Slashdot Mirror
Berlin Gets First Taste of In-Store Vertical Micro-Farms (rt.com)
An anonymous reader shares an article on RT: German shoppers now have the chance to buy fresh greens and herbs in supermarkets with tiny vertical farms which both grow and display the produce. The new delivery method for the freshest possible produce is being pioneered by INFARM which is currently testing its live herb gardens at METRO stores in Berlin. The people behind the project say these are the first indoor farming installations of their kind, placed directly in supermarkets. "Imagine a future where cities become self-sufficient in their food production, where autonomous farms grow fresh premium produce at affordable prices, eliminating waste and environmental impact," The farms look like a tiny greenhouse inside the store where shoppers can pick their own freshly harvested salad greens and herbs right from the growing plants. The advantages of the indoor micro-farms are lower transport costs and associated emissions. They use less water, energy and space than conventional farms and horizontal greenhouses.
Actually, the tractor is sitting in a drawer ... it's a micro-farm, after all, so you only need a micro-tractor.
It charges off USB, so it's pretty green since you can do that with solar.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
We've got a local (Florida) company that grows salad greens in portable containers that are shipped living to the restaurant - so the greens aren't harvested until the salad is prepared. The "better" restaurants keep the greens in plant-friendly sunlit / well watered locations, others just put them on display by the hostess podium and sell them so fast it doesn't matter that they're slowly dying in the air-conditioning/dim artificial light.
I want to see a micro-tractor pull.
We play the game with the bravery of being out of range
This is more about hipsterism than efficiency. And even for the hipsters, urban farming is only about fresh herbs and salad greens, which are difficult to transport and store. There is no way that urban farming is going to work for staples like wheat or oil seeds, so the notion that cities will be self-sufficient in food is silly.
cows are going to have a hard time
LOL ... well, there's these guys. National Micro-Mini Tractor Pullers Association
No, I didn't make that up.
You're welcome.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
I wouldn't be surprised to see many variations of vertical hydroponic farms on south-facing windows of buildings in the future, whether on a per-unit basis or in some cases in a vertical atrium-style space. On a small scale leafy greens, carrots and related crops would be the only ones that make sense due to pollination concerns, but I could also see larger setups being feasible with south-facing atriums full of hydroponic crops with some level of access for bees.
In some ways this complements the trend of rooftop gardens/lawns in urban areas.
fencepost
just a little off
All valid points.
BUT, the kind of thing this article is talking about is indoor growing, not out in the wild, and with a significant amount of automation ... you know like this.
So, really ... are you so sure about what you said? Because it sounds like the technology to start doing this on a sizable scale already exists.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
It depends on how much farming you plan on doing. The Aerogarden line has some relatively inexpensive stuff, as long as you don't plan on growing too much, too big, or too many.
I noticed the local hardware store has been stocking up on grow-light assemblies and similar stuff lately.