Floating Farms: A New Frontier In Agriculture

The extreme growth of the world’s population is causing a substantially high demand for food. As a result, a global food crisis looms large; cities are particularly marked with food insecurity, high costs, and limited availability to healthy food. With 18 out of 21 of the world’s megacities located along the coast, modern society heavily depends on marine resources. However SeaLeaf, a hydroponic floating agricultural system, still sees the ocean as a new frontier–at least for agriculture.

SeaLeaf is essentially a floating farm for urban coastal environments. Small-scale urban farming is on the rise, but often in a niche, gentrified market. SeaLeaf offers an inexpensive and self-sustaining solution designed for mass production, ultimately keeping food fresh, local, and reasonably priced. A local marine-based agriculture resource would bypass expensive and limited working lands. Thus these offshore farms would reduce the inevitable carbon miles resulting from cities’ high food imports. Not only would SeaLeaf strengthen urban food security and avoid unnecessary carbon emissions, but it would also alleviate the scarcity of freshwater and land resources on farmlands across the globe.

SeaLeaf was developed by London designers Idrees Rasouli, Roshan Sirohia, Jason Cheah and Sebastiaan Wolzak and recently won a Core77 Design Award. Skeptics have expressed concern over the marine life that could be stifled by the floating farms, but SeaLeaf is designed as a modular system. Meaning it can be moved and adapted for each coastal situation; SeaLeaf is also a transparent surface, allowing for incoming sunlight. While there is little doubt over the project’s potential impact, there is still time for improvements. What do you think are important considerations in bringing the first SeaLeaf farm to life?

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