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Whereas the number of people living in cities worldwide is continually growing, the already scarce area used for growing food and resources has been steadily shrinking.
This disparity, however, can be partly bridged by urban farming, the practice of growing food in cities and urban areas. Fraunhofer IAO has published a study investigating how cities could benefit from locally grown food and resources, looking at indoor plant and microalgae cultivation.
Safeguarding the long-term supply of food and resources to urban areas is a growing challenge – particularly in densely populated cities with limited access to surrounding agricultural land. Furthermore, intensive farming practices and heavy use of chemicals are putting increasing pressure on natural resources and land.
Algae farming is tough sledding.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by CZB on Thursday September 06 2018, @04:38AM (3 children)
So long as trucking is an option, a cities perishable food radius is 100 miles for tender crops, 500 to 1000 for everything else. The big advantage for farms within 0 to 5 miles of the city is entirely an advantage for the farmer, and for the anti-pollution folks who are against trucking.
I farm commercial wheat that goes to factories or is shipped to Asia. The profit margin is really slim. In looking for things to grow and new methods, I've found a lot of farmers making a lot more than I do, with the same amount of work, on a quarter acre. Restaurant greens and vegetables are worth a lot if your shipping distance is measured in city blocks.
The vertical indoor farming and growing stuff in vats totally works, and is also a gimmick with high infrastructure costs, its hard to see how they can make it without a lot of hype and misinformation about their carbon footprint.
Big ag is changing as fast as technology becomes affordable. Everyone wants to be able to say their stuff is healthier, its mostly unprovable opinion and hype at this point. As soon as we can get robots to pull weeds and better scanners to grade food by nutrients then things will get really interesting.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by GreatAuntAnesthesia on Thursday September 06 2018, @10:42AM (2 children)
> entirely an advantage for the farmer, and for the anti-pollution folks who are against trucking.
And also for people who have an interest in urban food security. I mean suppose some kind of highly disruptive event [bbc.co.uk] meant that getting food from the countryside into the city suddenly became difficult. within a few weeks you have millions of people trying to live off nothing but rats, cats and pigeons. If you have at least some production within the city limits then the problem will be at least mitigated.
(Score: 2) by CZB on Thursday September 06 2018, @04:09PM
Any weather disaster that shuts down a city will shut down most crops. Staple foods take 5 months to a year to grow, so its going to be a really rare disaster where nearby food production will save the day.
What IS a priority for many nations is having enough farm production in their country, just in case they can't import food for some reason.
People really do need a personal emergency food supply, just can't grow anything fast enough even if you have all the tools and space necessary.
(Score: 2) by suburbanitemediocrity on Thursday September 06 2018, @10:48PM
Food security means calories, not traces of micro nutrients.