Large Scale Urban Agriculture - Page 6

<< project, but understands and recognizes that a project with normal return on investment characteristics but with a high risk factor will not be easy, and that emphasis should be placed on the secondary benefits of vertical farms such as water filtration functions, reduction of food transportation costs, increase in food quality and laying the foundations for a sustainable urban development.

Funding for the first, experimental, vertical farm should be sought in the area of Philanthropic organizations as well as Venture Capital firms, according to the report. However, I believe that in countries with active participating governments such as in Scandinavia, Germany or the Benelux, it should be possible to create an experimental project to serve as a foundation for further investment on a larger level. With countries such as the Netherlands taking pride in environmental technological achievements (e.g. Delta Works), it would suit their international agendas by being the first to develop the technology and expertise to build and run these operations.

Once the experimental nature of vertical farms has been explored and the knowledge has been gathered to implement these effectively, they could be used to effect an even more substantial gain by providing developing countries with the ability to

build and maintain these operations. An example for this can be sought in existing algae plants. Highly profitable Spirulina Algae plants have been built in Africa to aid small towns in both generating nutrition and economical resources. The Central Food Technology Institute has been active since 196011 in implementing algae growing plants in India quite successfully, and the African Green Future initiative in cooperation with IIMSAM (Intergovernmental Institution for the use of Micro-algae Spirulina against Malnutrition) uses algae plants built by hand out of mud and some bricks to treat large quantities of raw sewage and turn it into animal feed, fertilizers and biofuel12. It should be noted that algae plants are of a technological very different nature from vertical farms, and the latter requires a much higher standard of maintenance, operation and investment. Also,

Spirulina plants are highly profitable and require only very little investment. Their development profile is quite substantially different from a vertical farm. That said, their usefulness is only limited, and one can only do so much with algae. While it can be used for human consumption (it is also one of the few non-animal sources of vitamin B12)13, it really is not diverse enough to become a staple of nutrition for a nation. Once success has been achieved with simpler methods such as algae farms, low-technology vertical farming techniques could be experimented with to aid in the increase of agricultural capital and crop diversity.

7. Social and Political consequences

Imagining a future where urban vertical farming becomes an important driver of the food production industry, the

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