Recent Posts
-
- SUBSCRIBE:
Category Archives: Urban Agriculture
Urban Agriculture
Pilot Urban Agricultural Zoning Program Serves as Model for Integration of Farming into City Life
/ May 10, 2012 6:11 pm
Aside from a little referenced law dating back to the 19th century allowing public grazing for sheep and cattle on Boston Common, Boston zoning laws make no mention of agriculture. In absence of zoning permissions, most agricultural activities are in effect forbidden. “That’s not to say that the city is out there policing people with vegetable gardens,” says Tad Read, Continue reading
To Create Energy Efficient Vertical Farms, U. of Georgia Agronomist Focuses on Intelligent Light System
/ May 4, 2012 8:01 pm
University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental doctoral student Erico Rolim de Mattos foresees a world where exploding human populations, global climate change and land overdevelopment has rendered mankind incapable of producing enough food to sustain humanity. This scenario is a very real possibility, and it has captured the minds of specialists from organizations like NASA and the United Continue reading
Growing UP – Is Vertical Farming the Way of the Future?
/ April 30, 2012 9:32 pm
Columbia University professor Dickson Despommier admits that when his book The Vertical Farm, Feeding the World in the 21st Century was released, he wasn’t entirely optimistic about the idea catching on immediately. After all, his proposition that cities and towns should develop local, indoor, entirely sustainable, multi-story farms is antithetical to the industrialized, globalized farm practices that became the norm Continue reading
Colorado Aquaponics Co. Rises from Ashes of Economic Downturn to Help Increase Access to Local Food
/ April 24, 2012 6:16 pm
The onset of the economic downturn may have proven to be a blessing in disguise for one of Denver, Colorado’s poorest inner city neighborhoods. Like so many other accomplished professionals, JD Sawyer was laid off from his job as the Director of Operations for Johnson & Wales University Denver campus in 2009. With extra time on his hands and a Continue reading
Wanted: Farmers
/ April 13, 2012 4:56 pm
The following is a guest post from Dan Allen, the CFO of Farmscape Gardens, a Los Angeles-based organic garden installation and maintenance company that since its founding has become the largest urban farming venture in Southern California. Urban farming has a dirty secret: the vast majority of garden plots in backyards, schoolyards, community gardens, rooftops and vacant lots are in a state of Continue reading
Los Angeles-based Sustainable Ag Venture Seeks to Create Network of Urban Farms to Feed and Foster Community
/ April 9, 2012 9:54 pm
What do cuisine, land use, architecture and renewable energy have in common? A lot, according to Urban Green, a company working to connect these “inter-related disciplines.” Urban Green operates three urban farms and a 4,800 square foot food facility in Los Angeles, CA. The farms employ a variety of growing practices, from traditional permaculture at the first site, which has Continue reading
Chicago Org. Aims to Transform Industrial Blight into Sustainable Urban Farm and Food Business Incubator
/ March 15, 2012 9:00 pm
Chicago builder, John Edel has embarked upon a seemingly impossible mission: to convert a 93,500 sq. ft. pork processing plant into The Plant, a sustainable closed-loop food business incubator housing aquaponic farming systems, hydroponics, vertical farms, rooftop gardens, private kitchens, two breweries, a bakery, a catering company, and a five-station shared kitchen. Oh yeah, and he plans to power the Continue reading
SoCal Sustainable Agriculture Entrepreneurs Discuss Business Models, Challenges & Opportunities
/ March 9, 2012 5:56 am
The world’s population is growing rapidly, and that calls for new ways of thinking about how to produce enough food while also conserving the earth’s natural resources. As a result, agricultural entrepreneurs today are striving to combine the best of traditional farming methods with new technologies in order to create food that is healthy, flavorful and locally grown. And if Continue reading
Built ‘From the Light Up’, Hydroponic Technology Startup Seeks to Revolutionize Urban Farming
/ March 1, 2012 8:28 pm
At first glance, Omega Garden’s product list might be a little confusing, with its Volksgarden® and Farmdominium™. But the Canadian-based hydroponics company isn’t selling bio-fuel vehicles or green housing complexes; rather, they’ve created a hydroponics system that may revolutionize not only urban agriculture, but agriculture in general. And 2012 is shaping up to be a big year for Omega Garden – so stay tuned. Continue reading
Land Values Lynchpin to Large-scale Adoption of Urban Ag
/ February 28, 2012 11:51 pm
The following is a guest post from Dan Allen, the CFO of Farmscape Gardens, a Los Angeles-based organic garden installation and maintenance company that since its founding has become the largest urban farming venture in Southern California. In a guest post for Seedstock on Friday, Roxanne Christenson argues that urban agriculture must professionalize if it is to keep growing, creating jobs, and Continue reading
To Improve Quality of Life and Access to Fresh Food Urban Farming Co. Blankets NYC with Edible Green Rooftops
/ February 28, 2012 4:44 pm
While ‘city farming’ may seem more like an oxymoron than a practical career goal, Brooklyn Grange aims to make it a stable profession – and bring tasty, sustainable produce to New York at the same time. Brooklyn Grange is a 40,000 square-foot rooftop farm in Queens, New York. Though the company’s name might lead one to believe that it’s located Continue reading
The Professionalization of Urban Agriculture
/ February 24, 2012 12:35 pm
The following is a guest post from Roxanne Christensen, Co-creator of SPIN-Farming, an online learning series on small plot commercial farming that has helped hundreds of new farmers get started in business throughout the U.S. and Canada. Sustainability has gone beyond a buzz word among policymakers, planners, and politicians and is now spurring plans for significant changes in how U.S. cities function. Producing food Continue reading
Online Urban Farming Course Crosses Continents, Seeks to Boost Number of Farmers Producing Food Locally
/ February 21, 2012 7:03 pm
A three-quarter acre parcel of land in the city can be transformed into a successful urban farming business when combined with the right training. Or at least that’s the opinion of startup company GroAction, which offers an online class on the topic. About 470 people from around the world are now testing this theory. They are doing so through the Continue reading
Vertical Greenhouse Co. Seeks to Bring Fresh, Affordable, Low Carbon-footprint Produce to Urban Areas
/ February 15, 2012 8:12 pm
Plantagon is a Stockholm-based urban agriculture company that strives to balance commercial and values-based forces to simultaneously achieve profitability and ‘do good.’ To do this, it has introduced the Plantagon Greenhouse, a vertical greenhouse designed to bring fresh, affordable, low-carbon-footprint produce to urban areas. According to the company, the greenhouses’ efficiency and high productivity make them economically viable – it’s Continue reading
Sustainable Ag Startup Sees Aeroponic Technology as Key to Re-integrating Agriculture into Urban Environs
/ February 14, 2012 10:47 am
Eating locally within a hundred mile radius is certainly an impressive feat. But imagine the convenience of picking fresh produce from a farm that’s only a hundred feet away, or even ten, while still living in a crowded city. The Waters Wheel, a Los Angeles-based company, aims to do just that by bringing the farm to your doorstep or rooftop Continue reading
In Creating Fleet of Sustainable, Urban Farmers, Milwaukee-based Growing Power Seeks to End World Hunger
/ February 13, 2012 7:45 pm
Will Allen, CEO and founder of Growing Power, Inc., has a straightforward goal – to end world hunger. “It’s a lofty goal, but that’s how things should be,” said Allen, a sharecropper’s son who was a professional basketball player when he rediscovered his love for agriculture. “The only way to end world hunger is the local food system that we Continue reading
