Seawater Vertical Farm Project

Location: Dubai, UAE
Architect: Studiomobile - Italy

http://www.studiomobile.org/
http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/9/view/5631/studiomobile-seawater-vertical-farm.html

In Dubai, a desert climate with little fresh water, selective conversion to fresh water, combined with farming vertically may be the solution, or so proposes Italy’s Studiomobile design firm. The project would use seawater to humidify air, and then recondense some of that water to irrigate the crops. The concept works in three phases:

Phase 01
The air going into the greenhouse is first cooled and humidified by seawater,
which is trickled over the first evaporator. This provides a fresh and humid climate
for the crops that in these conditions need very little water as they are not stressed
by excessive transpiration.

Phase 02
As the air leaves the growing area it passes through the second evaporator which
has seawater flowing over it. During this phase the humid air mix with the warm
dry air of the ceiling interspace. Thus the air is made much hotter and more humid.

Phase 03
The warm air is forced to flow upward by the stack effect that is temperature induced.
In the central chimney the warm and humid air will condense when in contact with
plastic tubes where cool sea water is pumped. In the surface of the condenser many
drops of fresh water will appear, ready to be recollected in a tank to water the crops
and for other uses.

Lupangwe Organic Demonstration Farm

Location: Malawi
Founder: Jailos Kanyanga

Read about it here

Jailos Kanyanga is at the forefront of the organic farming movement in Malawi, a country with nearly 20,000 organic farmers despite its small population of 12 million. Kanyanga, victim of a fertilizer credit scheme, reverted to traditional methods of composting and pest control, and has had significant regional impact and success in doing so. Starting with just 17 families, Kanyanga’s projected expanded into the organic demonstration farm, training and educating over 700 peasant farmers, increasing their yields for subsistence and sale.

By making traditional fertilizers from ash and dung, as well as soil from ant hills, Kanyanga was able to increase the yields of his plots. Kanyanga has since expanded this traditional methodology to pesticides, grinding up the leaves of local tree species to kill weevils and other maize pests. Kanyanga’s methods have allowed impoverished farmers to sidestep corrupt fertilizer schemes and high fertilizer prices, while increasing food security.

Advanced Composting Technologies

Location: Candler, NC
Year: 1998-Present

http://www.advancedcomposting.com

Advanced Composting Technologies is a company based in North Carolina specializing in forced aeration composting technology. Spinning off a previous company known as Mountain Organic Materials, ACT now specializes in the unique composting issue of animal mortality, where responsible disposal of animal carcasses has previously been a problem. A testimonial from a hog farmer with one of Advanced Composting Technology’s proprietary systems claims a 60,000 dollar savings, by changing from burning carcasses with diesel fuel to composting them responsibly.

ACT claims the forced air system cuts down both on time required for full composting, as well as pathogens normally generated by decomposing flesh. The system is applicable in swine and poultry farms, as well as for general manure composting set-ups. Beyond these, the company claims this technology could be expanded for aquaculture farms, municipalities, large institutions, veterinarians or any situation in which organic matter would otherwise go to a landfill.

Blue Sky Biofuels

Location: Oakland, CA
Year: 2006-Present
Owner and President: Patrick McIntyre

http://www.blueskybio-fuels.com

Blue Sky Biofuels is a recently formed corporation, developing a biodiesel production facility located conveniently close to an urban center, turning used grease from commercial food production, restaurants, and public utility sewers into combustible fuel. In addition to serving a number of restaurants in the Bay Area, Blue Sky Biofuels also partners with the University of California at Berkeley and the McAfee Coliseum to collect grease. This grease, once converted to fuel, is used to power the trucking fleets of other Blue Sky customers.

In addition to selling this biodiesel to trucking fleets, Blue Sky is working on a campaign to introduce biodiesel to school bus fleets. Biodiesel can be integrated into normal diesel fuel at any ratio from 1 percent to 99 percent, and in addition to being more environmentally friendly, improves the air quality for students riding those buses. The US Dept of Agriculture and the US Dept of Energy have estimated that biodiesel also has a positive energy balance of 220 percent, dispelling the myth of biodiesel as net energy loser.

RUAF Foundation

Location: Global reach with projects in partner cities in Africa, Asia, and South America. A network of regional resource centers, with the overarching global center housed in the Netherlands.
Year: 1996-Present

http://www.ruaf.org

The mission of the RUAF Foundation is “to contribute to urban poverty reduction, employment generation and food security and to stimulate participatory city governance and improved urban environmental management, by creating enabling conditions for empowerment of male and female urban and peri-urban farmers, capacity development of local authorities and other stakeholders and by facilitating the integration of urban agriculture in gender-sensitive policies and action programmes of local governments, civic society organisations and private enterprises with active involvement of the urban farmers, livestock keepers and other relevant stakeholders”

The format of the Foundation is a global resource center, and seven regional centers, monitoring and providing resources to urban farming initiatives in 18 partner cities, in East and West Africa, South America, China, and the Indian Subcontinent. The Foundation is funded primarily by the EU, the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Canadian International Development Research Centre. The Foundation’s main programs “Cities Farming for the Future” and “From Seed to Table” seek to develop urban agriculture socially, economically, and sustainably through education, information sharing, and publications like Urban Agriculture Magazine.

Portable Farms

Location: Escondido, CA
Year:1972-Present
Inventor/Founder: Colle Davis

http://www.portablefarms.com

Portable Farms is a business that has a designed aquaponic system for sale to the public. Colle Davis invented the aquaponic system after studying at UC Davis, and has spent the last 37 years perfecting the design, with the goal of fully automating the process to allow for universal usage. Portable Farms claims that a unit of theirs (patent pending) measuring only 6’x 8’ can produce 400 vegetables and 100 pounds of fish, all while using an estimated 90 percent less water than a traditional arrangement. Colle Davis’s own farm uses three of his company’s units, one 6’ x 8’, one 10’ x 20’ and one 20’ x 30’, meaning on two acres, he is able to produce 4800 vegetables and 1900 pounds of fish in a year.

In addition to the three previously mentioned sizes, Portable Farms also sells a 90’ x 120’ unit, for larger institutional applications. Portable Farms is marketing these units to large institutions like prisons and schools, where footprint might be an issue, as well as to individuals and families, where time and ease of maintenance might be an issue. The modularity and exportability of Portable Farms suggests that the company may have more success as locavorism catches on.

Chez Panisse

Location: Berkeley, CA
Years: 1971-Present
Founder: Alice Waters

http://www.chezpanisse.com
http://www.chezpanissefoundation.org
http://www.edibleschoolyard.org

Chez Panisse was founded in 1971 by Alice Waters, with the firm belief in the superiority of seasonal and local ingredients. Waters is a pioneer of sorts in this department, and Chez Panisse has helped to cultivate a network of local farmers and sustainable agriculturalists over the past forty years. Chez Panisse has been a force for local and slow food longer than nearly any other restaurant, and Alice Waters has since gone on to found more organizations associated with this cause, such as the Edible Schoolyard, and is also the Vice-President of Slow Food International.

On the 25th anniversary of the opening of the Chez Panisse restaurant, Waters founded the Chez Panisse foundation, aimed at educating and empowering youth to make better food choices, and advocate for reform of the school lunch program. By integrating food into the school curriculum, the Foundation hopes to engender values of sustainability and nutrition in the next generation. The Edible Schoolyard project at the Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School in Berkeley is the first model garden/kitchen that the Foundation established, with a one acre garden supplying the school’s lunch program, and teachers integrating the garden into their curricula. Alice Waters ultimately has become a pioneer in the movement, establishing a similar program at the university level with the Yale Sustainable Food Project, and has written nine cookbooks, raising her profile to the national scale. The Chez Panisse Foundation has also produced several publications explaining what has been learned by the Edible Schoolyard.