9048 USING VERTICAL FARMING TO INCREASE URBAN AGRICULTURE AND WORLD FOOD SUPPLIES WHILE DECREASING THE DEMAND FOR THE TRANSPORTED PRODUCE
Allen Miller, ajm151@pitt.edu, Vidic 2pm-4pm
Steven Arnold, swa5@pitt.edu, Vidic 10am-12pm
Steven Andrews, sea34@pitt.edu, Miller 6pm-8pm
Chamberlain, Lisa. “Skyfarming.” New York Media LLC. Apr 2, 2007.
http://nymag.com/news/features/30020/. Accessed: January 2008. The author of this article, Lisa Chamberlain begins by introducing the idea of vertical farming and the possibilities it has on improving our lives in areas like the reduction of gasses caused by global warming. She then tells the readers about how these skyscrapers would be able to produce enough produce to feed entire cities and how the rapidly increasing population requires the need for the increase in crops production. “Skyfarming” is a very excellent source of information for our research paper in introducing future scenarios and the use of these agricultural buildings.
Cooke, Jeremy. “Vertical Farming in the big Apple.” BBC News, New York. Tuesday, 19 June 2007.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6752795.stm. Accessed: January 2008. This article by BBC News in New York talks of a future that incorporates the use of a new system of agriculture called vertical farming. The author talks about the use of solar panels to power the 30 story building filled with many different types of crops and even some small livestock. The reason that this article is useful for our research paper is because the author talks about the benefits of this new system and how it will affect the future of farming.
Ehrenberg, Rachel October 11, 2008. “LET’S GET VERTICAL” Science News.
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/feature/id/36823/title/Letâ??s_Get_Vertical. Accessed: 28 January 2009. This article is from Science News, “the magazine of the society of science and the public.” The main point of this article is to discuss the plausibility of vertical farming. Throughout the article there is support for vertical farming accompanied by the challenges that “hinder” its advancement. With the knowledge of the challenges that vertical farming faces we can better understand the whole air surrounding this new advancement in technology.
Khattar, Dhruv August 2, 2007. “Vertical Farms” The Viewspaper.
http://theviewspaper.net/vertical-farms/ . Accessed: 28 January 2009. This article, from the popular “The Viewspaper” website, discusses the many benefits of vertical farming while addressing how desperately we need vertical farming. While it does focus more on the positive aspects, this article brings to light the potential loss of jobs and possibility of urban over population that seems to be the two main issues with vertical farming. This article will help us define vertical farming and its downsides more effectively.
K. Shimizu, Y. Matsuda, T. Nonomura, H. Ikeda, N. Tamura, S. Kusakari, J. Kimbara, H. Toyoda. December 2007. “Dual protection of hydroponic tomatoes from rhizosphere pathogens Ralstonia solanacearum and Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. radicis-lycopersici and airborne conidia of Oidium neolycopersici with an ozone-generative electrostatic spore precipitator.” Plant Pathology. Vol. 56, issue 6, pp 987-997. This article talked about using ozone and a non-uniform electric field, instead of chemicals, to prevent seedling tomatoes in a hydroponic culture trough from becoming infected by airborne pathogens and mildew. The experiment used a wire which at one end produced ozone through a cathode and grounded plate, and at the other end, a non-uniform electric field which would attract the dipole bacteria, preventing it from contaminating the seedlings. This could be a useful technique in the Vertical farms to prevent the crops from becoming contaminated, while also eliminating the use of pesticides and chemicals.
Murdock, James. “Vertical gardens sprout in L.A.’s Skid Row.” Architectural Record.
http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=23&hid=12&sid=758743b5-f2b5-40bf-a2fc-1aaca2393f62@SRCSM2&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ==#db=aph&AN=34986353. Accessed: 25 January 2009. The article in Architectural Record poses a possible road that vertical farms could take. The article talks about walls, either free-standing or attached to buildings, which have planters hung down the sides to grow vegetables in areas of poverty, specifically L.A.’s Skid Row in the article. The food produced from these vertical gardens is given to the homeless and impoverished for free. Such a system could be developed for large scale vertical farms, creating a sort of city wide collective that could offer away some of the crop at no cost, to the homeless and poor.
“Production Stats: Crops.” 2007. Fao.org.
http://faostat.fao.org/default.aspx . Accessed: 25 January 2009. The Food and Agriculture Organization of The United Nations has many statistics dealing with agriculture and land use. They have statistics dealing with current land usage for agricultural us