Vertical Farming

Can you imagine a five-story vertical farm built smack dab in the middle of Milwaukee?  2008 MacArthur Fellow Will Allen can and he's on his way to making it happen.

 On Saturday, April 16th, I got up early and hopped on the Metro.  I was headed into D.C. for the "2011 International Urban Sustainability Action Summit".  The event - held at, and sponsored in party by, UDC - brought a hundred or so folks together to discuss this year's theme: "Food - Sovereignty, Security and Justice".


There were panels and workshops, guest speakers and information booths - so much that I could write about.  But for me, Will stole the show.

Will's organization, Growing Power, started in 1995 when he bought the last urban farm in Milwaukee.  He had grown up on rural farmland in Maryland, just outside of D.C. (land, he pointed out, that has transformed over the years into a chain of suburbs).  But in Milwaukee, he translated rural know-how and determination, as well as entrepreneurial savvy, into urban miracles.  He built up farms, and he also built up the community around him.  He activated youth volunteers, for example, teaching them not only how to grow crops, but also how to read, write, and perform math.

His operation has grown substantially.  Here are a few of the details:

Vegetable Hoop House

• Developed an urban farm model that feed 10,000 people per 3 acres.
• Redirected 22 million pounds of food waste away from landfills and into compost.
• Used compost to insulate the inside and outside of large hoop houses, creating the ability to grow certain crops year-round (even in the midst of Midwest winters!).
• Worked with communities to target high crime urban areas for flower garden projects and to convert empty lots where drug deals often occur into community gardens.
• Converted abandoned buildings into vertical gardens and aqua-ponic farms (indoor fish farms, basically).
• Remodeled roofs into gardens for local businesses.
• Used solar power to power farms.
• Collected rain water to irrigate.
• Built machines that convert compost into methane gas; that is, fuel to power his operations.
• Raised goats, chickens, turkeys, and bees in urban settings.
• Targeted "farm deserts" (urban areas with no local markets for purchasing groceries) for farmers markets and hoop houses.
• Grown network of farms to expand across the U.S. and even abroad (London, Kenya, and Ukraine, for example).

His organization relies on over 40 different funding streams.  He's making money while doing good - a model, he suggests, more non-profits need to consider.

His next big project is a five-story vertical farm in the heart of Milwaukee.  The building will include a first floor market, educational areas, aqua-ponics, and tiered green house space.  I'm not sure what the time-line is, but I hope to make it out to Milwaukee when it's done.

If you're curious, I found an interesting article in The Economist entitled, "Vertical Farming: Does it really stack up?"  I'm new to the concept and the technology, so I'll wait to weigh in.  But I will say this: Will seems like the kind of guy who can pull rabbits out of hats.  I'll be waiting optimistically for word from Milwaukee.

Post Script

Will would be disappointed if I didn't share with you what he feels is the most important point of his presentation: "It's all about the soil."  His research suggests that in the U.S., today's soil is 50% as nutrient as soil was in the 1950's.  Less healthy soil means less healthy fruits and vegetables; less healthy animals, for that matter, because they feed on the fruit of the soil before we feed on them.  Both mean a less healthy humanity.

Dina and I are experimenting with anaerobic compost in a little unit that sits on our balcony.  In our first week of using it, I was shocked by how much compostable material we produce.  Multiply that by a globe full of couples and families - it blows my mind!  We're starting a little garden on our balcony (tomatoes, herbs, chard, and peppers - more on that in future blogs) and hope to use our compost to fertilize our food.  It's a drop in the bucket, I know, but as drops go, this one feels pretty good.