Urban Farming
What is the situation right now?
Unfortunately in big cities like Berlin there are just a few urban farms. They are not really widespread yet. One reason for that could be that it is too expensive for people to buy their food in urban farms. Vegetables which are sold in supermarkets are less expensive, because urban farmers have very high costs to build and run the farms. Another reason is that people still are not well-informed about healthy food and urban farming which is not enough advertised. People do not know what their food goes through and which distance it covered. About 33% of vegetables moulder on their way to our supermarkets. But businesses and enterprises try to keep this information secret to keep up their image. Lobbyists have their influence on the health policy.
However some people are aware of healthy food and think the money is worth the price of the urban farmed food. It is not just an advantage for the consumers’ health but also an advantage for the environment. The ECF Farmsystems in Berlin use climate controlled greenhouses with carbon dioxide fertilisation and water reclamation. In comparison to conservative agriculture those farming systems produce 15 times more tomatoes and waste one third of water.
In poorer countries, urban farming is a kind of subsistence economy. Developing farming methods could improve people’s life.
What are the risks of urban farming?
Lots of people think that urban farms are a temporary phenomenon, because the price of land, people have to pay for urban farms does not relate to the proceeds of an urban farm.
If an urban farm is not organised and run professionally, it can hurt the ecological system of a city. Fertilizer and pesticides can harm the subterranean water.
In cities, soil conditions can be very different which complicates to find one universal concept of urban farming, even within one city. Soil could already be polluted, infertile or sandy.
The pollution of modern cities, especially the air pollution, restricts the quality of farmed vegetables and fruits. By rain, heavy metals can get into the ground water and could have an effect on vegetables. Sour rain can spoil a whole harvest.
So as a result there are ecological and health risks, whether they are not higher than conservatively produced food.
What is the Future for urban farming?
More and more people decide to live a sustainable life. The tendency of vegan people is increasing. The number of urban farms is increasing, too. The American organization Urban Farming® started with 5 urban gardens and farms. Now the number of Urban Farming® gardens is 62,640.
Healthy feeding gets more important to people. Urban farming can improve the quality of food, but only if it is well and professionally organised. There are a lot of ecological advantages. The food does not need to be transported once around the world so we can save carbon dioxide emission of freighters and other transport vehicles. Vegetables and other produced food do not have to be refrigerated because there is no transport. Looking at a local example, the ECF Farm in Berlin, only uses biological fertilizer. Growing their vegetables in modern constructed green houses, rain cannot affect the harvest. Using the aquaponic method, they even save water and minimize risks.
It is our responsibility to spread those ideas to make the world a better place. Research and development can help to improve mentioned methods.
We can suggest an urban garden/farm to our teachers and principals, making our school more sustainable. Wouldn`t it be great, if we produced our own food or at least a little part of it ourselves? I think yes and that’s why our project group will attach this proposal to our principal at the next school conference. It is our aim to have at least a 60 square meter school garden in which we grow our own vegetables. Offering them in the cafeteria or giving the cooking workshop the chance to cook with them, would be great for our school, our students and our environment.
Unfortunately in big cities like Berlin there are just a few urban farms. They are not really widespread yet. One reason for that could be that it is too expensive for people to buy their food in urban farms. Vegetables which are sold in supermarkets are less expensive, because urban farmers have very high costs to build and run the farms. Another reason is that people still are not well-informed about healthy food and urban farming which is not enough advertised. People do not know what their food goes through and which distance it covered. About 33% of vegetables moulder on their way to our supermarkets. But businesses and enterprises try to keep this information secret to keep up their image. Lobbyists have their influence on the health policy.
However some people are aware of healthy food and think the money is worth the price of the urban farmed food. It is not just an advantage for the consumers’ health but also an advantage for the environment. The ECF Farmsystems in Berlin use climate controlled greenhouses with carbon dioxide fertilisation and water reclamation. In comparison to conservative agriculture those farming systems produce 15 times more tomatoes and waste one third of water.
In poorer countries, urban farming is a kind of subsistence economy. Developing farming methods could improve people’s life.
What are the risks of urban farming?
Lots of people think that urban farms are a temporary phenomenon, because the price of land, people have to pay for urban farms does not relate to the proceeds of an urban farm.
If an urban farm is not organised and run professionally, it can hurt the ecological system of a city. Fertilizer and pesticides can harm the subterranean water.
In cities, soil conditions can be very different which complicates to find one universal concept of urban farming, even within one city. Soil could already be polluted, infertile or sandy.
The pollution of modern cities, especially the air pollution, restricts the quality of farmed vegetables and fruits. By rain, heavy metals can get into the ground water and could have an effect on vegetables. Sour rain can spoil a whole harvest.
So as a result there are ecological and health risks, whether they are not higher than conservatively produced food.
What is the Future for urban farming?
More and more people decide to live a sustainable life. The tendency of vegan people is increasing. The number of urban farms is increasing, too. The American organization Urban Farming® started with 5 urban gardens and farms. Now the number of Urban Farming® gardens is 62,640.
Healthy feeding gets more important to people. Urban farming can improve the quality of food, but only if it is well and professionally organised. There are a lot of ecological advantages. The food does not need to be transported once around the world so we can save carbon dioxide emission of freighters and other transport vehicles. Vegetables and other produced food do not have to be refrigerated because there is no transport. Looking at a local example, the ECF Farm in Berlin, only uses biological fertilizer. Growing their vegetables in modern constructed green houses, rain cannot affect the harvest. Using the aquaponic method, they even save water and minimize risks.
It is our responsibility to spread those ideas to make the world a better place. Research and development can help to improve mentioned methods.
We can suggest an urban garden/farm to our teachers and principals, making our school more sustainable. Wouldn`t it be great, if we produced our own food or at least a little part of it ourselves? I think yes and that’s why our project group will attach this proposal to our principal at the next school conference. It is our aim to have at least a 60 square meter school garden in which we grow our own vegetables. Offering them in the cafeteria or giving the cooking workshop the chance to cook with them, would be great for our school, our students and our environment.
Containerfarm
We
want to introduce you all to a very innovative possibility to achieve
sustainability of food. Our main focus will be on farming in big
cities known as “urban farming”. In Berlin you can find such an
innovative project: The ECF (Efficient City Farming) container farm.
The founder of this project wanted to show every townsman that you
can easily eat and buy biological food even if you live in a
metropolis.
This farm consists of a shipping container with an aquaculture in it and a greenhouse on it. The greenhouse has over 400 varieties of plants in it, for example tomatoes, salad, zucchini, cut flowers and so on.
This farm consists of a shipping container with an aquaculture in it and a greenhouse on it. The greenhouse has over 400 varieties of plants in it, for example tomatoes, salad, zucchini, cut flowers and so on.
Inside of the container there are over 100 zander, perch and tilapia perch. All in one it is an aquaponic system, this means that the farm connects the aquaculture with fish in it with the hydroculture on the top. They choose to breed fish because they convert their food very well, meaning that from 1kg of animal feed you can capitalize 1kg of meat. Furthermore the excretions are used as fertilizers for the plants. Every day it is necessary to take care of this farm for about two hours.
The founder Nicolas Leschke and his team wanted to create a prototype for sustainable feeding and this succeed. One containerfarm costs about 32.000€ including 200 fishes and 100 plants. The working costs are about 2000€ in seven months. It is very expensive but for having no transport and using the products of the two individuals doesn’t eject as much carbon dioxide as it does by transporting products from the supermarket. It is economical in its consumption of water too because the water from the fishes can be reused for for the little garden.
An
unbeatable idea and motivational to mind our long and unhealthy way
of food!
Here is a selection of some questions in TV-interviews:
What is the idea of the ecf-project?
ecf: The idea of the project is that people think about where their food comes from and how it is transported. We would like to produce a reference (?) and we would like to enable an access to sustainable food for everyone.
What are the advantages of a farm in a city?
ecf: There are no transport routes and so we save CO₂ emissions.
Why you are using fish?
ecf: The fish has the most sustainable protein and it has a very good food-balance. This means, that the fish is an very good food recycler. 1 kg fish food is 1 kg fish meat.
Here is a selection of some questions in TV-interviews:
What is the idea of the ecf-project?
ecf: The idea of the project is that people think about where their food comes from and how it is transported. We would like to produce a reference (?) and we would like to enable an access to sustainable food for everyone.
What are the advantages of a farm in a city?
ecf: There are no transport routes and so we save CO₂ emissions.
Why you are using fish?
ecf: The fish has the most sustainable protein and it has a very good food-balance. This means, that the fish is an very good food recycler. 1 kg fish food is 1 kg fish meat.
Sources:
http://www.ecf-farmsystems.com/ecf-containerfarmen/
http://www.veganwelt.de/inhalt/vegan/v-faq.html
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urbaner_Gartenbau
http://www.urbanfarming.org/
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subsistenzwirtschaft
http://anstiftung.de/jdownloads/Forschungsarbeiten%20Urbane%20Grten/temporaer-urbane-landwirtschaft.pdf
http://www.hortigate.de/Apps/WebObjects/Hortigate.woa/spider/meta?infometa=61461
www.qiez.de/schoeneberg/freizeit/gruenes-berlin/urban-gardening-in-den-containerfarmen-von-ecf-koennen-gemuese-und-kraeuter-angebaut-werden/45939011
http://www.ecf-farmsystems.com/ecf-containerfarmen/
http://www.veganwelt.de/inhalt/vegan/v-faq.html
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urbaner_Gartenbau
http://www.urbanfarming.org/
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subsistenzwirtschaft
http://anstiftung.de/jdownloads/Forschungsarbeiten%20Urbane%20Grten/temporaer-urbane-landwirtschaft.pdf
http://www.hortigate.de/Apps/WebObjects/Hortigate.woa/spider/meta?infometa=61461
www.qiez.de/schoeneberg/freizeit/gruenes-berlin/urban-gardening-in-den-containerfarmen-von-ecf-koennen-gemuese-und-kraeuter-angebaut-werden/45939011