'Farm In The Sky' Planned for NYC

[Dover]

'Farm in the sky' planned for New York
By Matthew Moore
7/15/08


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Plans for a "vertical farm" growing crops in the centre of New York are a step closer to becoming reality.

Local officials in Manhattan are drawing up a study to investigate whether a farm skyscraper would be economically and environmentally viable.

Urban vertical farms have been mooted by architects for several years, but until now had been widely dismissed as expensive and impractical.

But there now appears to be a real drive to push ahead with a pilot project. "I think we can really do this," said Scott Stringer, the borough president of Manhattan and the man who hopes the pitch the idea to the mayor's office. "We could get the funding."

He added: "Obviously we don't have vast amounts of vacant land, but the sky is the limit in Manhattan"....cont'd


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/global/main.jhtml?xml=/global/2008/07/16/noindex/eafarms115.xml&CMP=EMC-expat2008

[ixion]

1. If the trees alongside the streets of Manhattan are any indication

the plants grown there will be very, very unhappy.

[Dover]

2. I think the plant life in Central Park does okay. Think of this as a vertical park..n/t

[LynneSin]

3. Yes but they would be grown inside in a greenhouse environment

I'm starting to think this is a good reality with the cost of shipping increasing the cost of foods that we purchase. Plus my nutritionist strongly recommends buying local because produce shipped cross country tend to lose some of their nutritional value.


I think if these buildings were built in lands not really viable for human inhabitation this could work. I remember before Citizen Park, they use to talk about building the ballpark over the railyards near the 30th Street Station.

[HereSince1628]

4. I doubt it could be cost effective. The cost of land in NYC is measured in square feet

not acres. The average for land rent in Iowa over the past 10 years has been a bit over $100 per acre. I suspect that the equivalent floor space in a Manhattan high-rise would be more than 100K per year.

Popular Mechanics magazine has been proposing such futuristic schemes since the 1950's.

It'd be more profitable to bring back the Long Island duck industry.

[Dover]

5. Yes that's the big issue alright. Might be better to make transportation more efficient

and cost effective.

[mia]

6. Check out "Omega Gardens".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02Uz95UGhRg&feature=related

[tridim]

7. Why not just farm all the roofs they already have?

This is a good idea in theory, but I agree it's going to be too expensive in reality. It's almost too expensive to farm flat land in the great plains.

[GreenPartyVoter]

8. If trucking in fresh fruits and veggies keeps getting more expensive, this idea will look more

and more viable.