Vertical Farming
The Global Olive Garden
The green revolution happened half a century a go, now it 's time for another revolution if we want to continue feeding the world population. Is this too extreme of an opinion? No, not in the slightest. Today we are faced with the same problem of an exploding human population while the rate o food production is going down. Large scale monoculture farming worked for us back then, but the effects it had on our world such as soil compaction and water pollution make it an irresponsible and outlandish idea to use in the modern day. To help combat food distribution problems, the only answer would be urban gardening, which is the idea that small groups of people locally can work together to grow important crops. There are current projects underway that prove such an idea really works, like the Growing Power organization of Milwaukee. “On just 12,000 square feet of land in what Allen calls "the front yard of Chicago," Growing Power cultivates 150 varieties of vegetables, herbs, and edible flowers.” (Progress Illinois). This goes to show that urban farming is a very important option. It is necessary that we also work to figure out ways of farming that utilizes all of the food and wastes little. “We lose as much as 30-35% of the world 's food output” (Guillou, 2010).
The United States should look to Cuba for guidance in the use of urban gardens. Cuba has turned over most of the state owned farmland and allowed it to be turned into cooperatives, which allow anyone to come and farm there. The way it works is that small plots of land throughout parks and cities have been used to house raised crop beds and the Cuban people have used companion cropping, crop rotation, and bio pesticides that do not harm the environment to accomplish this. Although Cuba is slightly different than America in that it is communist and all citizens equally share production output, the fact that common citizens work together on these small farms indicates it could also be
The green revolution happened half a century a go, now it 's time for another revolution if we want to continue feeding the world population. Is this too extreme of an opinion? No, not in the slightest. Today we are faced with the same problem of an exploding human population while the rate o food production is going down. Large scale monoculture farming worked for us back then, but the effects it had on our world such as soil compaction and water pollution make it an irresponsible and outlandish idea to use in the modern day. To help combat food distribution problems, the only answer would be urban gardening, which is the idea that small groups of people locally can work together to grow important crops. There are current projects underway that prove such an idea really works, like the Growing Power organization of Milwaukee. “On just 12,000 square feet of land in what Allen calls "the front yard of Chicago," Growing Power cultivates 150 varieties of vegetables, herbs, and edible flowers.” (Progress Illinois). This goes to show that urban farming is a very important option. It is necessary that we also work to figure out ways of farming that utilizes all of the food and wastes little. “We lose as much as 30-35% of the world 's food output” (Guillou, 2010).
The United States should look to Cuba for guidance in the use of urban gardens. Cuba has turned over most of the state owned farmland and allowed it to be turned into cooperatives, which allow anyone to come and farm there. The way it works is that small plots of land throughout parks and cities have been used to house raised crop beds and the Cuban people have used companion cropping, crop rotation, and bio pesticides that do not harm the environment to accomplish this. Although Cuba is slightly different than America in that it is communist and all citizens equally share production output, the fact that common citizens work together on these small farms indicates it could also be
Cited: citation: http://www.progressillinois.com/2008/09/09/features/growing-movement access November 17, 2010 citation: http://www.growingpower.org/ access on November 17, 2010. citation: Zepeda, L Opinion. Sunday, August 13, 2006. Accessed online @ http://www.seattlepi.com/opinion/280951_focus13.html on November 17, 2010 citation: Despommier, D. 2009. The RISE of VERTICAL FARMS. Scientific American, 00368733, Nov2009, Vol citation: http://www.eoearth.org/article/Vertical_farming access on November 17, 2010. Guillou, M