“The age of the 3,000 mile Caesar salad is coming to an end.”
~ James Howard Kunstler
Population growth, climate change, peak oil, and looming water
shortages are, according to some agricultural researchers, rapidly reducing the
amount of usable farmland worldwide. Add to that the trends towards urbanization
and local food, and you have a burgeoning urban farming movement, examples of
which are regularly covered in this magazine. You also have a recipe for growing
up, in which a new generation of urban vertical farmers is involved.
From the hanging gardens of Babylon to trellised veggies growing
in small garden plots and “green walls” designed to purify indoor air, people
have long enjoyed growing plants vertically. But when we wrote about the
phenomenon of vertical farming in Natural Life’s September/October 2006 issue,
it was just a dream in the minds of researchers such as Dickson Despommier, a
professor at Columbia University’s Department of Environment Health Sciences
(verticalfarm.com). But now, vertical farming – although still in its infancy –
is taking its place as part of the intensive urban agriculture movement.
If Despommier has his way, food production will be located in
high-rise structures and utilize hydroponic or aeroponic (nutrient-laden mist)
cultivation systems, which use up to ninety percent less water than conventional
techniques. Waste will be recycled and water will be recaptured. As well as
conserving water, vertical farming allows for the reclamation of farmland.
Despommier estimates that for every indoor acre farmed, ten to twenty outdoor
acres of farmland could be allowed to return to their original state – mostly
hardwood forest.
While not in a high-rise, vertical farming is being showcased at the Botanical
Gardens at . . .
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Wendy Priesnitz is the editor and co-founder of
Natural Life Magazine. A journalist with 35 years of experience, she is also the
author of nine books and trying to find time to finish her tenth.
