URBAN AGRICULTURE
Urban agriculture business models
There are many different types of model for the successful operation of a business. A business model is a strategy for how a company will make a profit. It identifies the products or services the business will sell, the target market, and the anticipated expenses. A new business in development needs to have a business model in order to attract investment, help it recruit talent, and motivate management and staff. Established businesses have to revisit and update their business plans regularly in order to anticipate trends and challenges ahead.
· Aqu@teachTypology of commercial indoor urban farms
Building-integrated agriculture (BIA) predominantly uses soilless cultivation techniques such as hydroponics, aquaponics or aeroponics. The benefits of BIA include year-round production, higher yields, greater control of food safety and biosecurity, and substantially reduced inputs with respect to water supply, pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers, as well as improved building energy efficiency through the creation of symbiotic relations between the farm and its host building. BIA systems can be applied either on the building envelope – on the rooftop or facades, to take advantage of the availability of natural light – or indoors with artificial light, or in a free-standing building (Figure 2), and all the growing parameters are controlled.
· Aqu@teachThe sustainability of commercial indoor urban farms
Supplying urban populations with locally grown food is widely viewed as a more resource-efficient alternative to the conventional supply chain using food grown in peri-urban or remote rural locations. Indoor, soilless cultivation in urban areas is portrayed as a particularly sustainable solution, by reducing food miles, minimizing land use and water consumption, and improving yields. However, to ensure optimal growing conditions for the crops, controlled-environment farms all rely on the artificial control of light, temperature, humidity and water cycles, and can therefore be highly energy intensive, depending on local climatic conditions and the specific characteristics of the host building.
· Aqu@teachLegislation and governance
A range of factors – existing urban layout, perceptions and attitudes towards the use of urban space, and the prevalent political climate – all operate at the city-specific level to influence the development of urban agriculture. In most countries in the Global North there is no independent category for urban agriculture in municipal zoning plans, as agriculture has historically been regarded as a rural activity by urban planners. Urban agriculture in Europe appears to fall between different policy areas, despite assurances from the European Commission that Member State rural development programmes can be used for the benefit of urban agriculture.
· Aqu@teachIntroduction to urban agriculture
Urban agriculture takes many forms. These can range from household, school and community gardens to rooftop and indoor farms. A fundamental distinction is often made between urban agriculture (involving food production in an urban area) and peri-urban agriculture, which occurs on the fringes of cities. In the case of the latter, farming is largely undertaken by professional farmers on land that has often already been used for farming for decades. An urban farm is a part of a local food system where food is cultivated and produced within an urban area, and marketed to consumers predominantly within that urban area.
· Aqu@teachConclusions
While vertical aquaponic systems may increase the number of plants that can be grown per unit of surface area compared with horizontal systems, it is important that they also result in increased yields. From a commercial point of view, the effects of gradients within some types of vertical system on crop value will depend on how the crop is going to be processed and marketed. For example, if lettuce is grown to be sold as individual heads, then the non-uniform productivity of growing towers, living walls and static A-frame systems would be a potential weakness compared with conventional horizontal aquaponic systems or vertical stacked bed systems.
· Aqu@teach