8, 2015

Hungry Venezuelans sleep in endless grocery lines as food shortage crisis worsensJanuary 22, 2015 by: J. D. Heyes

Starved for Energy, Pakistan Braces for a Water CrisisBy SALMAN MASOODFEB. 12, 2015

NASA climate study warns of

unprecedented North American drought

Dana Nuccitelli 16 February 2015

Population

Growth

By the year 2050, 80% of the world population will be living

in city and urban communities.In 1990, less than 40% of the world’s population lived in a

city.

Limited Arable Land

Solutions?Use Urban Farming

Technologies to Supplement Traditional Farming –

Agricultural Revolution• Hydroponics• Vertical Farming• Aquaponics

Hydroponics

Hydro = water Ponos = labor “Working Water”

Hydroponics at Home

Modern Hydroponics

Hyundai’s Nano Garden• Light, water, and nutrient supply controllable so users decide growth speed.• Functions as an air purifier, eliminating unpleasant smells

Kitchen CultivatorHydroponics built into kitchen island on wheels

Rotary Hydroponics

The Green Wheel developed by NASA

Manage the amount of light, control the temperature, and check the water level with a smart phone!

Rotary Volksgarden

• designed to hold 3" root medium

• accommodates space for up to 80 plants.

• chain driven and rotates a constant 24 hours a day

• watering and light timers

• cost is $2595

Hydroponics Technology

Hydroponic Accessories:• Testers for pH, PPM, EC,• Meters for temperature and

humidity• Meter calibrators• Lighting system• Nutrients - Grow formula, Bloom

formula, Supplements, Ph• Pumps, air stones

Rooftop HydroponicsGotham Greens Rooftop Farm located in

Brooklyn, New York

• 15k square feet• 100 tons of produce in the first year• $2 million dollar start-up• Yields 20% more than traditional

farming

Rooftop Hydroponics

Vertical Farming

• The practice of growing in a vertical direction

• Usually without soil (hydroponically)

• Usually in urban areas, and sometimes as high as skyscrapers

• May include livestock

Vertical Gardens

Vertical FarmsVertical HarvestJackson Hole, Wyoming

Opening early 2016

• Three-story, 13,500 square-foot hydroponic green house (150’ x 30’)

• Should produce over 37,000 pounds of greens, 4,400 pounds of herbs, and 44,000 pounds of tomatoes

• 95% of future crops already sold to local restaurants, grocery stores, and a hospital

• Employs citizens with disabilities

Vertical FarmsVertical HarvestJackson Hole, Wyoming

Opening early 2016

• Three-story, 13,500 square-foot hydroponic green house (150’ x 30’)

• Should produce over 37,000 pounds of greens, 4,400 pounds of herbs, and 44,000 pounds of tomatoes

• 95% of future crops already sold to local restaurants, grocery stores, and a hospital

• Employs citizens with disabilities,

Vertical FarmsSky Greens Vertical

FarmSingapore

• World’s first low carbon, hydraulic driven vertical farm

• Uses minimal land, water and energy resources

• 10x more productive than conventional farming

• Only $360/month ($3/tower) on electricity

• 3 stories tall, 120 aluminum towers

• Able to produce 1 ton of fresh veggies every other day

The Future of Vertical Farms

Floating Farms F.R.A.

(Floating Response Architecture)

Proposal for SingaporeBy JAPA Design Firm

• Loop shape enables the vertical structure to receive more sunlight without having significant shadows

• System will aim for zero food waste by using a data management system to track of how much food people are buying, so the farm can automatically adjust production

The Future of Vertical Farms

• 132 Stories of urban farming with room for cattle, poultry, and 28 different types of crops

• Utopian superstructure of offices, research labs, housing, and communal areas, orchards, farms, and production rooms

• Dragonfly has steel and glass set of wings so as to maintain proper soil nutrient levels and reuse of bio-waste

Dragonflydesigned by Belgian

architect Vincent Callebaut

Proposed for New York City

The Future of Vertical Farms

• 132 Stories of urban farming with room for cattle, poultry, and 28 different types of crops

• utopian superstructure of offices, research labs, housing, and communal areas, orchards, farms, and production rooms

• Dragonfly has steel and glass set of wings so as to maintain proper soil nutrient levels and reuse of bio-waste

Dragonfly– designed by Belgian

architect Vincent Callebaut

Proposed for New York City

Aquaponics• System of aquaculture

in which the waste produced by farmed fish supplies nutrients for plants grown hydroponically, which in turn purify the water.

• Aztec Indians grew vegetables on floating rafts around 1000 A.D.

• Gaining more use, research, and development in the past 35 years

Aquaponics

Generally, a well-managed system with a 300 gallon fish tank will produce:• 10 pounds of vegetables per every square foot of

grow space• 50 to 80 pounds of fish per year

Aquaponics at Home

Aquaponics at Home

Larger Aquaponics Systems

Shipping crate that has been modified to be an aquaponics garden; the crate houses the fish, the fish provide nutrients that feed the plants above. 

Visualization of Maa-Bara's sustainable aquaponics

technology

Commercial Aquaponics

FarmedHere – Chicago, Illinois• 90,000 square feet of a formerly abandoned suburban Chicago

warehouse, actually equals 140,000 square feet of growing space. • Energy-efficient compact-fluorescent lights; even though the lights run

continuously, they only account for 18% of the facility's overall costs.• Aquaponic growing technologies save up to 97% of fresh water. • Produces organic food an average of two- to three-times faster than

traditional farming methods.

Commercial Aquaponics

The Plant – Chicago, Illinois• 93,000 square foot building • Dedicated to developing circular economies of food production,

energy conservation and material re-use• Vertical urban farm that combines aquaponics with kombucha

tea production, beer brewing, biogas energy, and a kitchen that serves up the end result with net-zero waste

• Diverts 10,000 tons of waste per year

Drawback to these types of Urban

Farming?Not all Crops are Sustainable in Hydroponics

Sensitive Ecosystem, Knowledge/Education Required for Crop Success

Expensive Start-up

Cost of Energy (Getting better with technological advances)

There are too many benefits from a rural farm, such as mass production of wheat, corn, soybeans, cotton, and feed

crops.

These farming methods are not meant to entirely replace traditional

farming.

Urban Farming can help solve the Earth’s

food crisis!Vertical Farming

Hydro-

ponics

Aqua-ponics

• Preserve the Environment

• Reduce the Carbon Footprint

• Year-round Higher Yield Crops

• No Weeding and Waist-High Harvesting

• No GMOs, pesticides, or herbicides

• Reduce Food Waste

• Use 95% Less Water

• Grow in any Environment

• No Agricultural Runoff/Toxic Fertilizers

“The questions arises, can we supply enough food for everybody on the planet, including a growing urban

population? and I think we can. And I think we can do it by empowering people in the cities to grow food

right there,” – Dickson Despommier, Columbia University.

“Modern agriculture is the largest consumer of land on the planet, it’s the largest consumer of fresh water on

the planet, about 60% of the world’s fresh water withdrawal goes toward conventional agriculture; it’s the source of the world’s most water pollution, it is responsible for about 15%of the global greenhouse

emissions.” Viraj Puri

CEO and Co-founder of Gotham Greens