Big City Farming On the 20th Floor

Posted by: Nate Berg

22 June 2007 - 8:00am

'Vertical farming' -- the idea of growing crops and livestock in high-rise buildings -- could be a solution to the high environmental costs of transporting food from distant farms to dense urban areas.

"The idea is simple enough. Imagine a 30-storey building with glass walls, topped off with a huge solar panel."

"On each floor there would be giant planting beds, indoor fields in effect."

"There would be a sophisticated irrigation system."

"And so crops of all kinds and small livestock could all be grown in a controlled environment in the most urban of settings."

"That means there would be no shipping costs, and no pollution caused by moving produce around the country."

"'Even if it's not quite natural.... a little bit factory-like in terms of its production, here's what you're going to get back: you're going to get back the rest of the earth. And I'll take that any time,' says Columbia University Professor Dickson Despommier, creator of the concept."

Full Story: Vertical farming in the big Apple

Source: BBC, June 19, 2007