What I Learned From Plant Factory

Reading is an important habit. When it comes to vertical farming, what does one read? A quick Google search gives just two books: Dr. Dickson Despommier’s classic, The Vertical Farm; and Plant Factory, by Dr. Toyoki Kozai, Dr. Genhua Niu, Continue reading What I Learned From Plant Factory

Farming in Space and Multicropping: an Unlikely Connection

The systems approach is a powerful one. Different ideas from different disciplines can be plugged into a coherent structure, to test new combinations and look at how they can work. Professor Eldert van Henten highlighted this with examples of engineering Continue reading Farming in Space and Multicropping: an Unlikely Connection

The Brussels Vertical Farming Workshop – A Summary

What a fantastic two days. Last weekend, the first ever AVF Workshop took place in Brussels. There were people from all sorts of backgrounds – architects, agronomists, and even a caricature artist – all with a fervency for farming and Continue reading The Brussels Vertical Farming Workshop – A Summary

Energy: The Elephant in the Room

A few weeks ago, I was at Alexander Boedijn‘s MSc thesis presentation. For the past year, Alexander has been looking at energy flows within Amsterdam and how they can be used in urban rooftop horticulture.  After the presentation, a classmate Continue reading Energy: The Elephant in the Room

Putting the Circular Economy in Better Shape

Well, this is embarrassing. Only a post ago did I explain the circular economy, where loops can be closed and we can thrive on a finite amount of resources. But, as is often the case, imitating the principles of nature is more complicated Continue reading Putting the Circular Economy in Better Shape