Pie in the basement

by Ziya Tong     Department: Science & Society

You've probably heard of the concept of vertical farming. Columbia University professor Dickson Despommier generated a lot of buzz last year with his proposals for geoengineered sky farms designed to feed our planet's growing population. More recently, fellow Canuck Gordon Graff  developed a blueprint for a Sky Farm in downtown Toronto. Designed to have 58 floors, it's got around 8 million square feet set up for growing crops and veggies. It's unfortunate that there won't be a Canadian carrot seeing the light of day for at least two decades.

As usual though, the Japanese are way ahead of the concept curve, and have been at this indoor gardening business for some time. With around fifteen high-tech "plant factories" already in operation; one of them, dubbed Pasona 02, is a subterranean farm that's been around since 2005.
                                        (Click to enlarge - images via: Pruned)






Situated in a former bank vault underneath a skyscraper in Tokyo's business district, it houses more than a hundred different types of plants including flowers, herbs, fruits, vegetables and even a miniature rice paddy terrace! Computers control the lighting and temperature, fertilizer and CO2, and the resulting harvest is delivered to restaurants upstairs in the building. 

So, there you go! I guess this idea of urban vertical agriculture isn't really so "pie-in-the-sky" after all.
 

Tags: agriculture, Dickson Despommier, farming, pasona 02, sky gardening, Tokyo, urban, vertical, Ziya Tong