CNN Highlights Hydroponics

Watch the whole video to see our friends at the Science Barge and Lee Mandell of Boswyck Farms.

I think it's time hydroponics has a serious PR makeover. Anyone want to help me?

It's Happening in Newark

This is very big news.

Last Monday, a group of government officials and businessmen gathered to hear a proposal for bringing vertical farming to the Garden State.  In attendance were Deputy Mayor for Economic Development Stefan Pryor and City Councilman Donald Payne, Jr, along with leaders from the Greater Newark Conservancy and Brick City Development Corporation, among other groups.  Dan Albert and Peter Greaves of Weber Thompson presented their site-specific project, which was inspired by their original Eco-Laboratory drawings, and the room sparkled at each change of the slide, as, one by one, the guests all fell for vertical farming.

After the presentation, Councilman Payne proclaimed, "This is something that should happen here," to which Deputy Mayor Pryor answered, "Absolutely.  I agree." 

Here It Is, the Book

First of all, everyone should pre-order their copy of Dr. Despommier's upcoming book. October 12th is the release date listed on Amazon.com and Barnesandnoble.com, so I assume you'd get your copies right around the middle of that month. I bet that everyone has a special niece or uncle or sister or grandpa who would love this book, so maybe pre-ordering a couple copies is a good move.

Can't wait to hear what people have to say once it drops.

All Apologies

Hello, loyal readers. The recent slack in blog posts will cease now. I can imagine that it's been difficult without someone keeping you up to date on all the goings-on around vertical farming, but I'm back, so here we go. Stringent chronology may be sacrificed as I recap the past month.

Earthday Round the Corner

On this, the eve's eve of the 40th anniversary of Earthday, we should remember to still celebrate what April 22nd, 1970 was a call for. It was a call to improve the quality of life on Earth, to engage politicians, musicians, writers, business leaders and anyone else breathing, that the planet is a prerequisite to our own lives, and that beautifying it beautifies us.

So when John Tierney of the New York Times wrote an article--"7 New Rules to Live By"--I was struck that he did not mention vertical farming. You see, vertical farming is simply a creative expression of the solution to a handful of man-made problems: climate change, hunger, water scarcity, species extinction, all of these are problems whose solutions lie in producing daily behaviors that are in line with the world we hope to produce. So the first question is, What kind of world do we want to produce?

I'll start.

Josh Tickell on Jay Leno

Josh Tickell, whose movie, Fuel, illustrates a path for discarding our nation's oil crutch for energy needs, was interviewed on Jay Leno about one year ago.  Leno seems especially enthralled by the notion of a solution in vertical farms.  So that this clip doesn't gather cobwebs, I'll share it here, where hopefully it will be something pleasant to some, and something at least remarkable to most. 

Leno Hosts FUEL Director Josh Tickell from Stacy Hess on Vimeo.
(Video courtesy of Vimeo.) 

If there's one thing to take away from this, it's that good ideas are sticky.  That means that the most important thing that supporters of vertical farming can do is tell people about it.  Tell someone a good idea, and it will stick there, like planting a seed, and then germinate when one hears the idea again and again.  If we spread this idea like gigantic wings, then it will fly.    

A Quite Right Food Panel Night

This past Thursday, on April 8th, Leonard Lopate of WNYC hosted a panel discussion on everyone's favorite topic: urban farming.  Panel members included friends of Vertical Farming Annie Novak of Greenpoint Rooftop Farm and Manhattan Borough President, Scott Stringer, as well as urban ag all star Will Allen of Growing Power in Milwaukee, and artist Fritz Haeg, who created Edible Estates: Attack on the Front Lawn, a book documenting the urban food movement around the country. 

I've got to be honest--I haven't watched the whole thing.  But I wouldn't be surprised if Vertical Farming came up in this discussion.  Scott Stringer has made it very clear that he wants to have Vertical Farms in New York, and Will Allen is actually working on a sort of low-tech Vertical Farm outside of Milwaukee.  (From what I understand, he is converting an abandoned warehouse into another of his urban food oases.) 

Watch the whole conversation (87 minutes, heads up) on the Green Space (WNYC's studio for stuff like this) website here.

Vertical Farming on Huffington Post

Just thought I'd share that Huff Po is featuring a "Vote For Your Favorite VF" article complete with pictures of some Vertical Farm designs.  Check it out and vote.  I'm interested to see the results. 

Valcent's VertiCrop system somehow made it into the running, but let's not get confused: what they're doing is cool, but it's not Vertical Farming.  No greywater remidiation, no waste-to-energy recapture, single story, etc. etc. etc.  I know they're trying to capitalize on the buzz surrounding the VF name, which makes sense, but it's just a little too transparent for me.