Comments on: Vertical Farming Offers Sustainable Food Supply http://www.urbanfarmhub.org/2010/02/vertical-farming-could-offer-sustainable-food-supply/ Puget Sound's Urban Farming Resource Thu, 26 Aug 2010 21:37:26 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: Haku http://www.urbanfarmhub.org/2010/02/vertical-farming-could-offer-sustainable-food-supply/comment-page-1/#comment-255 Haku Thu, 18 Feb 2010 19:45:29 +0000 http://www.urbanfarmhub.org/?p=1690#comment-255 I have serious doubts about the economic or environmental usefulness of multistory buildings dedicated to growing food. Capital and energy consumption will likely make it untenable for low-income folks, who need urban produce the most. There is a lot of agricultural land within a reasonable distance of most cities. It needs to be cared for. Agricultural green belts (in the Wendell Berry sense) need to be established and maintained. Soil needs to be cared for. We can not divorce agriculture any further from ecology. As an art, it is beautiful and sustaining, as a science, it is utterly fascinating, as an industry it is destructive. I have serious doubts about the economic or environmental usefulness of multistory buildings dedicated to growing food. Capital and energy consumption will likely make it untenable for low-income folks, who need urban produce the most.

There is a lot of agricultural land within a reasonable distance of most cities. It needs to be cared for. Agricultural green belts (in the Wendell Berry sense) need to be established and maintained. Soil needs to be cared for. We can not divorce agriculture any further from ecology. As an art, it is beautiful and sustaining, as a science, it is utterly fascinating, as an industry it is destructive.

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