First vertical farm opens in Singapore

[Flying Purple People Eater]

http://www.wired.com/design/2012/10/vertical-farm-in-singapore/


First Vertical Farm Opens in Singapore



By Duncan Geere
10.30.12
11:00 AM


http://www.wired.com/design/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/verticalfarm.jpg (http://www.wired.com/design/?attachment_id=138365)Vegetables grown in multi-level troughs at Sky Greens farm. Photo: Olivia Siong/Channel NewsAsia

The first commercial-scale vertical farm has opened (http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1233261/1/.html) in the tiny, densely populated city of Singapore, with the aim of decreasing dependence on food imports.
Singapore, which lies at the end of the Malay Peninsula, is just 274 square miles, almost all of which is city. That leaves little space to grow vegetables. As a result, the city currently only produces 7 percent of its vegetables locally, forcing it to buy from other countries.
http://www.wired.com/images/blogs/partner_logos/partner_wireduk.gif (http://www.wired.co.uk/)
The vertical farm, which has been developed by Sky Green Farms, consists of 120 aluminum towers, each extending up almost 30 feet in height. It can produce over 1,000 pounds of three kinds of vegetables per day, all of which are sold in the local FairPrice Finest supermarkets. However, they do cost a little more than imported vegetables. That hasn’t stopped them becoming enormously popular with local consumers, and they’re frequently out of stock. As a result, the company is looking for investors to allow it to produce two tons of vegetables per day. As supply ramps up, economies of scale should also be able to cut the price.
“We are always looking at ways to increase our sources of food supply and if we can produce some in Singapore, then that can go some way to meet local demand,” Lee Yi Shyan, Senior Minister of State for National Development and Trade and Industry, told Channel News Asia (http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1233261/1/.html).


Goodbye pastures.

[Bakunin Knight]

Thanks for that. Things like this allow for new possibilities in escaping central control and living in decentralized liberty.

[Aurora]

While this seems basic it's still a great initiative, vertical farming shows great potential in bringing agriculture into the 21st century with relatively new techniques like hydroponics, aeroponics, supplementary CO2 and lighting etc capable of producing more than traditional agriculture particularly in vegetable and fruit production and the reduction of CO2 emissions through local distribution of produce.

From a more political perspective it further develops the basis for the ending of the division of labour and the distinction between country and city, which, of course, can only come to pass through the abolition of private property, the socialist revolution.

[hetz]

Thanks for that. Things like this allow for new possibilities in escaping central control and living in decentralized liberty.
Actually such farms are much more dependent on centralized power-suppy ( etc. ) compared to your ordinary backyard garden.