Opinion – Claudio Bernardes: Initiatives that can revolutionize urban agriculture

Urban agriculture has developed in recent years with the use of new technologies and new concepts, mainly to help solve food insecurity problems in cities and suburban areas.

Food growing in cities can be developed in many ways, such as gardening in backyards, roofs and balconies, community gardens in vacant lots and parks, urban agriculture on the edge of access roads to cities, cattle grazing in open space and intensive facilities. indoor hydroponics or aquaculture.

Urban agriculture facilitates access to food and reconnects communities to farming practices. However, the business development of this activity has been gaining significant contours in several parts of the world, which may indicate a new direction.

In the search for incentives for the development of urban agriculture, some initiatives have proved to be relevant as alternatives that seek to find the best ways to move towards a consistent evolution.

AeroFarms, based in Newark (USA), builds and operates urban vertical farms to enable scale-up of production and increase the availability of safe and nutritious food.

Since its founding, the company has acted as an alternative to conventional food supply chains, building farms along major distribution routes in urban areas.

The company uses aeroponics to grow green leaves, a technique that allows food production without using the soil and without depending on sunlight, in a fully controlled environment. The technology allows for year-round production, and uses 95% less water than conventional agriculture.

Another interesting experiment is being developed by the company Agricool, a French startup that grows strawberries in containers scattered throughout urban areas. The company adapts old, unused containers to accommodate an LED lighting system, powered by clean energy and aeroponics, which allows for year-round cultivation of strawberries.

Agricool is also working on building a network of urban farmers, using a training program called Cooltivators, which aims to open up job opportunities in the agricultural sector for city residents.

Bowery Farming, an indoor farming startup, operates in the New York metropolitan area, and uses software and robotics to grow produce inside warehouses and suburbs.

By controlling all aspects of the growing process, the startup is able to produce leafy greens and herbs using minimal amounts of water and energy per square meter. The technology also makes it possible to grow bespoke products for chefs and restaurants, such as softer kale and spicier arugula.

Since its inception in 2017, Bowery Farming has been expanding operations beyond its New Jersey warehouse to build vertical farms in other cities and ultimately bring efficient food production closer to consumers.

Berlin-based German startup InFarm develops modular indoor farming systems to bring agriculture to cities, avoiding transporting food over long distances. The company pioneered the installation of modular systems in restaurants, schools, hospitals and shopping malls. Operations have expanded to distribute portable farms in neighborhoods and supermarkets in Germany, Denmark, France and Switzerland.

An urban mushroom farm in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, is focused on raising awareness of the potential of the circular economy to address environmental issues. The farm’s closed-loop system uses coffee grounds collected from local businesses to transform waste streams into food. The mushroom nursery, built from old shipping containers, uses solar panels to power farm operations and electric vehicles to deliver produce. Farm staff provide tours to educate citizens about circular systems and train entrepreneurs who want to set up a mushroom farm.

These are some of the many initiatives around the world that should structure, in a very solid way, the exercise of urban agriculture as a definitive and sustainable means of finding the countless ways in which cities can produce food and create better links between rural systems. and urban, with the potential to revolutionize food production models.