Association for Vertical Farming Summit 2015 in Beijing China. For more information, visit their website: https://vertical-farming.net/

1. Ver$cal
farming
and
the
development
of
sustainable
and
just
urban
food
systems
Ir.
Henk
de
Zeeuw,
RUAF
Founda$on
AVF-­‐RUAF-­‐IEDA
Ver-cal
Farming
Summit
9-­‐10
May
2015,
Beijing

2. RUAF FOUNDATION
• A
not-­‐for-­‐profit
center
of
exper$se
on
urban
agriculture
• Established
by
8
interna$onal
Resource
centers
on
Urban
Agriculture
and
Food
security
in
1998.
• Opera$ng
in
20
countries
(South
and
North)
• Aiming
to
facilitate
the
development
of
sustainable,
resilient
and
socially
just
urban
food
systems
• By
(together
with
local
stakeholders):
• Mapping
and
analyzing
urban
food
systems
• Advising
local
authori$es
on
urban
food
policies
• Analyzing
and
diffusing
innova$ons
in
urban
agriculture
(publica$ons,
journal,
database,
website)
• Facilita$ng
local
innova$ve
research
and

3. Ver$cal
farming
and
the
development
of
sustainable
and
just
urban
food
systems

4. How
to
understand:
“urban
food
system”?
UN-­‐FAO
(2014):
• The
complex
set
of
actors,
linkages
and
processes
• related
to
food
produc$on,
processing,
market-­‐ing,
consump$on
and
related
input
provision,
wastes
management
and
support
services
• in
a
given
geographical
region,
including
one
main
or
several
smaller
urban
cen-­‐tre(s)
and
surrounding
peri-­‐urban
and
rural
areas
City
region
food
system

5. City
region
food
system

6. Some
criteria
for
a
sustainable
and
just
urban
food
system
• Secured
access
to
affordable,
nutri$ous
and
safe
food
for
all
ci$zens
• A
vibrant
and
economically
sustainable
local
food
economy
• The
urban
food
system
is
more
resilient
(resistant
to
shocks
/
less
dependent
on
far
away
food
sources)
• The
ecological
foot
print
of
the
urban
food
system
is
minimized
• Urban
organic
wastes,
wastewater,
excess
heat,
CO2,
by-­‐products,…,
are
used
as
resources
in
local
food
produc$on
• Urban
agriculture
is
widely
used
to
create
be^er
urban
living
condi$ons

7. How
to
understand
“ver-cal
farming”?
• Some
tendencies
that
-­‐in
my
view-­‐
need
to
be
corrected:
-­‐ Urban
agriculture
is
not
just
ver$cal
farming
(pictures)
-­‐ Ver$cal
farming
is
not
just
very
advanced
semi-­‐closed
and
closed
systems
(pictures)
-­‐ Urban
farming
is
not
just
plant
produc$on
• Each
type
of
urban
agriculture
has
its
own
contribu$ons
to
the
development
of
sustainable
and
just
urban
food
systems
• Mass
food
produc$on
is
not
the
only
func$on
of
urban
agriculture
• Policy
makers
need
to
give
proper
a^en$on
to
all
types
of
urban
and
ver$cal
farming
and
not
put
its
eggs
all
in
one
basket
(high
tech
indoor
farming)
(Jing
di
zhi
wa)

8. Comparison
of
two
types
of
urban
agriculture
in
the
light
of
the
development
of
sustainable
food
systems
• Open
air
urban
agriculture
• Fully
closed
indoor
plant
produc$on

9. 1.
Open
air
urban
agriculture

10. Is
part
of
urban
green
infrastructure:
interconnected
green
zones
and
corridors
in
and
around
city
centre(s)

11.
• Variety
of
fresh
vegetables,
fruits
and
other
perishable
food
items
• Mul$-­‐func$onal
land
use:
combina$on
with
recrea$on,
water-­‐
and
landscape-­‐
management
,
biodiversity
• Eco-­‐services:
reducing
urban
heat,
capturing
CO2
and
dust,
storm
water
infiltra$on,
reuse
of
urban
organic
wastes
and
wastewater,
soil
remedia$on
• Social
func$ons:
community
building;
improving
access
of
urban
poor
to
food
and
income
• Mainly
family
farms,
SME’s,
social
entreprises
• Short
&
alterna$ve
food
chains
(producers
to
consumers)
• Low
to
medium
output;
• Oeen
high
land
pressure

12. • Closed
environment;
advanced
technology:
led
lights,
climate
control,
circular
resource
flows,
automa$on/
organic
engineering
systems
• Mass
produc$on
of
few
products
with
uniform
standard
quality
• Lower
resource
use
per
unit
of
output:
land,
water,
fer$lizers,
pes$cides
• High
energy
use
and
related
CO2
emissions
• High
ini$al
investment
• Mainly
large
entreprises;
increasing
dominance
in
urban
food
system
• Risk
of
social
exclusion
(small
farmers,
SMEs,
poor
urban
consumers)
2.
indoor
farming

13. Conflict
or
synergy?
• Largely
separated
working
spheres;
Oeen
mutually
nega$ve
images
• Both
approaches
are
needed
to
build
sustainable
&
resilient
urban
food
systems:
in
urban
food
systems
land
sparing
innova$on
complements
land
sharing
innova$on
• More
interac$on
and
coopera$on
is
needed
between
actors
in
both
spheres
• City
authories
to
lead
the
design
of
a
comprehensive
agro-­‐food
policy
in
the
city
region
with
mul$-­‐stakeholder
involvement

14. Challenges
for
advanced
ver-cal
farming
1.
Further
dras-c
reduc-on
of
energy
use
(to
reduce
produc$on
costs
and
reduce
related
green
house
gas
emissions);
– For
now:
Preference
for
systems
that
(also)
use
sunlight
(un$l
….)
– Further
innova$on
in
energy
efficiency:
LED
light
efficiency,
use
of
geothermal
energy;
underground
storage
of
excess
heat/cold
for
later
use;
adap$ng
climate
management
to
plant
processes:
use
of
outdoor
air
for
cooling
and
reduc$on
of
humidity
(rather
than
aircon$oning),
an$-­‐
reflec$ve
glass
coa$ng,
etcetera).

15. 2.
Integra-on
with
the
urban
metabolism:
• Use
of
urban
“wastes”
as
resources
in
food
produc$on:
– Methane
from
landfills
or
biogasdigestors
of
organic
wastes
to
generate
energy
and
heat
for
greenhouses
/
plant
factories
– Use
of
excess
heat,
CO2
and
cooling
water
from
nearby
industry
– Collec$on
of
rainwater
from
surrounding
roofs;
– Recovery
of
nutrients
from
urban
organic
wastes
and
urine
to
replace
chemical
fer$lizers
– Realizing
synergies
by
interconnec$ng
plant
produc$on
with
other
types
of
urban
farming
(fish,
poultry,
mushrooms,
algae,
…)

16. 3.
Preven-on
of
social
exclusion:
– Changes
in
the
business
models
and
the
organisa$on
of
the
food
chain
in
order
to
enhance
access
of
all
ci$zens
to
nutri$ous
food
at
affordable
prices
and
to
enable
par$cipa$on
of
small
scale
and
medium
entreprises.
– Prevent
compe$on
with
exis$ng
vegetable
growers
in
the
city
region.
Focus
plant
factories
at
“out
of
season”
products
and
products
that
can
not
be
produced
in
the
city
region
otherwise?.
– Also
government
support
for
SME’s
and
social
entreprises
engaging
in
(small
and
medium
scale)
ver$cal
farming
– Facilita$ng
coopera$on
(e.g.
contract
farming,
joint
marke$ng
arrangements,
technical
support)
between
larger
entreprises
and
small
farmers
willing/able
to
engage
in
ver$cal
farming

17. 4.
Adapta-on
of
urban
land
use
planning
and
building
regula-ons
– Clear
urban
food
policy
(prepared
with
ci$zen
involvement):
what
kinds
of
urban
agriculture
we
want,
where
and
why?
– Adapta$on
of
building
regula$ons
and
zoning
regula$ons
to
enable
ver$cal
farming
on/in
exis$ng
and
new
buildings
whilst
preven$ng
nega$ve
impacts
and
conflicts
of
interest.
– Clear
norms
/
targets
regarding
resource
use
efficiency,
total
GhG
emission,
use
of
renewable
energy
sources,
etcetera
– For
now:
Give
priority
to
retrofimng
of
abandoned
factories
and
offices
for
indoor
farming
– Get
real
estate
companies
and
social
housing
coopera$ons
more
coopera$ve
(mutual
interest;
social
responsibility)

18.
THANK
YOU
E-­‐mail:
h.dezeeuw@ruaf.org
Website:
www.ruaf.org

19.
various
forms
of
urban
hor$culture
(back)

20. Various
types
of
rooeop
hor$culture
(pictures)

21. CITYFOOD:
Linking
Ci-es
on
Urban
Agriculture
and
Urban
Food
Systems
Joint
ICLEI
/
RUAF
ini-a-ve:
• City
hub:
Ci$es
present
on
line
their
urban
food
policies
and
ac$ons
and
their
results
• Community
of
Prac-ce:
Prac$$oners
share
best
prac$ces
and
mutually
assist
in
problem
solving
• On
line
Compendium:
fact
sheets,
business
models,
guidelines
and
tools
• Training
and
technical
support
services
You
are
invited
to
join
CITYFOOD;
Contact:
cityfood@iclei.org
or
info@ruaf.org

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