City Agriculture - June 19, 2025

In Kenya, a law against sharing indigenous seeds and a village choir raising their voices against it https://globalvoices.org/2025/05/10/kenya-outlawed-the-sharing-of-indigenous-seeds-an-village-choir-is-fighting-back/

HS student creates an app for an online farmers' market https://www.wzzm13.com/article/news/local/high-school-student-creates-an-online-farmers-market-with-app/69-dea24a69-9172-46e4-aaaa-b23822098006

Vertical farms in cities to alleviate food insecurity https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/05/13/food-insecurity-vertical-farms-startups-cities If you hit a paywall, try https://archive.ph/zOMxS

Schools planting green spaces https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/16/la-schools-green-spaces

Lorain, OH [population 65,000] is beginning a "comprehensive initiative to turn underutilized spaces into thriving centers of food production, education, and opportunity” with the help of a USDA grant https://www.agritecture.com/blog/urban-farming-lorains-next-frontier-for-innovation-and-growth

LA’s Front Lawn Farm Movement https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=We1qoSDfUJE

Inside Africa's Food Forest Mega-Project https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbBdIG--b58 hat tip to https://cleantechnica.com/2025/05/23/maybe-theres-hope-for-a-hopeless-time/

Gasometer tower to hydroponic production - from relic technology to a future https://www.agritecture.com/blog/reclaiming-the-industrial-past-for-a-greener-future-jabha-biotower-nam-earns-international-recognition

Indigenous ancient lagoon water management system of Ecuador https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2025/jun/13/ecuador-indigenous-map-pre-inca-myths-ancient-lagoon-water-drought-

New advances in growing spirulina algae in vertical farms https://cleantechnica.com/2025/06/18/a-new-wave-of-algae-is-perking-up-the-vertical-farming-industry/

Food Twin Map - Discover where food is produced and how it travels around the world by selecting any region. https://foodtwin.theplotline.org/
Explanatory article https://grist.org/food-and-agriculture/a-new-app-details-where-your-food-comes-from-and-just-how-fragile-the-global-food-system-really-is/

Respyre - bioreceptive concrete cladding and a specialised moss gel making it easy to create green facades that purify the air, sequester carbon, and cool buildings
https://www.gorespyre.com/

City Agriculture - May 12, 2025

Urine as fertilizer
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20250227-the-vermont-farmers-using-urine-to-grow-their-crops

An industrial designed bee hive based on the form factor of a hollow tree
https://www.core77.com/posts/135723/HIIVE-From-An-Industrial-Design-Thesis-to-Market

Black Farmers Index - connecting consumers to local food grown by Black farmers
https://blackfarmersindex.com/

ART given notice to quit 31-year-old Food Forest - not all news is good news
https://substack.com/home/post/p-159120584

The world’s biggest soil conservation project
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/mar/14/how-china-led-way-water-soil-conservation

Enhancing agrivoltaic synergies through optimized tracking strategies - "This paper presents a methodology for dynamically optimizing solar panel positioning to meet the varying light requirements of crops. Simulations are conducted for a case study of an agrivoltaic system in an apple orchard in southwestern Germany."
https://www.spiedigitallibrary.org/journals/journal-of-photonics-for-energy/volume-15/issue-03/032703/Enhancing-agrivoltaic-synergies-through-optimized-tracking-strategies/10.1117/1.JPE.15.032703.full
hat tip to https://cleantechnica.com/2025/03/15/new-agrivoltaic-tool-optimizes-solar-generation-and-crop-production/

Community farm reviving prairie land in Chicago
https://blockclubchicago.org/2025/03/17/how-a-little-village-farm-is-reviving-prairie-land-in-chicago/
hat tip to @chasesolidago.bsky.social

Paris votes for 500 more green streets
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/paris-residents-vote-favour-making-500-more-streets-pedestrian-2025-03-23/

Creole gardens as a response to climate change in Guadeloupe
https://globalvoices.org/2025/04/15/in-guadeloupe-creole-gardens-give-climate-lessons-in-a-spirit-of-solidarity/
Editorial Comment:  I’m reading Toxic Tropics:  A Horror Story of Environmental Injustice by Jessica Oublié, Nicola Gobbi, Kathrine Avraam, Vinciane Lebrun about the persistent contamination of Guadeloupe and Martinique by chlordecane which was used to control pests in banana plantations.  We have big problems on multiple fronts.

2 GW agrivoltaic project in China
https://cleantechnica.com/2025/04/19/massive-2-gw-agrivoltaic-project-aims-to-restore-desert-in-china/
Editorial Comment:  I learned a new word:  ecovoltaic - rebuilding soil health while restoring natural habitats and native plant species
Agrivoltaics and ecovotaics are examples of geotherapy, helping ecological systems restore the damage homo sap sap (that sap!) has done.

Growing strawberries under different levels of shading from thin-film solar panels
https://www.agritecture.com/blog/strawberries-under-solar-panels-agrivoltaics-canada

How Trmp’s first 100 days changed the USDA food system
https://grist.org/food-and-agriculture/trump-usda-food-system-agriculture-first-100-days/

City Agriculture - March 3, 2025

 The Poor Prole's Almanac: Restoration Agroecology

https://poorprolesalmanac.substack.com/
hat tip MT Spriggs

Port Huron, MI is planting trees to provide free fruit for residents under new pilot “Edible Parks” program
https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/local/2024/12/20/michigan-city-planting-trees-to-provide-free-fruit-for-residents-under-new-pilot-program/

Food Forests in Permaculture:  And In-Depth Guide/
https://www.permalogica.com/post/food-forests-in-permaculture-an-in-depth-guide

Urban farming in Baltimore isn’t just about growing food
https://popularresistance.org/in-baltimore-urban-farming-isnt-just-about-growing-food/
Editorial Comment:  Baltimore has done a lot around local agriculture and grassroots leaders like Mel King in Boston and Grace Lee Boggs in Detroit have used urban gardening to build a foundation for much larger social movements
More on Grace Lee Boggs at https://hubeventsnotes.blogspot.com/2016/04/the-next-american-revolution.html
More on Mel King at https://solarray.blogspot.com/2023/04/how-many-ways-did-he-change-world-mel.html

USDA supporting urban agriculture and sustainable food production with $14.4 million in funding
https://www.agritecture.com/blog/usda.gov-urban-agriculture-grants

Growing microalgae for food and fodder indoors in Iceland
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4gjry6dv4yo

LONGi Kubuqi Desert Solar Power Project
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vntwjqMgCaE

Growing food in empty office spaces
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20250127-why-veg-is-growing-in-empty-office-spaces

Food, water and energy self-sufficiency in a 33 meters diameter with a 3D printed house
https://3dwasp.com/en/itaca-the-self-sufficient-and-eco-sustainable-3d-printed-house/
hat tip Michael Bauwens

The green belt cooling a city
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/feb/06/we-water-rest-water-the-green-belt-of-vegetable-plots-cooling-a-city

LA urban farmers will regrow and expand after the fires
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/ng-interactive/2025/feb/24/california-wildfires-altadena-farmers

Green roofs increase biodiversity for Basel, Switzerland.  They use native plants and seeds.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/feb/28/green-roofs-deliver-for-biodiversity-how-basel-put-nature-on-top
from https://cityag.blogspot.com/2022/07/city-agriculture-july-31-2022.html
Rotterdam’s roofscape - greening 10 million square feet of rooftops
https://www.c40.org/case-studies/cities100-rotterdam-mitigation-meets-adaptation-on-rotterdam-s-rooftops/
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5f082078d610926644d22e00/t/621e3b2a1ee23c373149cac0/1646148404157/URBANISTEN_Rotterdam_Rooftop_Potential_EN.pdf
https://www.fastcompany.com/90755913/inside-rotterdams-quest-to-green-10-million-square-feet-of-rooftops