May 13, 2022
Editor’s note: Globalized food systems are under increasing strain, facing disruptions from extreme weather conditions, global conflict, and the Covid-19 pandemic. Shortening supply chains and feeding urban populations from within their own cities can provide communities with secure and consistent access to nutritious food. This comprehensive paper, whose content was informed in part by Agritecture’s Founder & CEO Henry Gordon-Smith, delves into the policies and practices cities need to implement in order to facilitate the transition to more localized food systems.
Source: Jack Wiseall, LettUs Grow
Cities should aim to produce at least 30 per cent of their own fruit and vegetables by 2030 through tech-enabled food production.
Thanks to technology, growing crops is no longer constrained by traditional growing cycles, soil health or weather conditions – which is a good thing because these factors are no longer reliable. Rather, as a result of climate change, they vary drastically and are often unpredictable.
Further, the long and complex supply chains that bring food to our cities are vulnerable to extreme weather, political instability – such as the current crisis in Ukraine – and pandemics, as illustrated by empty supermarket shelves during Covid-19.
It is estimated that by 2050, two-thirds of the world’s population will live in cities and will consume 80 per cent of all food produced. Cities must leverage technological innovations – particularly indoor vertical farms, greenhouses and precision-farming tools – to feed their growing populations.
By leveraging innovations in urban agricultural technology (“urban agtech”), city leaders can diversify their food sources, thereby increasing their food resilience in the face of the growing threat of insecurity from general and nutritional scarcity – in particular, the lack of essential micronutrients like vitamins and minerals. And they can do so while dramatically minimising the use of pesticides or chemical fertilisers and taking up much less land than required by conventional agricultural methods. Land that would otherwise be used to feed growing urban populations can instead be conserved as carbon sinks and wildlife habitat.
In addition, urban agtech can bring badly needed investment and desirable jobs to neighbourhoods. Derelict buildings and vacant warehouses can be converted into thriving businesses that provide nearby residents with fresh, healthy produce that travelled minutes, rather than days or weeks, to reach them, thereby preserving taste and nutritional value. These facilities will offer skilled jobs in comfortable, climate-controlled settings, drawing in a new pool of workers.
While most cities focus on incorporating clean energy or clean transportation into the built environment, more must concentrate on creating resilient food systems. Governments should help urban-agtech entrepreneurs scale their businesses and support further technological innovation. Too often, land-use regulations are a barrier for would-be entrepreneurs; instead, policymakers should leverage these as tools so that food resilience becomes a key part of the urban fabric.
Source: IronOx
1. Grow 30 per cent of produce by 2030.
Cities should aim to grow 30 per cent of the fruit and vegetables consumed within their borders and the peri-urban area by 2030 to create a “buffer” against supply-chain disruptions, use land more efficiently, decrease food miles, and attract investment and good jobs, among other benefits.
2. Treat urban space as an agricultural asset.
City officials can maximise the potential of urban spaces by connecting gardeners and entrepreneurs to vacant lots, buildings and rooftops.
3. Update land use and permit regulations.
Ambiguous and overly complicated permit requirements can stymie would-be entrepreneurs. An explicit new land-use category for indoor farming would help.
4. Incentivise crop growing in new and existing commercial buildings.
Commercial buildings are a rapidly expanding sector and can be leveraged to produce food.
5. Attract commercial investment by sharing capital risk.
Two of the primary barriers to adoption of indoor vertical farming and other urban agtech are high upfront capital costs and the long-term horizons for return on investment. Government support is necessary to bridge the gap until these endeavours become profitable.
6. Support research and development to optimise technology and bring down costs.
Funding and other support is needed to further urban agtech and supporting tech, such as more efficient light-emitting diodes (LEDs). Doing so will reduce energy use and therefore increase the cost-effectiveness of urban agtech overall.
7. Educate the next generation of urban-agtech entrepreneurs.
Urban farming provides an excellent solution to the decline of the agricultural workforce, but scaling urban farming will also require new kinds of skills and talent. Internships, school initiatives, masters programmes and a greater awareness of urban-agtech careers can help.
8. Update labelling requirements.
Often, produce grown indoors can’t be labelled as organic even if pesticides have not been used because it is not grown in soil. Appropriate labelling is necessary to increase transparency for consumers and improve consumer confidence in these products – either a new “controlled-environment agriculture” label, or expansion of the “organic” label.
9. Ensure controlled-environment agriculture lives up to its environmental promise by establishing appropriate benchmarking and addressing the energy-intensity problem.
Vertical farms are energy intensive but there are steps city leaders can take to help ensure this energy comes from renewable sources. This includes making subsidies and other support contingent on showing that best practices, such as those that will be published by the Resource Innovation Institute, are being followed. Policymakers can also explore the potential of microgrids and should encourage controlled-environment agriculture companies to take part in demand-side response markets.
10. Preserve existing urban produce.
Many urban and peri-urban areas already have thriving, diverse local food systems that are at risk and must be preserved.
