AGRI-TECTURE:

This podcast is the perfect introduction into vertical farming:

If you are interested in hearing about Vertical Farming from the best source, then you must listen to this Treehugger podcast with Dickson Despommier!

Dickson Despommier on the Rise of the Vertical Farm by TreeHugger Podcast

Mr. Despommier is considered the global expert on vertical farming and discusses the concept itself as well as several wicked cool cases and examples. I was especially interested to hear how many new examples of building-integrated agriculture (BIA) that I hadn’t even heard of already exist.  I also really enjoyed his explanation of the science behind fertilizing plants and the role that pollination and beekeeping play in Agritecture.  Seriously, you must listen to this podcast!

I have placed images and links to the examples that he discusses for you to check out:

PlantLab is an underground hydroponic farming labratory in the Netherlands that experiments with methods for improving growing techniques.  Still in the experimental stages as Mr. Despommier states in the podcast, this project focuses on saving very valuable land in the compact nation by farming underground.  Incredible!

The above image illustrates the resource cycle reuse system that “The Plant” in Chicago uses.  This is the future of Building-Integrated Agriculture and Agritecture as design must include considerations of all the waste and resources used in an attempt to create the most efficient system possible.  All forms of energy, not just waste, are considered in the system design employed by this Chicago outfit creating a total zero net energy solution.  The Plant uses hydroponics as well aquaponics, growing tilipia fish and reusing the waste produced.  Yup, you saw right, they even brew their own beer!

On the other side of the world, South Korea has built a functioning vertical farm already, with complex automated systems and sophisticated LED’s that only use the needed light rays for photosynthesis, saving significant amounts of energy.  Something that they practice in their farm is the sterilization of “intruders” to protect the plants which is something that makes total sense but I was not previously aware of.  It seems incredibly futuristic that there is already a vertical farm in with sterilization showers used before entering and a sophisticated Agritecture system in place.  The country is apparently betting on building-integrated agriculture (BIA) to feed their population in the future and will likely be a source of more examples of Agritecture in the future. I imagine that we will see a lot more schools in that country educating “BIA technicians” as they are leading the way and their young, highly educated workforce is experiencing serious employment shortages at the moment (Read “South Korea’s wasted youth” by the BBC)

Before you know it, the lettuce that you eat will likely come from an dense urban farm like the ones above.

If you listened to the podcast (which you should!) and you liked it, make sure to check out Mr. Despommier’s website The Vertical Farm where you can see some really cool concept examples of Agritecture.  Don’t worry, I will feature them all on here soon enough!

What did you find most interesting from the podcast with Dickson Despommier?