Urban Farming: The Future of Food Security
Today, half of all people on Earth live in urban areas. By 2050, it is estimated that two-thirds of the global population will be dwelling in cities, leading to rising food demands.
This food has to be either grown in the city itself or our rural agriculture ecosystem has to be reinvented to fulfill the hunger of urban as well as the rural population. The food supply chain has to be more innovative, resilient, and futuristic to support the daily food needs of the urban population, as largely the food is grown in remote villages far away from urban cities.
So urban farming as a concept seems to be a potent solution. But before we digest this, we need to dig deeper and try to understand what urban farming is after all & what are the challenges of implementing it.
As per CDI (Contrive Datum Insights)
The Global Urban Farming Market Size Was US$ 137.5 Billion In 2021. It Is Forecast To Grow To US$ 281.9 Billion By 2030 By Registering A CAGR Of 3.1% During The Forecast Period From 2022 To 2030.
What Is Urban Farming?
Urban farming, which is also popularly known as urban gardening, is an agricultural practice of
- Growing
- Processing
- Distributing
Food within or around the urban area.
The core idea is to make fresh food more accessible and bring more people closer to the urban population.
This looks like a very noble cause, but is it not devoid of a wide array of challenges let’s understand them briefly
What Are The Challenges of Urban Farming?
1. Space is an issue:
In order to cultivate food it is important to have ample space that is apt for farming, sadly it is a big issue in the Urban setup. It means some kind of renovation plan has to be thought through that will come with its own set of challenges as the current cities are not designed keeping the food security needs in mind.
2. Availability & Accessibility Of Resources:
Farming practices in the current age depend largely on natural resources like sunlight, water, and soil conditions, an organism that makes the soil fertile & alive. All this is scarce, and getting them in abundance in an urban setup is of great challenge. It means a new innovative way has to be carved out by thinkers, entrepreneurs, and policymakers to ensure its availability.
3. Skilled Resources:
All our skilled resources & technological know-how are tailored to cater to our age-long agricultural practices that are happening in remote areas far away from urban cities. So in order to meet the requirements of urban farming all the practices of, seeding, managing (disease management, soil management, etc.), and distributing crops need trained resources that are not available in abundance, Having said that it also points out that there is a great opportunity in the same.
4. It Has To Be Sustainable:
Urban cities are already fighting hard for water and energy due to overpopulation so urban farming as an idea can only succeed and be sustained if the availability of resources is well planned judiciously ahead even before introducing these concepts in the cities, otherwise, it can go for a toss and become unmanageable and unfruitful.
Resources are scarce and unplanned usage can be a disaster.
5. Cost Can Be an Issue :
It is very obvious that modern agricultural practices and technology infrastructure required for Urban Farming will require significant capital to start with before it gets economical as it evolves and achieves mass adoption. This may not be as easy as it may sound, making it even more affordable for consumers will also be a huge challenge.
The concept of hydroponics, vertical farming, aeroponics all this modern infra is not cheap even today and so to implement it on a large scale in the future will require a lot of investments from governments and wealthy institutions
Now that we have covered some of the prominent issues that come along with the idea of Urban Farming, let’s dig deeper to see the types of urban farming that are currently under practice in some of the developed countries.
What are the various types of Urban Farming?
Some of the current running practices of urban farming are
- Aquaponics
- Hydroponics
- Aeroponics
- Vertical Farming
- Rooftop Gardens
- Indoor Farming
Let’s understand each of these concepts briefly and we will cover them in detail as we progress in the upcoming articles
1. Aquaponics:
Aquaponics is a practice that harnesses the power of aquaculture and hydroponics, where aquaculture deals with the process of raising aquatic animals like fish, and snails, and hydroponics deals with growing plants in water.
The way aquaponics combines both of them lies in the process, where generally fish is raised in the water tanks, they are fed with the required fish foods and whatever excretes the aquatic fish generates in the water is fed to the hydroponics system, where these by-products are broken down by nitrifying bacteria initially into nitrites and subsequently into nitrates that are utilized by the plants as nutrients. Then, the water is recirculated back into the aquaculture system.
This controlled system of cultivating food without soil, along with nurturing fish is known as Aquaponics Farming
To learn more about Aquaponics, read the previous articles that I have coined.
2. Hydroponics:
It is quite clear from the term itself, that this concept of urban farming relies totally on water instead of soil to cultivate the appropriate crop types in a controlled environment.
So we can say
It is a soilless method of growing plants that leverages water-based systems to deliver essential nutrients directly to the roots of plants. This helps in rapid plant growth, large production, and optimum resource utilization.
It uses less water than traditional soil-based agriculture as water is recirculated within the system. It requires very little space and can be grown vertically in your house too. Unlike traditional farming, being completely soil-less doesn't require too much pest management, just one needs to manage proper nutrient supply in order to grow healthy plants.
3. Aeroponics:
It is the science & technology of growing plants using air or mist environment as the medium. This eventually eliminates the dependency on land or soil to cultivate food.
Unlike aquaponics or hydroponics, aeroponics is conducted without any growing medium as such.
So you all must be wondering, how is than plant able to grow being suspended in the air with no soils, no water beds, etc., to get all the required nutrients to create food? To understand Aeroponics in detail & to find the answer read my elaborative article on aquaponics.
4. Vertical Farming:
This farming is well suited for urban areas. It is a practice of growing crops in vertically stacked layers or vertically inclined surfaces largely suited to Indoor controlled setup.
The idea is to grow food optimally with minimal space and resources. Popular systems are hydroponics and aeroponics which we discussed earlier that leverage vertical farming concepts in urban settings
Vertical farms use shelves, racks, or towers to stack multiple layers of crops on top of one another. The plants receive artificial light, typically from LED lights, to facilitate photosynthesis. The vertical arrangement allows for efficient use of floor space, making it suitable for urban environments where land is limited.
We will cover this topic in more detail later.
5. Rooftop Gardens:
It is one of the well-suited modern agricultural practices for urban setup. Also known as a green roof or rooftop farm, is the concept of urban agriculture where plants are grown on the rooftop of buildings.
One can maintain a small container garden, to more complex garden installations based on the need and scale.
Rooftop gardens utilize otherwise unused space in urban environments, making them an efficient way to increase agricultural production in densely populated areas where land is scarce.
Rooftop gardens come with lots of environmental benefits like improving air quality, temperature regulation, stormwater management, regulated urban flooding, etc. We will cover benefits and other relevant details about the rooftop garden later in the upcoming articles.
6. Indoor Farming:
As the word suggests, it is one of the urban agricultural practices where the cultivation of crops and sometimes even the raising of livestock all occur within the controlled indoor(closed ) environment like warehouses, greenhouses, or other vertical farming facilities.
Like other urban agricultural practices, indoor farming, too, is congenial for year-round production & free from external weather conditions. Many indoor farming systems use hydroponic or aeroponic a soilless method to grow plants.
Now that we have learned briefly about various types of Urban Farming, it’s time to understand, Why even should we care about it.
Why Should We Care About Urban Farming?
If you have been agilely reading so far, you must have a fair idea of why Urban Farming matters. Let me help you get the gist of the same briefly.
Here are a few prominent reasons you should care about knowing & implementing it in your limited space
1. It can address our food security needs effectively
It can be the savior for the urban population in fulfilling their food demands in the form of fresh foods. Agri supply chain dependency will be reduced via urban farming methodologies to a larger extent.
2. Good for the environment
Urban farming being done in closed and controlled environments largely soilless has the potential to, directly and indirectly, benefit our environment. The sustainable practices of urban farming are
- Good for Soil conservation
- Helps in efficient water management
- Has the capability to reduce Pesticide usage
- Can reduce carbon footprint due to less reliance on the supply chain for food transportation
3. Efficient usage of resources
Modern urban farms can be developed designed to use less water and less energy, these practices are quite prevalent in hydroponics, vertical farming etc.
4. It's healthy
Because fresh & nutritious food will be grown using fewer chemicals and will be made available right near your vicinity, it will promote a healthy lifestyle for urban dwellers.
5. Greener Space & Rich Urban Biodiversity :
Urban farming contributes to the creation of green spaces within cities, which can enhance urban aesthetics, improve air quality, and provide habitat for local wildlife, thereby promoting urban biodiversity.
6. Will Provide Economic Opportunities:
Urban farming will give rise to more startups and entrepreneurship opportunities for city dwellers helping the local economy to thrive. Startups can start their own business to grow food to feed the rising hunger of the urban population right within the city
7. A solution to an emergency situation
In case of a global emergency and events like Covid, wars etc., cities can become more resilient to the food security needs of the city residents. Any kind of food supply chain disruptions can be tackled due to urban farming
To Sum Up:
Urban farming will shape up dynamically as the hunger for more food increases largely triggered by urban populations. It is evolving fast and will foster multiple innovations in improving the current practices like aeroponics, hydroponics, aquaponics, vertical farming, etc. to make it more affordable and accessible to the urban population.
There is a huge potential to adopt AI-based innovations that can reduce resource usage and manage demand and supply keeping costs on the lower side. It would be interesting to see how it pans out in the near future.
Urban farming will not only be about growing food for the city, it will be greatly reshaping cities into sustainable, interconnected ecosystems that nourish both people and the planet.
What’s Next?
We will cover all types of Urban Farming in detail in the upcoming series of articles on Modern agriculture
Till then it’s time to bid goodbye and keep checking back into this space for more Thank you……
