A Look at 4 Successful Urban Farms

Urban farming isn’t exactly a brand-new practice. It’s been around for several decades now, and many people are starting to become incredibly skilled at doing it successfully. Due to growing concerns over the increase in the world population, a potential lack of available food to feed everyone, and a decline in usable land for traditional farming, experts are looking for viable and sustainable alternatives to the traditional farming methods of growing food. One of those practices involves creating urban farms, typically by using vertical or otherwise innovative farming methods. These new methods are often workable without any — or very minimal — soil and are designed to be used in smaller spaces. Here are a few examples of successful urban farms and a look at how they are designed and what makes them unique.

AeroFarms

Based out of Newark, New Jersey, AeroFarms is a familiar name in the world of urban farming. AeroFarms builds and operates vertical farms that are designed to be grown indoors using a technique known as aeroponics. Aeroponics involves growing plants without the use of soil, suspending the roots in the air, and misting them at regular intervals with a fine, nutrient-rich spray. AeroFarms’ vertical indoor farms can be operated year-round, allowing for a greatly extended growing season, and its technology allows for 95% less water use than traditional farming techniques. The company also claims that all of these benefits add up to a crop yield that is more than 400 times higher per square foot each year. Founded in 2004, AeroFarms has also received numerous awards, including the 2018 Global SDG Award for its environmentally responsible practices and leadership in the field of agriculture.

RotterZwam

A different take on urban farming, RotterZwam is an urban mushroom farm located in the Netherlands (specifically in Rotterdam). The mushroom farm uses a closed loop system, collecting used coffee grounds from local businesses to use in growing mushrooms and creating a mushroom nursery of used containers. RotterZwam also uses e-vehicles to deliver its mushrooms and solar power to drive all operations within the farm. The team at RotterZwam offers tours to interested locals and helps to educate those interested in starting their own circular system or an urban mushroom farm of their own. A second RotterZwam location recently opened recently in mid-2019 in the Schiehaven area.

GrowUp Urban Farms

Located in London, England, GrowUp Urban Farms uses aquaponics, an indoor farming system that grows crops and farms fish at the same time in a symbiotic system. Like aeroponics systems, aquaponics systems do not use soil and instead submerge the roots of crops in nutrient-rich water. Out of a sister organization called The GrowUp Box, the group produces around 150 kilograms of fish and more than 400 kilograms of salads each year. GrowUp Urban Farms hopes to take its operation outside of London and into other cities soon, replicating the aquaponics setup. The hope is that these new farms will help communities to become more self-sustaining and create jobs for youth in the community.

Food Field

This urban farm, which is built at the site of an old elementary school located in Detroit, Michigan, offers a community-supported agricultural (CSA) service to the community. Residents can enjoy the produce that Food Field produces in local restaurants or in CSA boxes that are prepared weekly. The goal of Food Field is to provide an alternative solution to the corporate farming system, create an urban farm that grows what the community asks for, and enables local residents participate by volunteering. Food Field features an aquaponics system (where fish are farmed alongside produce), eggs from chickens and ducks on the farm, honeybees, and a fruit orchard. Committed to sustainable practices, the farm promotes the health of the local community with its produce and other food products.

New Horizons

The future of urban farming is bright. As long as we’ve had cities, there have been people growing produce or raising animals on urban farms. That’s not likely to change any time soon. And with new innovations in technology that will make it faster and more profitable to grow food indoors, we may continue to see more urban farms enter our daily lives in the next several decades. Sustainable agriculture could be the solution to the food crisis around the world, making use of new and unique locations to grow and produce food.

Urban agriculture also reduces the carbon footprint created by transporting food from farms to consumers. Most traditional agricultural methods are undertaken on farms located far from urban population centers, making it necessary for the product to travel great distances to reach your local grocery store. With urban farms, your food can be grown in the same town that you live in, possibly even down the street. Urban farms are indeed a bright spot for sustainable agricultural practices.