Down (Town) on the Farm

Weber Thompson's vertical farm prototype for Newark, N.J. Courtesy Weber Thompson

For centuries, the nation’s food system was closely woven into the fabric of our communities, dictating our land-use patterns, defining our regional character and shaping regional economies. But with the industrialization of our food system and the urbanization of great swaths of land once dominated by agriculture, efficiencies for food production and distribution have emerged. This in turn led to a migration from rural to urban areas: In 2008, for the first time, the world’s population was evenly split between urban and rural towns.  

In recent years, concern over the carbon emissions resulting from moving food around, as well as the link between public health and access to healthy, affordable food, has led cities to invest in cultivating unused but fertile ground within urban boundaries. As a result—in large part thanks to innovative policies in progressive cities—fresh, innovative businesses focused on local food production are proliferating.

Beyond green roofs

Over the last decade, in large part because of the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system, the number of green roofs installed in the United States increased by 16 percent in 2009 alone, according to Green Roofs for Healthy Cities (GRHC). The Fairmount Waterfront Hotel in Vancouver, B.C., grew herbs, flowers and vegetables on its accessible roof, saving its kitchen an estimated $30,000 per year in food costs, according to the study.

While rooftop gardens and green roofs yield many benefits, including reducing stormwater runoff and energy loss to creating food security and building stronger communities, pioneers of the green building industry are looking beyond the roofs of buildings; investigating ways to maximize food production in and around buildings.

Food production systems are part of Living Building Challenge 2.0 (LBC 2.0), a certification program that pushes designers, engineers and developers to constantly redefine the highest levels of sustainability attainable in the built environment. LBC 2.0 includes an Urban Food Imperative that establishes specific guidelines for integrating food into urban and semi-urban areas, recognizing the delicate balance between energy production, density and food cultivation. Ideas for integration include everything from edible landscaping on green walls and in planting strips to vertical indoor farming operations.

Such incentives are pushing designers to go beyond their level of expertise, and in turn are creating demand for new technologies and tools.

“I’d say we’re in the innovator stage of the technology adoption curve,” says James Kalin, CEO of Virtually Green, a San Francisco startup launching a Sustainable Commercial Urban Farm Incubator that would help prove the economic viability of urban farming.

He says getting these green building projects to scale is one of the bigger challenges. “Most farmers look at these urban ag green building designs and are startled by how amateurish the initial prototypes are. More synergy is needed between architects, engineers and farmers if we’re going to develop economically viable projects.” 

Some architecture and design firms, many of which are attempting to meet LBC 2.0, are forging ahead to fill this gap. Seattle-based architecture and design firm, Weber Thompson, in 2008 designed a mixed-use development that integrates vertical farming and an expanded community garden into a financially viable community dubbed the Eco-Laboratory. To make the food production part pencil, Weber Thompson included adjacent office uses, as well as a residential component. Energy outputs from one use can be used to support a complementary use. For instance, a vertical ag operation on a south facing wall could save on energy and heating costs for adjacent office space. Weber Thompson won first place in the 2008 national Natural Talent Competition for the prototype.

“Only so many people are going to participate in community supported agriculture and community garden programs,” says Dan Albert, a landscape architect with Weber Thompson. “In that context there is a huge opportunity to develop vertical agriculture methods.”

Weber Thompson, along with Dr. Dickson Despommier, a leading vertical farm expert  and author of “The Vertical Farm: The World Grows Up,” due out in October 2010, more recently designed a vertical farm for Newark, NJ.

Like Mithun’s Center for Urban Agriculture, Weber Thompson’s prototypes were conceived as a response to the Living Building Challenge.

They include fields for growing vegetables and grains, greenhouses, rooftop gardens and even a chicken farm. With the goal of self-sufficiency in mind, they are designed to be self-sufficient in terms of water and energy use. So far, none of these projects have been built. In the current economic climate, finding financing for cutting-edge projects is proving to be very challenging. Yet Albert believes it’s only a matter of time before a prototype is built.

“There is a growing market demand for vertical agriculture. We’ve had interest from all parts of the world and the idea is reaching the point of implementation,” Albert says. “As people realize the vertical agriculture concept is grounded in real-world problem solving, the acceptance and interest continues to grow. Our firm just recently completed a real world feasibility study for an urban/vertical agriculture research facility on the East Coast.” 

Valcent, a new company specifically created to foster innovation in vertical farming, says it is aiming to show that so-called vertical farms can have higher yields than traditional, land-based farms. In test trials, its technology, deemed “VertiCrop,” increased some crop yields by up to 20 times the normal production volume and only required 5 percent of the average water used in conventional growing conditions, according to Valcent’s website.