Water is growing scarcer, arable farmland is disappearing and global hunger is such that one out of nine people on Earth is suffering from chronic undernourishment. Indeed, one of the biggest challenges facing humanity today is finding more sustainable ways to grow food. Exhibitors presented ingenious solutions such as the Hydroactive Smart Roof at the construction fair Batimat 2015 in Paris.
Yes, the construction industry is looking at ways to design buildings that are healthier for both humans and for plants.
“It’s been noted that more and more people have been suffering from diseases due to discomfort and CO2 in buildings,” Jean Daniel Napar, chief technology officer at Siemens Building Technologie, said during the conference held at Batimat. “Building and technology should respond to our survival needs.”
Food Insecurity
The way we grow our food is actually imperiling our survival. Agricultural runoff is one of the world’s biggest water pollutants and the lack of arable land is linked to major political instability in many parts of the world.
Indeed, in the Middle East, where agricultural conditions are so bad that some countries need to import much of their food, political scientists believe that the lack of arable land could be a critical factor behind the Arab Spring revolutions. In Asia, disruptions in the monsoon season caused by climate change are leading to crop failures and the mass exodus of rural populations to cities.
“The monsoons are coming too soon and there is nothing soaking into the soil,” says Columbia University professor emeritus of public health and microbiology Dickson Despommier, “So that is what is causing the urbanization crisis.”
Traditional agricultural methods clearly are failing to provide food security in many parts of the world. However, advances in green roof technology and new types of agricultural operations called vertical farms have the potential to completely transform the way that our food gets produced and distributed. Despommier, who is the author of Vertical Farms: Feeding the World in the 21st Century, estimates that 160 thirty-story-high buildings outfitted as vertical farms could feed all of New York City’s 8.4 million residents.
The U.S. Pavilion at 2015 World Expo in Milan, designed by New York City architect James Biber
Agriculture Incorporated in Architecture
This year’s Gold Award winner in the Global Innovation category at Batimat was a Hydro active Smart Roof that stores excess stormwater for later use in irrigation. Designed by the company Vegetal iD, the smart roof uses sensors to monitor soil moisture, it measures the amount of excess stormwater the system has retained and how much water it has released into the sewer system. Although not designed specifically for urban agriculture, Vegetal iD business development director for the Americas, Sander Teensma, says the systems will be useful for urban farmers who will be able to control climate conditions on their roofs via their iPad or iPhone.
Millions of people were introduced to high tech growing technology at 2015 World Expo in Milan, the theme of which was Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life. The U.S. Pavilion, designed by New York City architect James Biber, featured a massive planted wall growing herbs, grains and vegetables. Close to 330 feet wide, the wall is comprised of a modular ZipGrow tower designed by the U.S. based company Bright Agrotech. The plant wall was designed as a hybrid system that uses both hydroponics and pods of soil to reduce water flow. Biber says that the advantage of the ZipGrow system is that it uses less than 10% of the water that is used in traditional hydroponic systems. Another striking feature of this particular vertical farm is that the wall is moveable, and individual modules can be maneuvered in and out so that the plants can get adequate sunlight.
New Jersey-based AeroFarms uses aeroponics
Vertical Farms
One of the most innovative urban agricultural operations is the New Jersey-based AeroFarms, which has raised more than $50 million in capital to fund a vertical farm system built entirely on proprietary technology. AeroFarms also uses aeroponics, which consumes even less water than hydroponics because the roots are suspended in the air and hydrated with a mist.
“Our focus, fundamentally, is how do we feed as many people as possible,” says AeroFarms chief operating officer and co-founder Marc Oshima, adding that his company produces everything from its own grow lights to a special growing medium made of cloth that reduces the risk of contamination from pests.
In addition to being about 75% more efficient than field-based agriculture, Oshima says that the more than 100 different types of greens his vertical farm grows also taste better. “Food produced through traditional large-scale industrial farming is not optimized for flavor,” he says noting that historically, hydroponically grown tomatoes in places like Arizona are sprayed with ethylene to speed maturation, and then refrigerated for transport.
Horticultural LED lighting. Courtesy of AeroFarms
Although many of the new vertical farms are highly customized, Despommier from Columbia University says that off-the-shelf lighting and fixtures are now produced by a wide variety of companies like General Electric as well as smaller specialized ones like Illumitex, which specializes in horticultural LED lighting. Philips Lighting, one of the pioneers in horticultural lighting is even building its own vertical farm in the Netherlands to research how diverse crops react in a climate-controlled environment.
Going Vertical Today and Tomorrow
The countries where indoor agriculture is furthest along are in Asia. Despommier says that Japan built hundreds of vertical farms after the Fukushima disaster contaminated about 5% of the country’s farmland rendering it unfit for agriculture. And currently, the city of Seoul in South Korea is making plans to build hundreds of three-story vertical farms on the tops of existing buildings.
Along with helping reduce hunger throughout the world and making fresh-farm produce available to city dwellers 365 days a year, the new vertical farms have the potential to diminish humanity’s impact on the planet. “It is not just about urban agriculture,” says Despommier, “We will be able to give land back to the natural world so that it can repair itself.”
