Urban gardens: The future of food? - Salon.

com
Hot Topics All Salon Tell us what you think Log in: Register Support Us
Go

Salon

Politics

News

Entertainment
Tech Tips

Life
Interview With My Bully

Open Salon

Full Menu

Love and Sex

TOPIC

Ask the Pilot

Since You Asked

Follow Life

Dream City
SATURDAY, JAN 21, 2012 11:00 AM 11:21:32 GMT-0600

Currently In Salon
Follow Dream City

Urban gardens: The future of food?

It's easy to make fun of, but as more and more farming moves downtown, eating local is taking on a new flavor
BY WILL DOIG

About
How should we build the cities of our dreams? How do we create the urban spaces which reflect our values and the ways we want to live? In cities around the world, hContinue b f d d ll ll

Congress protests Obama on Bahrain arms sale

Like

424

13

Open Salon
CHICAGO GUY

POST

JOIN

ALL POSTS

The Real Job Search Line

Defeated by TSA
A Stroll Through the Old Neighborhood
BOB SIMPSON

Why I Told My Daughter to Quit Her Job

HOLLY ROBINSON

The way to curb police abuse

(Credit: Salon, Mignon Khargie / Chee-Onn Leong via Shutterstock)

TOPICS: DREAM CITY

With penny-farthings, handlebar mustaches and four-pocket vests back in fashion, the rise of urban farming should just about complete our fetish for the late 1800s. Today, you can find chicken coops on rooftops in Brooklyn, N.Y., goats in San Francisco backyards, and rows of crops sprouting across empty lots in Cleveland. That it fits so snugly into the hipster-steampunk throwback trend is what makes urban farming ripe for ridicule. (Portlandia has taken a crack or two at it.) But could city-based agriculture ever make the leap from precious pastime to serious player in our cities food systems not just for novelty seekers and committed locavores, but for the Safeway-shopping masses? I dont want to make a statement like, This is the future of farming, says Gotham Greens co-founder Viraj Puri, sitting at his laptop in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, steps away from hundreds of rows of butter lettuce. Its probably never going to replace conventional farming. But it has a role to play. If the greenhouse were sitting in is any indication, that role looks nothing like the 1800s. Gotham Greens is a 15,000-square-foot hydroponic farm on the roof of a Brooklyn warehouse. It had its first harvest in June, and expects to produce 100 tons of food per year. The crops (mostly lettuce) grow in rows of white plastic tubing, their roots massaged by recycled water, under grow-lights and fans controlled by a central computer system. The system collects data from sensors throughout the room and adjusts the environment accordingly. This pampered produce will eventually end up on restaurant menus and shelves at stores like Whole Foods. Two years ago, Forbes predicted that by the year 2018, 20 percent of the food

What will the GOP complain about now?

Puppies and nostagia will always sell

Iran is the root of all evil

The snake oil of Who lost Iraq?

http://www.salon.com/2012/01/21/urban_gardens_the_future_of_food/singleton/[03/02/2012 01:16:45 p.m.]

Urban gardens: The future of food? - Salon.com

consumed in U.S. cities will be grown in places like this. Its safe to say thats almost certainly not going to happen. Right now, urban-grown produce represents a minuscule slice of the food system. But there are several plausible scenarios that could make such food more commonplace in the city kitchen of the future. Several of these scenarios are growing more likely by the day. If energy prices spike, your average grapefruits 1,500-mile journey to your fridge could make local food seem cheaper by comparison. Droughts are becoming more common, and soil-free hydroponic agriculture uses a fraction of the water of conventional farming and can easily be set up in urban environments. And theres always the unforeseen Black Swan event: World War II victory gardens made urban farming a temporary reality for millions in the early 1940s. But even if these scenarios came to pass, wouldnt it still make more sense to grow on cheaper land just outside city limits, rather than right in the bustle of the city? Depends which city youre talking about. Money manager John Hantz has spent the last few years putting together plans for a massive farm right in Detroit not just to grow food, but to boost land values in general. We need scarcity in Detroit, he told Fortune magazine. By which he means, depopulated Detroit has way too much land. Turning hundreds of acres of the city into farmland, his theory goes, would make land scarcer (and greener), which would raise real estate values. It would also take dilapidated properties off the citys hands. Its a fairly wild scheme that some suspect is nothing more than a real-estate land grab. Still, Hantz has the citys interest piqued. Theres another reason to grow food right in the city. Puri says he and his partners chose Brooklyn for lots of reasons: to help create jobs, to green the area, and to avoid a commute to the country. We didnt select Brooklyn because it was cool, he insists. But Brooklyn is cool if it wasnt, it wouldnt be used as a brand by all kinds of companies, from salsa to beer to the ubiquitous hoodies. And until we sail past peak-oil or face a water crisis, for many people, the main appeal of buying veggies grown in the city is that theyre vegetables that were grown in the city. That holds whether that city is Brooklyn, Seattle or Montreal. Which is why the Gotham Greens packaging is emblazoned with some version of the phrase New York City no less than three times four if you count the word Gotham itself. Because the fact is, locavorism is something people are willing to shell out for, and you cant get more local than across the street. But agriculture thats that local is also something others want nothing to do with. In Novembers municipal elections in Vancouver, urban farming became a political wedge issue used by the center-right NPA opposition party, which ridiculed public monies proposed for wheat fields and chickens. The funding was minimal (and some of it was never spent), but it didnt matter urban farming itself was held up as a loopy liberal lifestyle being subsidized by the city. The same people who were opposing the wheat field and chickens were opposing the bike lanes in Vancouver, too, says Peter Ladner, who actually led the NPA as a mayoral candidate four years ago. Hes since become an advocate for urban agriculture, and says the issue, like bike lanes, is becoming a cultural battle thats bigger than urban farms its about the definition of progress. We have a large Asian population in Vancouver, and theres a big concern [about urban farming] among immigrants who are moving here from places where there are chickens and pigs running around, he says. They moved here to upgrade their lives and live a sophisticated urban existence. Theyre like, Why are we going back to this? For a lot of people, progress means getting a nice, smooth lawn. The people who are idealizing urban farming have a choice a choice between grocery stores and greenmarkets, between cars and bicycles, says Richard Longworth, a senior fellow at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. Last year Longworth wrote a provocative piece for Good magazine titled Forget Urban Farms. We Need a Walmart, blasting the idea that such farms can spur an economy like traditional businesses can. What I object to is the hyping of their reality and potential, he says. There are a lot of people in this country who simply hate megafarms, but those folks are feeding the world. Locavore agriculture isnt going to change that.

Are high-tech classrooms better classrooms?

Mitt flip-flops on his own gaffe

Revisiting the power of Nazi propaganda

http://www.salon.com/2012/01/21/urban_gardens_the_future_of_food/singleton/[03/02/2012 01:16:45 p.m.]

Urban gardens: The future of food? - Salon.com

That may be true. But urban farming may carve a path to sustainable success by creating a new type of subsystem within the larger food system one thats bigger than boutique but smaller than Big Agra. A company called BrightFarms is pioneering a method that aims to do just that one that takes place directly above the stores that sell the produce it grows. BrightFarms builds greenhouses on supermarket rooftops and manages the growing operations for free. In return, the store below signs a long-term contract agreeing to buy the food thats produced. BrightFarms estimates it can harvest up to 900,000 pounds of produce annually per acre. Its a solution that seems custom-built for cities, places with plenty of roofs but little ground. A lack of space on the ground is what might someday make vertical farms a cost-effective reality. But for now, large-scale towers holding rows of corn are strictly sci-fi. Nevertheless, city-based agriculture seems poised for some kind of flowering thats more than a fad. If 2011 was the year that bike lanes became the poster child for the New Urbanism, urban farms could claim that mantle in 2012. More Will Doig

PERMALINK

PRINT

SHORT URL

SHARE:

EMAIL REDDIT

TWITTER

FACEBOOK

LINKEDIN

DIGG

STUMBLEUPON

SHARETHIS

107

Comments
Please Log in to post a comment about this article.

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em>

<strong> <i> <blockquote>

POST
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 Next Page
Refresh Comments

dave94703
Saturday, January 21, 2012 at 11:23 am

Not many buildings are suitable for rooftop gardening. That's a lot of weight. One of the problems that can't be ignored is the poor quality of urban land, farmingwise. There's a lot of toxics out there, especially if people live near industrial areas or used weed killers. The dream of feeding your family from your backyard always runs into the problem that your backyard isn't near big enough. But once gas becomes expensive enough that trucking food long distances starts to become really uneconomical, people will begin to look around them at all their suddenly excess infrastructure and start plowing up every other residential street for parks and gardens. Now THERE'S some real estate.
Permalink Login to Reply Flag

agore
Saturday, January 21, 2012 at 12:51 am

That's the rationale for using hydroponics: no soil is needed.

Permalink Login to Reply Flag

http://www.salon.com/2012/01/21/urban_gardens_the_future_of_food/singleton/[03/02/2012 01:16:45 p.m.]

Urban gardens: The future of food? - Salon.com

Serai1
Saturday, January 21, 2012 at 4:42 pm

There are a number of start-ups out there figuring out how to bring hydroponic gardening to ordinary people. The downside is that it takes an initial investment, but after that, it quickly begins to pay for itself. And it's amazing just how much food you can grow in a small space using some of the new tower-type hydroponic systems.
Permalink Login to Reply Flag

soixante60
Saturday, January 21, 2012 at 12:21 am

News flash: urban areas have too many people and too little land to grow shit.
Permalink Login to Reply Flag

pstarr
Saturday, January 21, 2012 at 12:51 am

Simple math, some calorie-counting, and a rudimentary knowledge of gardening would have informed the writer of the absurdity of this. For starters, a head of broccoli contains about 100 calories and requires 3 months and 4 sq. feet of garden. 1 person requires 1200 calories per day. Therefore one apartment roof would feed one person (not the entire building) for three months. At a cost in engineering, water service, nutrient replacement, etc. You have your dweeby ideas and then you have your high quality dweeby math.
Permalink Login to Reply Flag

cabdriver
Saturday, January 21, 2012 at 1:14 pm

I looked into this when I lived in a high-rise apartment. I found that the most high-protein and nutritious crop that could be grown was vine beans, particularly fava beans (the primary ingredient of hummus.) There were rules against growing plants over banister height on my balcony- probably for good reason in this case, as trailing vines in particular can find themselves into masonry cracks and undermine the entire structure of a building. But I did find out that favas make for a fairly nutrient-dense food crop cultivar. At one time, the apartment where I was living was intended to be the site of a much more ambitious high-rise project that would have combined residential apartments, offices, businesses, and retail shopping. It was designed to be around 35 stories- but only two of the sides were straight vertical walls, which reached their highest point on only one outside corner. The majority of the building design was a stepped pyramid that flattened out and across into two wide terraces at about the 12th and 20th floor. Plenty of room for gardens there, with abundant sun exposure. I'm a fan of high-rise living. It's much more water and energy efficient than most separated dwellings. I even recommend it for rural sites that aren't often thought of in conjunction with high rise living. For instance, if the residents of water-scarce and highly fire-prone rural areas like the Sierras of California and the hills of southern California decided to live in high rise building communities instead of widely dispersed structures, they'd largely obviate a wide array of serious problems associated with dwelling in those geographic regions, ranging from the cost of infrastructure to water availability to fire suppression. And get this, almost everyone would have fabulously unobstructed

http://www.salon.com/2012/01/21/urban_gardens_the_future_of_food/singleton/[03/02/2012 01:16:45 p.m.]

Urban gardens: The future of food? - Salon.com

views, with no need to keep the trees trimmed or culled. Maybe some day.
Permalink Login to Reply Flag

Luun E. Toonz
Saturday, January 21, 2012 at 4:52 pm

Cabbie: 'particularly fava beans' Isn't that what Hannibal ate with his friend??
Permalink Login to Reply Flag

Raise Up
Saturday, January 21, 2012 at 6:35 pm

Hahahaw!! You're so funny when you try to connect liberal politics with cannibalism, haufenmist. But maybe you're on to something... I wonder how long my family could live off the roasted carcass of a single greasefattened Fox-o-phile? I'll bet that would be some tasty eating. Nahh... I just remembered: to other humans, human flesh is an incomplete protein; we'd starve, eventually. Oh well.
Permalink Login to Reply Flag

Luun E. Toonz
Saturday, January 21, 2012 at 7:54 pm

Waddaya mean 'liberal politix'??? Beans are NOT liberal or conservative!!! I didn't know that. (Human flesh 'incomplete') I was under the impression that, maybe not 100% 'perfect', but meat had a pretty darn good combination of all nutrients, antioxydants...all that good stuff. Proteins of course. We got the incisors so.....All the believers in 'evolution' can't explain that one away!!!
Permalink Flag

Raise Up
Sunday, January 22, 2012 at 4:03 am

I get it, already. You wanted to poke cabdriver about something, anything... then mentioned fava beans as being a good choice for urban gardening, so you reached for the Hannibal Lector reference. But then you bring out the old myth about liberals not eating meat. Which leads me to think you need to take your jokes back the drawing board. You keep swinging like a mad monkey, but just can't seem to connect. Why don't you tell us -again- about the detonator cord on the tail section of Ron Brown's plane?
Permalink Flag

Jaybriel
Sunday, January 22, 2012 at 11:09 pm

Fava beans are not, as such, the primary ingredient in hummus. They are the primary ingredient in foul medamas. Hummus is made with garbanzo beans.
Permalink Login to Reply Flag

agore

http://www.salon.com/2012/01/21/urban_gardens_the_future_of_food/singleton/[03/02/2012 01:16:45 p.m.]

Urban gardens: The future of food? - Salon.com

Saturday, January 21, 2012 at 5:03 pm

Any argument against being able to grow veggies in the city is an argument against the collection of solar power in the city. Plants are the most efficient users of solar energy known.
Permalink Login to Reply Flag

Aunt Messy
Sunday, January 22, 2012 at 11:57 am

1200 calories a day is a starvation diet. Add 600-800, and you have enough calories for a healthy adult to maintain body functions.
Permalink Login to Reply Flag

wtaguy
Sunday, January 22, 2012 at 12:50 am

Not quite... Broccoli (staying with your choice)is easily grown at 1- and 2- foot spacing, allowing up to 9 plants in 4 square feet. Further, it needn't grow alone -- practices like intensive and companion planting (growing other plants in the interstices), increase food production and variety from the same space. The same is true for nearly any crop. Engineering costs for roof top gardening are certainly a consideration: dirt's heavy, so maybe that's the place for hydroponics. The other costs mentioned (and more)are already integral to growing, or buying, the stuff, so I don't see that as a special burden. Our county food bank started a dedicated garden 4 years ago(the first 3 in the city),expanding annually; this past season, we raised 53,000 pounds of produce in about 16,000 square feet of dirt -200,000 servings, give or take. Additionally, we're involved in a local program, modeled after the Garden Writers Association's Plant A Row, where about 700 local, backyard gardeners grew and contributed another 44,000 pounds. And we're all planning to do more because that's still not enough to adequately feed our hungry. It can be done, and it's absolutely necessary.
Permalink Login to Reply Flag

tedol
Saturday, January 21, 2012 at 4:22 pm

So the solution is to just do nothing. Excellent strategy.

Permalink Login to Reply Flag

Serai1
Saturday, January 21, 2012 at 4:38 pm

News flash: you have no idea how much free space there is in urban areas. It just takes creative minds to find the space.
Permalink Login to Reply Flag

Luun E. Toonz
Sunday, January 22, 2012 at 9:10 am

@ Raise up There's no 'reply' link at your mail BUT.... I have NO IDEA what you're talking about. Cabbie was a long lost soul; is all. I happen to like beans. Drunk beans...

http://www.salon.com/2012/01/21/urban_gardens_the_future_of_food/singleton/[03/02/2012 01:16:45 p.m.]

Urban gardens: The future of food? - Salon.com

Permalink Login to Reply Flag

Raise Up
Sunday, January 22, 2012 at 11:20 am

Blackout drunk beans, apparently...

Permalink Login to Reply Flag

cabdriver
Sunday, January 22, 2012 at 11:32 am

Luun, they could use someone like you in television comedy. But not as a writer. In the cast. Granted, in small doses. But there's a place for you. Maybe on 30 Rock, playing a writer who struggles unsuccessfully with removing the trite-wing didactic cliches from his joke scripts.
Permalink Login to Reply Flag

cabdriver
Sunday, January 22, 2012 at 11:37 am

Cabbie was a long lost soul

I went on hiatus before the big bad Salon window-dressing revamp, but I've been posting here for months. Anyway, it's gratifying to see you displaying so much evidence of a long-term memory.
Permalink Login to Reply Flag

Page 1

Next Page
Refresh Comments

Other News

Glitter bombing the GOP candidates: A video history Good day, bad day: February 2, 2012 Trump endorses Romney: 'A blessing or a curse'? Will Egypt's soccer riot derail the revolution? Space: A colony on the moon? More from The Week: Most Recent News+Opinion Posts

Romney Way Ahead in Nevada Want to Make Your Political Donation Count? Senate Votes to Ban Insider Trading by Lawmakers The Unelectables Enthusiasm Gap Dogs Romney More from Taegan Goddard's Political Wire

Four Breakfast Cereals Inspired By TV Characters "Sexy And I Know It" Meets Metal Blossom Recreates Her 1992 "Sassy" Cover Photo Lana Del Rey Makes Up For "SNL" Disaster With Pitch-Perfect Letterman Performance Zombie Bed Set More from BuzzFeed - Latest User Buzz

Politics
War Room Occupy Wall Street Greenwald Walsh Pareene Kornacki Elliott Sirota

News
Occupy Wall Street Arab Spring 2012 Elections Privacy Global Warming Religion Terrorism

Entertainment
Books Movies TV Our Picks The Movie List 2011

Life
Love and Sex Ask the Pilot Tech Tips Since You Asked Interview With My Bully

Plus
All Salon From the Wires Salon Personals Newsletter Open Salon The Well Salon Core

About Salon
Inside Salon Contact Staff Jobs Advertise Ways to Get Salon Salon Comments Privacy Policy Terms of Service Corrections

http://www.salon.com/2012/01/21/urban_gardens_the_future_of_food/singleton/[03/02/2012 01:16:45 p.m.]

Urban gardens: The future of food? - Salon.com

Copyright 2012 Salon Media Group, Inc. Reproduction of material from any Salon pages without written permission is strictly prohibited. SALON is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office as a trademark of Salon Media Group Inc. Associated Press articles: Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Standard Grid

http://www.salon.com/2012/01/21/urban_gardens_the_future_of_food/singleton/[03/02/2012 01:16:45 p.m.]