Vertical Farming

Brandon Martella, a young architect is hoping a developer will build his 23 acre farm in central San Diego – 500 feet in the sky.

The building would contain residential units coupled with growing space, and Martella hope that this approach will help to revolutionise farming methods by placing consumers closer to their food source. The architect estimates that the building could produce as much as 500,000 pounds of fresh produce every three months.

The farm would be environmentally friendly, by not using pesticides and instead, recycling the residents excrement for nutrients;

“The system I would want to use is to reclaim the grey water from the residential. That would actually feed into the building, be pumped to the top, through a series of aerobic reactions and charcoal filters, the water would be cleansed and that would feed the plants.”

As farmland comes under increasing pressure through a combination of rising populations and climate change, vertical farms are increasingly being considered for construction. Champions of urban farms have argued the greenhouses could cut pollution caused by the shipping of food, protect plants from adverse weather conditions and remove the need for pesticides.

Full Story

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/02/26/architect-vertical-farm-in-san-diego-would-revolutionize-u-s-produce-consumption/

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