Farm Farm

By 2050, more than half 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 10,000,000,000 hectars of new land 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, around 15% of that has been laid waste by poor management practices.


A potential solution could be realised through introducing artificial nature in urban areas by building farms and parks vertically. Since the concept of synthetic trees was introduced in 2003, geophysicist Professor Klaus Lackner at Columbia University designed one, a construction that mimics the function of natural trees whereby leaves pull carbon dioxide (CO2) out of the air as it flows over them. He estimates that every tree would remove 90,000 tonnes of CO2 a year. And when the CO2 is captured, it would be locked away deep into the sea bed by drilling into the surface, where high water pressure traps them to not be able to come back up to sea surface again.




I reckon dedicating a whole skyscraper to build a farm is a tempting proposition - no more weather-related crop failures, diseases spread by livestock, or runoff polluting water sources. Not to mention locally-grown produce for the residents of central London, Manhattan and Tokyo, eliminating the environmental costs of transport (with fresher vegetables to boot!). Veggie prices will fall in these cities with more city-farm-vegetables produced, which would be something to look forward to.

Info retrieved from: www.verticalfarm.com
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/6374967.stm