Seoul City Hall

If you haven't seen Seoul City Hall, a magnificent building shrouded in verdant green walls, you should...

-An interesting article posits if recent disasters and new trade deals, could be the death knell for farming in Japan. What do you think?

-How do production rates for those shipping container gardens compare to traditional horizontal farms? One company was kind enough to share some data and an interesting discussion opened up in the comment section.

World Water Week - Starts August 24

-Just around the corner is World Water Week. Of course with droughts in California and elsewhere water security and scarcity, is now top of mind.
The UN FAO released a report examining the importance of water to global food security, it's definitely worth your time.

-Look at the bones for what will be a very interesting "green canopy", part roof, part wall in Texas.

 Toronto's Centre for Addiction and Mental Health has a wonderful new horticultural therapy program.

-Egypt has launched a green rooftop fund, the first roofs covered were the Education and Scientific Ministries. This is the second big piece of news from Egypt in the last year.

-Pittsburgh is supporting green roofs too, they are offering $250,000 to 17 projects for their green commitment.

-Here's a tremendous resource if you'd like to get create an educational food landscape at your school!

-So many South Koreans are leaving the cities to farm in the country there is a name for them: guinong. NPR delivers the audio goods once again.

-How do you record ever tree in a city? New York has recruited volunteers and they have mapped nearly 100,000 trees in 3 months!

-Okay, it's not the World's first farm to table community, as the article would suggest, but these Californians have dreamed big and deserve applause.

Vertical farming in Japan

You may remember my pronouncement a while back how I wouldn't comment on concepts because they are simply artwork until someone puts numbers behind how to make it reality.
Covering Toronto's Gardiner Expressway with a green roof to resemble New York's Highline, was one of those fanciful ideas which got people talking, but seemed far from realistic. And it still is. Especially when you consider the first part of the equation, fixing the Gardiner has gone from $500 million to $950 million in four years.
Now a top bureaucrat is agreeing with some people who think the Gardiner should be torn down. If nothing else, I think we can all agree the Gardiner will never be topped with a green roof.

-Next door the City of Mississauga will add a storm water discharge fee to the bills of building owners to help rebuild their infrastructure.

-Back to Toronto, for a second, how cool would it be if they had a provision, like they do in Seoul, that if you get rebates, public funds to subsidize your green roof or wall, that it must be publicly accessible? Seoul has spent over $57 million in public funds greening their city and has a really big project up their sleeves, look out for their Seoul Skygarden in 2017. It's supposed to be like...wait for it...the Highline!

-In terms of ideas, here are a couple I really like. A team of Chicago entrepreneurs are hoping to lease rooftops to grow veggies. Let's see if they are able to do it, because no one has done it successfully yet. Of greater promise, I think, is leasing parking lot space for these pop-up farms. Maybe even stacking them a several stories high to maximize the space.

-In Japan this semi-conductor company has entered the vertical farming race and found a niche market for their lettuces, growing low potassium lettuces for those with kidney problems. That's a smaller version of their system up above.

-I'll round out with the best news of the week. France now has a ban on supermarket food waste. All surplus food must be donated to charities or used for animal feed!

Sturgeon in aquaponics + horticultural therapy in South Korea

The aquaponics industry is still relatively new, we don't know which plants and animals will prosper. That's why it's encouraging to see new experimentation with new flora and fauna. Last week
Vancouver Island University's Nanaimo campus unveiled a demonstration aquaponics system featuring sturgeon. Will using a cold water fish help drives prices down, as it would take less energy to heat the tanks? Stay tuned.

-If you'll allow me to take a quick detour from the regular proceedings, I just have to highlight Vox's amazing "40 maps which explain America and its relationship to food".

-Last week gave me another first. It's the first time I've seen horticultural therapy mentioned in southeast Asia. I figured that there were programs there, but often trends in North America are given different names and no one knows what's going on until the dots are connected. In Seoul it appears horticultural therapy is called "professional garden therapy".
By the way, the new American horticultural therapy journal is now in print.

-The folks at Falling Fruit are chugging along with their tremendously useful worldwide foraging guide...the database has grown a lot since we last checked in. There are now over 500,000 sites listed!
Milwaukee can add a few trees to the website as Growing Power got a 4,000 fruit tree donation to spread among vacant city lots.

-Santa Fe Community College has become the first institution to offer an accredited rainwater harvesting course.

-San Francisco has a new Urban Agriculture Incentive Zone Ordinance that will allow land owners to take advantage of a property tax break when they allow a parcel of land to be used for agriculture and educational purposes. Wow! This could go a long way to literally changing San Francisco's landscape as program participants must "guarantee the land will stay in agricultural use only (it can’t be on land with a house for example) for at least 10 years".

-This is turning into an epic post! How about a little permaculture news? One of the first Greek permaculture design course is taking place right now. And if you would like to live the permaculture experience a 100 acres Chinese permaculture community is looking for practitioners and community members.

-Last but not least is exciting news that two Johannesburg academics have started a multi-stakeholder engagement project that hopes to create opportunities for urban agriculture. The Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Deputy Minister recently said the sector could create 1 million jobs over the next 16 years, perhaps this will be the model for future urban agriculture projects.

HTA members will continue to receive digital versions of the Journal of Therapeutic Horticulture at no cost as a member benefit; however, those who prefer to read JTH as a printed document now have the ability to purchase a print version of the publication. The current edition is already available. This change in publishing policy is the direct result of feedback received during 2013's Membership Satisfaction survey.
AHTA members, as well as non-members, may now purchase a printed version of JTH through Amazon or Createspace, which is a publishing arm of Amazon. AHTA members may order the printed Journal at a significant discount (up to 90%) when they use Createspace.com through use of a promotional code. The promotional code can be found on the AHTA Members' Welcome page.
At present, AHTA is only able to offer the latest edition of the Journal through Createspace; however print editions of JTH are still available through AHTA for most years between 1996 and 2010. These Journals are also still available via the online ordering system found on the Publications page on the AHTA website.
The cost for purchasing a print edition of  JTH is $25.00 per issue for non-members. Members are able to purchase printed editions at cost, which will fluctuate based on the number of pages per issue but is expected to be approximately $5.00 (plus shipping) per edition.
To order a printed copy of the current issue of the Journal of Therapeutic Horticulture, visit the AHTA Members' Welcome page to access the Member Discount Code. Log on to www.createspace.com; click the Site dropdown and select Store. Enter 'AHTA' in the Search field and the current issue will be available. The AHTA discounted price will not appear until you checkout using the Members Only code. Once the purchase is completed, the issue will be mailed to you within 8-10 days. While the Journal is also available on Amazon.com, the “Members Only” discount cannot be used on that site. The discount is only available on the CreateSpace.com site.
For more inform
- See more at: http://ahta.org/news/journal-therapeutic-horticulture-now-available-print#sthash.Izaf0Xlc.dpuf

t is among the oldest living species on the planet, but researchers say sturgeon may be a key to future food security.
International Centre for Sturgeon Studies staff members unveiled a demonstration aquaponics system at Vancouver Island University's Nanaimo campus Friday.
It's a variation of hydroponic, or water-borne, growing that replaces chemical fertilizers with fish waste to nourish plants.
At VIU healthy chives, Swiss chard, lettuce, basil, cress and even quinoa grow on waste water from tanks containing the 250-million-year-old, living dinosaurs.
Visitors dined on a lunch of salads from the vegetables, served alongside grilled sturgeon steaks - all grown from the same system.
"This is the first time anybody has combined sturgeon, a coolwater fish, with aquaponics on this scale," said Don Tillapaugh, centre director.
The system provides a more immediate return on investment after someone pours money into a commercial fish farming (aquaculture) operation, boosting an investor's cash flow.
Tiny microbes release nutrients for plants to easily absorb.
"Studies have shown plants can grow up to 30 per cent faster, as compared to hydroponics."
"In aquaculture, it takes two to three years. .. where you don't have any cash flow. With aquaponics, you can get a head of lettuce in three weeks."
The goal now is to move toward commercial food production.
The VIU program, in existence since 1979, is reaching out to its extensive network of industry contacts.
"The project is to develop scientific information to allow entrepreneurs to decide whether sturgeon farming or aquaponics is a business for them," Tillapaugh said. "It's about food production, not fish production."
DBellaart@nanaimodailyn
- See more at: http://www.nanaimodailynews.com/news/viu-researchers-say-sturgeon-could-hold-the-key-to-future-food-security-in-the-world-1.1129681#sthash.t9PIxH3V.dpuf

t is among the oldest living species on the planet, but researchers say sturgeon may be a key to future food security.
International Centre for Sturgeon Studies staff members unveiled a demonstration aquaponics system at Vancouver Island University's Nanaimo campus Friday.
It's a variation of hydroponic, or water-borne, growing that replaces chemical fertilizers with fish waste to nourish plants.
At VIU healthy chives, Swiss chard, lettuce, basil, cress and even quinoa grow on waste water from tanks containing the 250-million-year-old, living dinosaurs.
Visitors dined on a lunch of salads from the vegetables, served alongside grilled sturgeon steaks - all grown from the same system.
"This is the first time anybody has combined sturgeon, a coolwater fish, with aquaponics on this scale," said Don Tillapaugh, centre director.
The system provides a more immediate return on investment after someone pours money into a commercial fish farming (aquaculture) operation, boosting an investor's cash flow.
Tiny microbes release nutrients for plants to easily absorb.
"Studies have shown plants can grow up to 30 per cent faster, as compared to hydroponics."
"In aquaculture, it takes two to three years. .. where you don't have any cash flow. With aquaponics, you can get a head of lettuce in three weeks."
The goal now is to move toward commercial food production.
The VIU program, in existence since 1979, is reaching out to its extensive network of industry contacts.
"The project is to develop scientific information to allow entrepreneurs to decide whether sturgeon farming or aquaponics is a business for them," Tillapaugh said. "It's about food production, not fish production."
DBellaart@nanaimodailyn
- See more at: http://www.nanaimodailynews.com/news/viu-researchers-say-sturgeon-could-hold-the-key-to-future-food-security-in-the-world-1.1129681#sthash.t9PIxH3V.dpuf

t is among the oldest living species on the planet, but researchers say sturgeon may be a key to future food security.
International Centre for Sturgeon Studies staff members unveiled a demonstration aquaponics system at Vancouver Island University's Nanaimo campus Friday.
It's a variation of hydroponic, or water-borne, growing that replaces chemical fertilizers with fish waste to nourish plants.
At VIU healthy chives, Swiss chard, lettuce, basil, cress and even quinoa grow on waste water from tanks containing the 250-million-year-old, living dinosaurs.
Visitors dined on a lunch of salads from the vegetables, served alongside grilled sturgeon steaks - all grown from the same system.
"This is the first time anybody has combined sturgeon, a coolwater fish, with aquaponics on this scale," said Don Tillapaugh, centre director.
The system provides a more immediate return on investment after someone pours money into a commercial fish farming (aquaculture) operation, boosting an investor's cash flow.
Tiny microbes release nutrients for plants to easily absorb.
"Studies have shown plants can grow up to 30 per cent faster, as compared to hydroponics."
"In aquaculture, it takes two to three years. .. where you don't have any cash flow. With aquaponics, you can get a head of lettuce in three weeks."
The goal now is to move toward commercial food production.
The VIU program, in existence since 1979, is reaching out to its extensive network of industry contacts.
"The project is to develop scientific information to allow entrepreneurs to decide whether sturgeon farming or aquaponics is a business for them," Tillapaugh said. "It's about food production, not fish production."
DBellaart@nanaimodailyn
- See more at: http://www.nanaimodailynews.com/news/viu-researchers-say-sturgeon-could-hold-the-key-to-future-food-security-in-the-world-1.1129681#sthash.t9PIxH3V.dpuf

World Cup green roofs - Group H

The last group, Group H, is no slouch. Belgium looks complicated and simple at the same time, Algeria...might as well be invisible? Korea very glitzy and Russia is not showing much!

Belgium

Algeria






Russia

Korea Republic

Green roof lesson plans

South Korea is making a push to become the world's urban agriculture hub.  Buoyed by over $2 million in funding, they hope a 12 fold increase will spur innovation and development.

-$2 million is a nice chunk of change, but that won't allow South Korea to win the coveted title with some cities, like Montreal, trying their darndest to make urban agriculture part of their brand.

-Following up on last week's PBS special on green infrastructure comes a lesson plan for teachers to help their students get the most out of the video. If that's not enough, here are even more lesson plans.