City Agriculture - October 2, 2023

 Babylon Micro-Farms - for corporate dining, student dining, senior living communities, and event and hospitality venues now in 31 states

https://babylonmicrofarms.com/

Local ecosystem restoration and food forestry - the transformation of one yard in San Antonio, TX
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/3/25/2159617/-Local-ecosystem-restoration-and-food-forestry

Green Shades - vegetal awnings
https://www.singulargreen.com/en/green-shades/
hat tip Alexandra Sokol

Festival of Debate 2023: Cities, farming, construction and greenspaces - series of 4 recorded webinars
https://grantham.sheffield.ac.uk/webinars/

City Farmer News - from Vancouver, BC, Canada with news of urban farming from everywhere
https://cityfarmer.info/

Montreal street in transition from parking to community garden
https://mastodon.social/@arndell/110922058146104641

NYTimes on Miyawaki Forests
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/24/climate/tiny-forests-climate-miyawaki.html?unlocked_article_code=v8kupwL3yFzi2-IC0KNf0BfACVFIpjsbxhk-7AhXQAjnPcgfL1u0jgLszg6uQztWlpZc6_V1QOwLy6Gv10Xwtcw4Ht8XwkuGji4rDhmQ9qYforZU9MX8B7Q19uUpL1k9IKEMDgPfj6FekloEFoqn1Y2VdY6nwLtGMfO64JI_zm6W9HOOXuzcd3NCbBmj1eTS-5WwgnUq0Tm-ywZl4thMTz41iiE6RiRI11a0b8w_kTUQ855mbxbQVNWMm6Snn-J99xG67V4n4GNA2UfGJGq0DHfoU4lbAHtzu2ALpW-XHk-wGjHpUCFZ1zvw6xBW2LkxalBrw803-EJSR0-3v-fbax0XyIIi7FY&smid=url-share
Editorial Comment:  My sources at Biodiversity for a Livable Climate (https://bio4climate.org/) report that this article brought many new members and attention to their great work.

Urban oases combine roof gardens and solar panels
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-66054688

Green corridors instead of heat islands in Medellin, Colombia
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20230922-how-medellin-is-beating-the-heat-with-green-corridors

Improving photosynthesis in plants through genetics
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-66798680

Botanarchy - guerrilla gardening on public property
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/sep/28/i-call-it-botanarchy-the-hackney-guerrilla-gardener-bringing-power-to-the-people
Editorial Comment:  I’ve been known to do something similar myself from time to time and enjoy the idea that the concept of “seed bombing,” preparing balls of mud full of wildflower seeds to throw into vacant lots, seems to have gone from a kitchen table conversation in late 1970s to an underground reality today

Learning from India
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-66717353

City Agriculture - July 8, 2023

 Bottle Farm - growing system for windowsill hydroponics

https://bottle-farm.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGIfdIMiJPI
hat tip:  core77.com
Editorial Comment:  A good idea which can probably be replicated with available materials like peat pellets and liquid fertilizers.

Bt Farms is building an agri-hood, "a regenerative community plan for approximately 220 acres of farm and wetlands land in Madison, Wisconsin”
https://btfarms.org/
https://www.agritecture.com/blog/2023/3/13/one-of-a-kind-agri-hood-would-blend-housing-farming-and-racial-justice-on-far-east-side-of-madison

Badger Rock Middle School in Madison, WI "the state’s first charter school centered around agriculture, biodiversity and environmental studies”
https://badgerrock.madison.k12.wi.us/

Snail farming
https://www.agritecture.com/blog/2022/7/20/snail-farming-raising-low-carbon-alternative-protein

Combining green roofs with agrivoltaics
https://cleantechnica.com/2023/04/07/more-bad-news-for-fossil-fuels-rooftop-solar-meets-agrivoltaics/

Urban food forests
https://www.agritecture.com/blog/2023/4/5/food-forests-are-bringing-shade-and-sustenance-to-us-cities-one-parcel-of-land-at-a-time

Why and how of city agriculture plans
https://www.agritecture.com/blog/2023/5/10/why-your-city-needs-an-urban-agriculture-plan-amp-how-to-start-one

Local microfarms
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jun/10/local-food-microfarms-equity

Urban pollinators
https://theconversation.com/bees-and-hoverflies-are-key-to-growing-more-fruit-and-veg-in-cities-new-research-207665

Bus shelter rooftop gardens to prevent urban flooding
https://gothamist.com/news/rooftop-gardens-bus-stops-cheap-remedy-nyc-flood-problem-pratt
hat tip to https://cleantechnica.com/2023/06/15/flooding-issue-in-nyc-rooftop-gardens-for-bus-stops-to-the-rescue/

First roof gardener in Barcelona turns 100
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jun/26/barcelona-centenarian-organic-gardener-joan-carulla-rooftop-farm-aoe

What you need to know about green walls
https://inhabitat.com/what-do-you-need-to-know-about-plant-walls/

City Agriculture - March 17, 2023

 Chinese natural restoration project

https://inhabitat.com/a-restoration-project-in-china-uses-a-sponge-system/

Urban Permaculture
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qXgbrIYcFE

Floating farm in Rotterdam
https://cleantechnica.com/2023/01/20/say-hello-to-the-floating-farm-in-rotterdam/

Editorial Comment:  Previous mentions of Rotterdam in City Agriculture
World’s first floating dairy farm in Rotterdam, Netherlands
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-45130010
https://cityag.blogspot.com/2018/08/city-agriculture-august-30-2018.html

Floating Park in Rotterdam made from recycled plastic
http://www.recycledpark.com/
http://www.recycledisland.com/about.html
https://cityag.blogspot.com/2018/08/city-agriculture-august-30-2018.html
Editorial Comment:  The Floating Park seems to have vanished but the group behind it is still removing plastic from waterways.
Editorial Comment:  Aztecs and other South American peoples built floating gardens for hundreds of years.  They called them chinampas

A rooftop forest for Rotterdam
https://www.mvrdv.nl/news/2603/with-construction-almost-complete-depot-boijmans-van-beuningen-prepares-for-preview-opening-in-september
https://www.mvrdv.nl/news/2652/depot-boijmans-van-beuningen-rooftop-forest-awarded-rooftop-award-2020
https://inhabitat.com/an-award-winning-forest-tops-the-worlds-first-publicly-accessible-art-depot/
https://cityag.blogspot.com/2021/01/city-agriculture-january-20-2021-happy.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
https://cityag.blogspot.com/2022/07/city-agriculture-july-31-2022.html

Dallas TX plans for urban farms
https://www.dallasobserver.com/news/urban-farms-in-dallas-will-be-vital-to-a-healthier-population-city-officials-say-15696187
Dallas Climate Action Plan on food access
https://www.dallasclimateaction.com/foodaccess

How container farms can help with climate change
https://energynerdshow.com/episodes/mit-lab-explores-how-container-farms-can-help-with-climate-change
hat tip Bruce Biewald

Kroger partners with Gotham Greens to supply more than 1000 stores
https://www.agritecture.com/blog/2023/2/9/kroger-expanding-gotham-greens-to-more-than-1000-stores

Japan’s agricultural decarbonization plan
https://sponsored.bloomberg.com/article/jco/japan-where-food-security-meets-innovation
Editorial Comment:  government press release

City Agriculture - January 19, 2023

 3D printing houses with dirt, green walls and various crops built-in

https://www.fastcompany.com/90780034/bioconstruction-will-build-homes-out-of-flowering-3d-printed-dirt

Singapore skyscraper, Capita Spring, with a food forest on top and gardens throughout
https://big.dk/#projects-sing
https://inhabitat.com/this-is-how-singapore-does-vertical-biophilic-urbanism/

Reducing energy in Controlled Environment Agriculture [CEA]
https://www.agritecture.com/blog/2022/10/18/5-organizations-trying-to-solve-ceas-energy-problems
Editorial Comment:  These are the only CEA operations I know of which designed energy efficiency into their systems from the beginning:
Net zero vertical farm in Chicago
http://inhabitat.com/food-waste-fuels-vertical-farming-in-chicago/
InFarm for supermarkets who want to grow their own food 
https://www.fastcompany.com/3058155/at-this-supermarket-the-produce-section-grows-its-own-produce

CO2 to boost plant growth in rooftop farming
https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/co2-boost-plant-growth-on-roof
https://www.wbur.org/news/2018/05/15/rooftop-garden-bu
hat tip to Nathan Phillips

BBC on carbon farming
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20211020-carbon-farming-a-better-use-for-half-earths-land

BBC with Corteva, an agriscience company with roots in the DuPont companies, has produced three editions of eight half hour programs and three specials since 2021
https://www.bbc.com/future/bespoke/follow-the-food/

Growing wheat indoors and without soil
https://agfundernews.com/infarms-indoor-wheat-suggests-we-re-examine-the-realities-of-vertically-farmed-commodities

Cutting-edge tech made this tiny country a major exporter of food
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/interactive/2022/netherlands-agriculture-technology/
Editorial Comment:  If you can’t get past the Washington Post paywall, copy the address into https://archive.ph

Forest stadium for Milan, Italy (a design concept but not an actual project)
https://www.stefanoboeriarchitetti.net/en/project/san-siro-an-international-forest-stadium-for-milano/
https://inhabitat.com/stefano-boeri-architetti-designs-a-forest-stadium-in-milan/

How Tunisia’s lagoon farms use saltwater from the Mediterranean Sea
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1387222141790782
hat tip to Monica Raymond

BBC asks “What if all our food was grown in indoor vertical farms?"
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20230106-what-if-all-our-food-was-grown-in-indoor-vertical-farms

How to make vegetables last longer
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20230118-how-to-make-fruit-and-vegetables-last-longer