Urban Agriculture: Gotham Greens
Posted: 2019-11-14 04:18pm
A company called Gotham Greens is opening up their second greenhouse in Chicago..
I am intrigued by such projects.
First, because I've done hydroponics myself, although nowhere near on this scale or with this precision. Nonetheless, it's obvious to me why they concentrate on greens: greens are stupid easy to grow hydroponically and you get a lot of "bang for the buck" because you can eat almost the whole plant.
Second, the whole notion of urban farms tickles my fancy. Cities have long been dependent on "importing" their food, modern cities even more than in the past. Growing food in place definitely appeals to me.
Now, I also know that such an enterprise is not necessarily a plus - it all depends on how it's run. The plus side of this is that Gotham Greens is building their greenhouses in the old Pullman neighborhood, which is definitely an inner urban site. The new greenhouse is on the site of an old steel mill, so they're repurposing a brownfield site instead of paving over current farmland or nibbling away at what's left of greenspace and wild areas. They've also built greenhouses on rooftops, which again, brings agriculture to inner urban areas and expands growing areas without reducing greenspace. The methods they use utilize less water than traditional soil-based agriculture, does not require pesticides, reduces losses to pests to near nothing, and they apparently use solar, wind, and other renewable power sources when possible. Some of their operations make use of rainwater catchment, which helps with excessive stormwater in cities. This makes for year-round growing in optimized conditions, leading to much higher yields per unit of area than soil-based agriculture, with the ability to stagger production cycles rather than having a harvest glut only once a year. They employ local people in economically disadvantaged areas, making fresh, local food available to inner city residents. Much shorter transportation distances to market means much smaller carbon footprint in regards to transportation.
However, I still have my concerns. For one thing, they're building on the site of a former steel mill. Granted, they aren't trying to plant anything in the ground, but steel mills are not the most human-friendly places. By using hydroponics there is a lot less worry about soil contamination, but I'm still hoping there's been some sort of remediation done. But let's assume the site has been rendered safe for this purpose. I also am wondering about resource usage - yes, this does use a LOT less water than traditional agriculture, which is to the good even in an area like Chicago which has abundant, usable fresh water but for about six weeks of the year Chicago only gets about nine hours of sunlight a day and that's assuming the sky isn't heavily overcast which, I assure you, it often is during December and January. This means that in addition to whatever power is required to run the liquid nutrient, circulate air, and so forth they'll need artificial lighting as well. Plus probably some heat during at least the coldest part of the winter (some of their rooftop farms do utilize waste from the building they sit on top of). The nutrients in the growth medium have to come from somewhere - where are they sourced from and how sustainable is this whole operation, really? This is a site that uses advanced technology and all that entails.
So... less use of water and pesticides, but technologically intensive and potentially power hungry (which might be mitigated or even entirely balanced by cunning use of alternative energy).
So... what do you all think? Is this sort of agriculture the way forward for humanity? (It will not replace all other forms of food production, of course). Or is this something that isn't quite as good as it initially appears?
(I am amused that their produce can not be certified "organic". I know why that's so - the "organic" classification involves soil agriculture and how "natural" it is, and hydroponics is definitely not "natural". But it's almost certainly healthier and more nutritious, likely fresher and without even "natural pesticides" so really, it's likely more what the crunchy-granola crowd actually wants.)
I am intrigued by such projects.
First, because I've done hydroponics myself, although nowhere near on this scale or with this precision. Nonetheless, it's obvious to me why they concentrate on greens: greens are stupid easy to grow hydroponically and you get a lot of "bang for the buck" because you can eat almost the whole plant.
Second, the whole notion of urban farms tickles my fancy. Cities have long been dependent on "importing" their food, modern cities even more than in the past. Growing food in place definitely appeals to me.
Now, I also know that such an enterprise is not necessarily a plus - it all depends on how it's run. The plus side of this is that Gotham Greens is building their greenhouses in the old Pullman neighborhood, which is definitely an inner urban site. The new greenhouse is on the site of an old steel mill, so they're repurposing a brownfield site instead of paving over current farmland or nibbling away at what's left of greenspace and wild areas. They've also built greenhouses on rooftops, which again, brings agriculture to inner urban areas and expands growing areas without reducing greenspace. The methods they use utilize less water than traditional soil-based agriculture, does not require pesticides, reduces losses to pests to near nothing, and they apparently use solar, wind, and other renewable power sources when possible. Some of their operations make use of rainwater catchment, which helps with excessive stormwater in cities. This makes for year-round growing in optimized conditions, leading to much higher yields per unit of area than soil-based agriculture, with the ability to stagger production cycles rather than having a harvest glut only once a year. They employ local people in economically disadvantaged areas, making fresh, local food available to inner city residents. Much shorter transportation distances to market means much smaller carbon footprint in regards to transportation.
However, I still have my concerns. For one thing, they're building on the site of a former steel mill. Granted, they aren't trying to plant anything in the ground, but steel mills are not the most human-friendly places. By using hydroponics there is a lot less worry about soil contamination, but I'm still hoping there's been some sort of remediation done. But let's assume the site has been rendered safe for this purpose. I also am wondering about resource usage - yes, this does use a LOT less water than traditional agriculture, which is to the good even in an area like Chicago which has abundant, usable fresh water but for about six weeks of the year Chicago only gets about nine hours of sunlight a day and that's assuming the sky isn't heavily overcast which, I assure you, it often is during December and January. This means that in addition to whatever power is required to run the liquid nutrient, circulate air, and so forth they'll need artificial lighting as well. Plus probably some heat during at least the coldest part of the winter (some of their rooftop farms do utilize waste from the building they sit on top of). The nutrients in the growth medium have to come from somewhere - where are they sourced from and how sustainable is this whole operation, really? This is a site that uses advanced technology and all that entails.
So... less use of water and pesticides, but technologically intensive and potentially power hungry (which might be mitigated or even entirely balanced by cunning use of alternative energy).
So... what do you all think? Is this sort of agriculture the way forward for humanity? (It will not replace all other forms of food production, of course). Or is this something that isn't quite as good as it initially appears?
(I am amused that their produce can not be certified "organic". I know why that's so - the "organic" classification involves soil agriculture and how "natural" it is, and hydroponics is definitely not "natural". But it's almost certainly healthier and more nutritious, likely fresher and without even "natural pesticides" so really, it's likely more what the crunchy-granola crowd actually wants.)