Urban Vertical Farms
July 15, 2008
Urban Vertical Farms are happening! I strongly believe in this concept, because I have seen it in my own dreams. Why do these urban green producing buildings need to be so tall? The answer might be economies of scale; if you’ve built 6 stories of vertical farm, the cost per additional floor drops rapidly.
I imagine these vertical farms will eventually be industrialized to a very large degree. Each floor will have the technology to manage the entire life-cycle of the crop automatically. Conduits to provide water and nutrients, sensors to monitor health of the plants, robots running Linux, that do everything from sow to harvest the crop. All of the code needed to run the farm could be as modular as Ruby gems. A very small team ( maybe one or two people ) could run the whole farm.
The entire design for these urban-agro projects should be open sourced. The buildings could be assembled out of custom LEGO or Meccano kits. Good luck, Dr. Despommier!
Hi Ash, I feel like I’ve seen that picture in my dreams too! It’s a beautiful illustration.
My Landlord is putting in some raised beds for veggie garden here at our apartment complex. In a few months it will be cooled off enough to plant.
Here are some funny letters from kids who had a visitor at their school-
12/16/05
Dear Dr. Despommier,
Thank you for coming on Wednesday. I really liked learning
about the dung beetle. It was cool that they would take poop, put it
in a hole, and plant a seed for new life. I liked when we talked
about the Egyptians. I never knew they made their houses out of
oxen poop. I would not like to live in a house made out of poop. I
also did not know that we came from Africa and that the hyenas
chased us out of Africa. I did not know that hyenas eat bones. We
also read the book Old MacDonald Had An Apartment House.
From,
Peter
Dear Dr. Despommier,
I think vertical farming is a great idea. As you probably
know, with vertical farming, you can farm (in a building) in
winter.
The book you let us borrow was great! I would have never
expected it to be about vertical farming. My favorite part of the
book was when the landlord says, “ Vegetables make better
neighbors than people,” because it was a little funny.
I have some ideas for vertical farms. You could separate
the fruits and vegetables by type, like squash in one room and
berries in another.
I really liked the pictures of the vertical farms on your
website.
From,
Peter
P.S. You were great when you were here.
12/16/05
Dear Dr. Despommier,
I thought your web site was so cool, especially the
futuristic pictures of the vertical farms. I liked the one in
France the best.
I think that vertical farming is a great idea. On your web
site, I was able to pull up the plan for the one in Brooklyn. My
class noticed that there was a purifier in the system that would
turn sewer water into clean water. That could really help the
environment, but Mrs. Bouchard said that you might have
been having problems with the system. For example, one
problem was that you were getting black or gray water. Some
people may not want to try that, but I would if it was clean.
We read your book today in class. Everyone thought it
was a great book. Mrs. Bouchard loved it so much that she said
she was going to turn the spare closet in her house into a farm.
We said we would help.
Vertical Farming could really help the environment. It
would save a lot of trees. Think about it. If humans had a 20ft
high building, that could probably save a lot of land and
wildlife. Also, it could cut down on pollution. Workers could
channel the sewage water to the vertical farms instead of places
like marshes.
These farms would also help the economy and save lives.
It would bring more food to stores and we wouldn’t send it just
to the United States. We could send it to starving continents
like Asia and Africa.
To wrap it all up I think vertical farming is a great idea
and I would love to help out.
Sincerely,
Zachary
Dear Dr. Despommier,
My thoughts about vertical farms are that I think it
is a good idea. I think this because I think that it saves space. It
uses air space instead of land space since it is vertical. Also,
vertical farms can grow 30 acres of strawberries when a
horizontal farm with the same amount of space horizontally
can only grow 1 acre of strawberries.
My suggestion is that you put automatic sprinklers on
each story to water the crops and such so that it does not have
to be done by hand.
I thought the book Old MacDonald had an Apartment
House was funny. It also made its point, but I didn’t realize the
apartment was turning into a vertical farm till the end, but it
was okay.
Sincerely,
John
12/18/05
Dear Dr. Despommier,
I really liked it when you came. I
thought that you
were funny and
interesting. I’m
really upset that I
didn’t get to see
your whole
presentation
because I was in
saxophone at the
beginning. I
especially liked it when you threw the
spoon all the way across the room
straight to me. I liked it when you
taught us about the dung beetle and how
the Egyptians copied their way of life,
and how the Egyptians used the dung
beetle as a symbol of eternity. I also
liked the book “Old MacDonald Had An
Apartment House.” I thought it was
funny. After we read the book you lent
us, Mrs. Bouchard made us sing and when
she pointed to us, we had to name a
vegetable or animal that was in the
apartment house.
Sincerely,
Joseph
December 16, 2005
Dear Dr. Despommier,
Thank you for coming to our school. I
learned a lot about vertical farming. The
thing I liked the most was when you taught
us about the dung beetle (the bug that rolls
around in dung.) I also liked the garbage
thing you told us about. How we take our
garbage and say that we do not want it, so
we give it to other states. I went on your
website. I thought the vertical farms were
really cool. We read “Old MacDonald Had An
Apartment House.” It was really funny.
From,
Sal
Dear Dr. Despommier,
Thank you for coming. You were really
interesting, and you had a good sense of humor. I think
google earth was the most interesting of all. It was very
interesting when you told us how they made this site.
My cousin is 19 and has a laptop so she had google
earth on it and I tried it. I saw my house and my car. It
was amazing.
From,
Shani
12.16.05
Dear Dr. Despommier,
Thank you for coming to our school. I liked how you
made boring things into fun things. Like when you threw the
spoon to explain about garbage. I also liked how you talked
about people
in the old
days and
told us
what they
did.
I really
liked the
book. I liked
about how
Old
MacDonald
took the
empty room and put soil on the ground and grew things and
how the cows and chickens moved in.
I also liked how you told us about geogle and how we
could see our houses and how we could see the Earth.
Thank you again for coming.
Sincerely,
Jocelyne
Dear Dr. Despommier,
I loved your talk about vertical farming. It was great. I
agree that we should have V.F. 100%. You have opened up my
mind to new ideas. You made me not just think of how the
world is, but how it could be if you mix in a little science and
unusual thinking.
I also have a couple of questions though. I am the person
who talked about evolution. Remember how the bugs ate all of
the food in that poor country in Africa, and you want to have
V.F. so those kinds of bugs couldn’t eat the food because of the
glass in their way? Well, if evolution takes its path, won’t the
bugs be able to break through the glass in a matter of
thousands of years? Thousands of years may seem long for the
human race, but it isn’t.
Well, if you happen not to know, than maybe I will
become a scientist when I get older and find out myself.
Sincerely,
Chris
P.S. Thanks for visiting our school!!!!!!
December 16, 2005
Dear Dr. Despommier,
Thank you so much for coming to Davis
Elementary School! You taught me a lot about
vertical farming, the dung beetle, and all
different kinds of scientific methods. You
were interesting, you had a good sense of
humor, you had funny jokes, and you are an
awesome scientist!
In class we read Old MacDonald Had An
Apartment House. It was funny. The book was
cool, especially when it told about how Old
MacDonald planted a whole farm up and
down his apartment building, and how all
the tenants moved out and all the vegetables
and fruits moved in!!! So is that the idea of
vertical farming? You make a farm going up
and down? Well that’s what I think vertical
farming is. Tell me if I am right or wrong?
Does it feed more people and take up less land
for vertical farming?
Well, it was really cool having you here
and not only speaking to the 5
th
grade, but
the 4
th
grade too!! Hope you come back soon!
Yours truly,
Lindsey
12/16/05
Dear Dr. Despommier,
Hi, I’m Nick from Mrs. Bouchard’s class. I think vertical farming can
help. First of all, animals can’t eat the crops if the crops are inside. Plus,
people can keep growing crops almost forever.
I would want to be a vertical farmer. The only problem would be that I
would be surrounded by food and plants.
In class, we read Old MacDonald Had An Apartment House. I liked it,
and my favorite part was when carrots came through his floor. I also liked
the part when cows came in and ate everything. We even made a song about
it. It was funny.
We went on your website also. We saw some awesome vertical farms.
My favorite vertical farm was the one in Paris. We even saw it at night.
Thanks for coming to visit. Maybe, we’ll come to visit you again, or
you can come back. You make learning really fun.
From.
Nick
12.16.05
Dear Dr. Despommier,
I really enjoyed it when you came to Davis. I liked
learning about vertical farming. You make learning FUN. I
think that vertical farming will really help us in the future with
planting because bugs will not eat our plants and go into our
plant houses because plant houses have bullet proof walls. I
agree with your idea about vertical farming. The only problem
is the water. It would be gray and black. A way you could solve
your problem is by connecting a tube with clear water to the
faucet.
Another thing that I really enjoyed was the book
you let my class borrow. I really liked the book because it was
funny and at the same time, you were learning about vertical
farming. My favorite part in the book was
when the plants and veggies were sold in the
shop to pay for the rent. That was a really good
book.
When our class went to your
website, everyone was amazed. I love the way
the pictures on the computer made it seem like
it was so alive. I think when I grow up, I might want to be a
scientist that studies vertical farming. I think it is cool to
discover new things about our world that will affect our future.
Your friend,
Alana
Dear Dr. Despommier,
The book Old Mac Donald Had an Apartment House has a lot to
do with Vertical Farming. Even though the book was written in 1969
and the idea of vertical farming didn’t come until 2002, it seems like
Judi and Ron Barrell had an idea about the concept of vertical
farming.
I think vertical farming will be better for the planet because it
saves lots of space and land for people to live in. I also think that
vertical farming might be a little bit bad because vertical farms kind
of look like apartment buildings and apartments fit lots of people and
families. Without vertical farms, you could build more apartments.
Either way, though, vertical farms can be good for the earth. I do
think that it would be better to have vertical farms.
The website, http://www.verticalfarm.com is very cool. It’s cool because
it shows all of the layouts of vertical farms. My favorite is the farm in
the night. That one looks really pretty. I also think it is good that
there is an essay. It lets people know a lot of things about vertical
farms, and why there should be some.
I think that vertical farming will be better for the planet. Thank
you for coming to my school. I really learned a lot from you. When I
get older I will try to enforce vertical farming, and I hope by then
there will be many vertical farms around.
Thank You,
Ashley
12/22/05
Dear Dr. Despommier,
Thank you for your
presentation! I thought that your
presentation here at Davis was very
interesting. You taught us a lot of
valuable lessons and wonderful
facts. All of the things you talked
to us about were so inspiring. Even
though I want to be a scientist
when I grow up, you made me want to
be one even more! I just couldn’t
stop wondering what will happen in
50 years from now! You made
everything sound so realistic and
great! There is no way to describe
the word I’m looking for. Thank
you, thank you, thank you, thank
you, thank you, thank you, thank
you!
And one
last…………………………………………………………………………………
………
Thank You,
Madeline
P.S. I wrote a letter to the
governor (Gov. Pataki) about
vertical farming and recycling, I
thought I might just bring it up I
mentioned you and your wonderful
ideas!!!!!
P.S.S. I saw your website, I LOVE
IT!
December 16, 2005
Dear Dr. Despommier,
Thank you so much for visiting us on Wednesday. I really
enjoyed it.
I also agree that vertical farming would be a good idea. It
would save a lot of space, the same way the strawberry farm only
needed one acre to build a farm and grew the same amount of
strawberries as it had when it was thirty acres. A vertical farm
would enable you to grow fruits and vegetables all year round. You
can’t do that with an outdoor farm.
The book Old MacDonald Had An Apartment House was
very interesting. I liked the part when the owner of the house is
annoyed because vegetables can’t pay him rent, but then he
realizes they can and sets up a store. The picture where the cows’
heads are sticking out of the window of the apartment is funny.
Your website is really cool. I liked looking at all of the designs
for vertical farms. My favorite design is Agro-Wanus At Work.
Thanks again for visiting Mrs. Bouchard’s Half-Time
Kaleidoscope class.
Sincerely,
Melissa
P.S. I’m not sure yet, but maybe I want to be a scientist too
when I grow up.
12/16/05
Dear Dr. Despommier,
Thank you for coming to Davis on
Wednesday. I learned a lot. I learned about
the dung beetle, throwing away garbage, and
about vertical farming.
Do you remember me? I was the one with
the Beatles shirt on. Do you like the
sweatshirt we got you? Sometimes when it’s
cold I wear Mrs. Bouchard’s copy of the
sweatshirt. It’s comfy, right? I think so.
We read the book Old MacDonald Had An
Apartment House. I enjoyed it. It was also very
funny. I would love for you to come back.
From,
Paige
12/16/05
Dear Dr. Despommier,
Thank you for coming to teach us
at Davis. I like your idea of
vertical farming and your sense of
humor. I also like what you said
about the Egyptians and the dung
beetles and the dung balls.
We read your book Old MacDonald
Had An Apartment House. I really
liked when there were carrots
sticking out of the ceiling and
cows looking out of the window.
Thanks for lending this book to us.
From,
Devin
12/16/05
Dear Dr. Despommier,
Thank you for coming the previous
Wednesday.
I love all those interesting facts you told
us.
Mrs. Bouchard read us Old MacDonald
Had An Apartment House and I loved it! It
was so funny that I wanted her to read it
again.
All your information was important to me
and everybody else. Your presentation was
fun, and you were, too!
Sincerely,
Owen
P.S. Can
you come
back soon?
December 16, 2005
Dear Dr.Despommier,
Thank you for coming to our school.
I really enjoyed the talk you gave to us
about the dung beetle.
I think it was
really cool how it used the dung for
farming.
It was also a good idea for you and your
company to think of vertical farming. It was
a good idea because you use less land, and
you can have more wildlife outdoors because
there will be more space for them to live.
So, in a way, you are really saving space.
Thank you again; hope to see you soon
Yours truly,
Brenna
P.S. I
hope you like the gift!
12.16.05
Dear Dr. Despommier,
Thank you sooooo much for coming! If you didn’t come, we
would be solemnly learning. But since you came we were so happy
because you taught us about vertical farming. I learned what vertical
farming was, I learned where all of our food
comes from, and I also learned that we
shouldn’t eat as much because we are running
out of places to put our garbage.
I learned about the Egyptians
worshipping the Dung Beatle. I learned what
the Dung Beatle is and what it does. I had an
idea that we could take our garbage and put it in space. If we put it in
space, it will never come down.
If we do that every few years or so we would have a lot more
places to put our garbage. I read your book, Old McDonald Had An
Apartment and it was really funny. We all loved you and thought you
were so funny. I hope that you can come back to Davis School and
visit!
From,
Charlie
December 16, 2005
Dear Dr. Despommier,
It was really great when you came to Davis School to talk
about Vertical Farming! You gave such good descriptions of
why we need them. I think that having clear bulletproof glass
is a really good idea and having a farm indoors, well that is
just spectacular! You really put a lot of time trying to make
Vertical Farms come true in our world and I appreciate that.
I have some suggestions to improve the ideas of vertical
farms. I think that if we use the heat to keep plants warm, they
might die if they are too close to the radiator. We should use
heaters from the ceiling so each plant will get the same
amount of heat and the windows will be all around so the
plants will get the same amount of light. I also think that if we
make the farm very tall (but not too tall!), we will get many
more plants to grow and have more food. As you said, people
are starting to run out of food all around the world. We need
vertical farms badly because our planet is going to starve and
vertical farms, at this moment, are our only solution. These
are my suggestions and I hope that you like them.
I also want to mention the book that you showed us and
let us borrow (Old Mac Donald Had An Apartment House).
Now that we read it, I would say that the book was great! I also
liked how the author thought about vertical farms before we
actually knew scientists would start to study them. That was
really interesting. I think that the book did a great job on how
to start studying vertical farms (or learning about them).
Once again, thank you for coming to our school and I
hope you can come again. It was so much fun learning about
vertical farms from you.
Sincerely,
Wendy
12.16.05
Dear Dr. Despommier,
I agree that there should be vertical farming. I
agree because now people can get fruits and vegetables
during the winter without the plants dying. Also, if
there are plants outside in the middle of a big storm, the
plants might get too much water and die; however, if
the plants were inside, they would get the amount of
water they do need.
I think the book you let us read was really funny.
The book did not just make me laugh, but it inspired
me to learn more about vertical farming. It was really
funny when MacDonald started planting in the building
and cows came into the building to eat the grass and the
plants.
I think that vertical farming is going to help the
planet that we live on in many ways. I also think that
vertical farming will be very successful. I will go on
your website and learn more about vertical farming.
From,
Liam
P.S. Your second best friend, Liam.
Dear Dr. Despommier,
I think that vertical farming is a really good
idea. I think that it’s a good idea because you can
grow plants all year round, and it doesn’t take up
as much space as a normal farm. It can cover up to
one acre of land, but hold up to 30 acres of
fruits, vegetables, and plants.
Vertical farming helps the planet in some ways,
but it could cause problems. Maybe it will make the
water look blue or gray, but not clear. One way
that I think Vertical Farming will help the planet
is that it could save rare plants from animals.
Another way Vertical Farming could help our planet
is it can help people save food, so the animals
won’t eat it. For example, it can help people in
Africa save food, so the locusts can’t eat it.
I really liked the book Old MacDonald had an
Apartment House.
The book taught some really interesting things
about Vertical Farming. The story was really funny.
I liked the sentence, “Vegetables make great
neighbors. “
Your website is really cool. I love the sketch
called” The Living Tower.” I thought that one was
really interesting. Also, it had a really cool
structure and ecologie linge. The picture with all
of the walkways was cool. I just have one comment,
you know how you were talking about greenhouses and
you said they were kind of like Vertical Farming.
My old nextdoor neighbors used to have a green
house, but they moved and the new next door
neighbors tore it down.
From,
Savannah
12/16/05
Dear Dr. Despommier,
Thank you for coming to our school. You taught us about
really cool things. My favorite thing you taught us about was
the Dung Beetle. I only knew it as the Scarab Beetle, not the
Dung Beetle.
In class, we read Old MacDonald Had An Apartment
House. It was a very good book, and you have a great sense of
humor.
I think it’s amazing that you can plant things vertically as well
as horizontally.
Once again thank you so much for teaching us so many
interesting things. I enjoyed it a lot.
Sincerely,
Gracie
12/16/05
Dear Dr. Despommier,
Thank you SOO much! We loved your presentation!
How’s the apple tree coming along? Remember, I had a dream
to plant an apple tree!
Anyway, I really liked two things in particular, the
cavemen with the marrow and hyena problems, and the book,
Old MacDonald Had An Apartment House. Thank you a
hundred million times for letting Mrs. Bouchard borrow that
book!
I read a poem today about appreciating the things you
have and not needing new things. Like that poem, you
appreciate the people who use vertical farming and do not need
to take up more land for yourself. What a giving person!
From apple tree lover and all,
Philip
I really want to see this project succeed because I think this is could be a solution to are rising food shortage…I am trying to get the first working tower built: http://www.thepoint.com/campaigns/vertical-farm-in-new-york-city