Vertical Farms for Food & Restoration

by Rona Fried This article first appeared in Progressive Investor, April 2008. High oil prices, the diversion of 30% of our corn crop for ethanol, and strong demand from China and India are causing food shortages in vulnerable countries around the world. We need to go beyond giving aid and help these communities develop locally grown food sources and we have to focus on growing our food close to home in developed countries. Some of the best ideas are hatched at our universities where students are often encouraged to think outside the box. Another recent feature in Progressive Investor on carbon capture (December 2007) profiled a disruptive technology developed at Columbia University, where another equally profound contribution is under development – Vertical Farms. Dickson Despommier, a professor of Environmental Health Science at Columbia, gave birth to the idea in his Medical Ecology class which examines the health consequences of a damaged environment. The graduate school class attracts students from many disciplines such as medicine, law, architecture and nutrition. Over the past three years, he’s focused on the effects of agriculture on the environment. He gave the class a project: pretend you’re a community of 50,000 people and you have no […]

Read More