“This is one industry that everybody needs. Everybody eats. So changes that improve productivity for a relative small number of farmers will scale to help everyone.”
Haim Mendelson
Chapter 1 — Growth is Urgent.
By 2050, the Earth will be home to as many as 10 billion people, up from today’s 7.5 billion. If massive increases in agricultural yield are not achieved, matched by a massive decrease in water and fossil fuel use, a billion or more people may face starvation. Hunger could be the 21st century’s most urgent problem. Luckily we have visionaries working in the food production industry creating innovative solutions to tackle this.
In the course of 24 hours, the city cosumes 931 tons of rice, 1,980 tons of vegetables, 34 tons of poultry, 4,270 pigs and 79 cows. Supermarkets, restaurants, cafes and street markets all form a complex but reliable food chain, feeding the hungry citizens of Hong Kong. Its restaurants are among the world’s best, and home to a growing array of celebrity chefs who are flocking to this urban epicenter. This Asian hub is a gastronomic center with a sundry of culinary riches.
Hong Kong is an intresting case, because it currrently has very little workable agricultural land (appox. 698 Hectare), yet the food demand is huge to feed the population of 8 million. The questions is how do we mange to keep up with that such high level of food production, without consuming our environment and chopping our forests.
A way to create more Leafy Greens for the people
Through better use of space, along with innovation, urban farming could produce more crops for the many. Perhaps, it may even solve theglobal food system crisis
The lack for workable farmland is a pressing issue in the city today. Simply put, we aren’t growing enough food to keep up with the demand. In 2017, over 90% of food for human consumption in Hong Kong was imported. According to the Census and Statistics Department’s published trade statistics, the total value of imported foods in the year was $205,351 million. (HK Legco) The census also showed, there are significant amounts of farmland being abandoned or contaminated, while food travels miles from foreign countries or mainland China to reach to the consumers at home. Meaning it has become harder for people to find fresh, local produce — not to mention organic farm products.
We believe that urban farming could become increasingly attractive to people because it would enable more freshly grown and resonably priced farm produce. Through the better use of space and cutting edge farming techniques, we may produce fresher and better leafy greens within an increasingly dense urban environment.
The idea behind regenerative urban farming is that farms produce fresher and greener crops within a smaller space, but do not consume the environment like conventional farming does.