Cities can and must work to end food deserts within their communities
Limited access to healthy food continues to affect urban communities across the U.S., including the City of Henderson, Nevada, where I am privileged to serve as mayor.
"Agricultural Mixed-Use: Revolutionizing Farming" is a Special Report Produced by The Washington Times Special Sections Department and Skyscraper Farm LLC.
Limited access to healthy food continues to affect urban communities across the U.S., including the City of Henderson, Nevada, where I am privileged to serve as mayor.
The world population continues to grow with ever-increasing urbanization predicted to reach 80 percent by 2050. The U.N. predicts that human population will reach nearly 10 billion by 2050. This increasing population is also growing richer — and hungrier.
Alarmed by the vast numbers of malnourished children in the world, two British men have spent their lives working to ensure that mothers and their young children can obtain high-quality foods and vitamins.
I first came up with the idea of Skyscraper Farm during my freshman year taking "Intro to Human Geography" at Hawaii Pacific University.
International interest in sustainable urban ecosystems — especially vertical farming — is exploding, according to numerous market forecasts.
Everyone knows what's coming: The agricultural sector will face enormous challenges to feed the 9.6 billion people projected to inhabit the planet by 2050.
Vertical farming is an emerging niche in the food supply chain, defined as the practice of growing food indoors by controlling all elements of its development.
The production of food crops such as fresh greens (like lettuce and arugula) and herbs (such as basil) in vertical production facilities is part of a larger field of agriculture often referred to as controlled environment agriculture (CEA). In addition to production of these types of crops in vertical facilities, production also occurs in such facilities as greenhouses and plant factories inside of converted warehouses and shipping containers. The types of crops most commonly grown in CEA production include tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, strawberries and fresh greens and herbs.
In 2007, the New Oxford American Dictionary dubbed "locavore" the "2007 Word of the Year," adding the term to its pages and solidifying the local food movement as a piece of American culture. From a grassroots beginning to dictionary recognition to being spoofed on sketch comedies like "Portlandia" ("Ah [the chicken's] name was Colin. Here are his papers."), eating local is a trend that's here to stay.
iGrow News, launched in 2015, is the first and longest-running "exclusive" international online news publication for the indoor farming industry. One can rely on iGrow News for timely, accurate, unbiased news and insights.
Whatever one's religious belief, all can acknowledge that World War II was the closest humanity has come to unleashing what is symbolically known as The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: war, famine, pestilence and death.
Since the very earliest wars, battlefield commanders have known that a successful strategy is to use food as a weapon. Vertical farming is a bold approach that will become a critical national asset — and will require protection.