The Future of Agri-Food In The Post COVID-19 Era — Part II-Urban Agriculture
How Did a Global Pandemic Reveal the Need to Reduce the Distance Between Production and Consumption?
by Yekta Kuseyrioğlu
The New Urban Life
In December 2019, a new coronavirus emerged in Wuhan, China then spread all around the world. The pandemic has forced us to change how we live as it represents a massive impact on human life. Today, in many parts of the world we are adopting the new normal after almost three months of confinement.
Coronavirus has altered many aspects of our lives. During the confinement, several measures were taken all over the world. We followed the calls to stay at home to reduce the spread of the coronavirus.
We have witnessed empty streets. The rush around the cultural landscapes all around the world was replaced by masked people who follow social distancing rules. Cafes and restaurants were closed down. We’ve waited in line in front of the grocery stores, instead of the front of the famous bars, restaurants, or theatres, Olympics were postponed, then the dizzying, fast-paced urban life slowed down. Today, we are emerging from the pandemic and we wonder how the changes in urban life were reflected in urban agriculture?
During the pandemic, our relationship with food has changed significantly. Many of us wondered how to safely shop and prepare food to minimize transmission of COVID-19.
Furthermore, we had more time to examine and think about what we eat, how and where our foods come from. The pandemic has impacted global supply chains, pushing us to think about vulnerabilities in our existing food production and distribution systems.
Reducing the Distance
According to the World Economic Forum article, urban farming is flourished throughout the coronavirus lockdowns.
Panic buying and empty shelves have led to a boom in urban farming. More people in urban areas started to grow their fruit and vegetables in their homes.
The interest in urban farming is not new, it was already a $210 billion market globally in 2017 and is expected to reach $288.7 billion in 2026 according to GlobeNewswire. Presumably, the pandemic has accelerated the ongoing trend.
According to UN data, 55% of the world population lives in cities, and generally, urban areas lack the available land for agriculture use. However, urban farming permits to produce vegetables and fruits in narrow lands, even in the most densely crowded cities and districts, could turn into food production spaces via these technologies. Therefore, It can help to meet the increased demand for healthy, fresh, and pesticide-free food.
Indoor farming technologies with AI-based solutions create optimum environmental conditions for growing plants and they can be placed directly in the communities that they serve and provide fresh greens without a long haul across the country.
“Feeling Shaky, Grow Something!”
COVID-19 raised our awareness between stress and a healthy immune system. Our news feeds in social media were filled with free online yoga and meditation classes to help us cope with uncertainty. In addition to space advantage, urban agriculture could also provide a sense of emotional comfort while we are dealing with uncertainty during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Several studies show gardening, occupying with plants may help to reduce stress.
Here’s Your Latest News
We’ve summarised some urban farming and indoor agriculture sector investment and practices news from all around the world for the last couple of weeks. Here’s our summary:
· Aspara, a Hong Kong-based company, produces high tech at in-house farms, now, they are shipping their products across the US. The company was selling its homegrown systems in Hong Kong and very limited quantities in Amazon to other parts of the world.
· AgroUrbana, a Chile-based vertical farming startup, closed USD 1million seed funding.
· Wilder Fields, a US-based vertical farming startup, will create an indoor vertical farm producing locally grown greens for the Chicago area in a former Target vacant for five years.
· Kalera, a Norway-based vertical farming company, will open vertical farming facility in Houston in 2021. It will be the largest vertical farming facility in Texas.
· Farm on a Paris Roof Top an urban farming project is now underway after two months delay because of the coronavirus. It hopes to become Europe’s biggest by 2022.
If you want to learn more about urban farming, you can also check out our report on the subject.
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