Panasonic enters the vertical farm race + green infrastructure's many faces

Singapore may be the global leader in vertical farming companies.  With precious little land available for farming, they've had to look up or continue importing their food. Panasonic has jumped into the fray, hoping to add "agriculture to their potential growth portfolio." Could this be the start of something big in the industry?

-A county government in Kenya has recruited a private company to set-up aquaponics projects in five cities to increase jobs for youth and food production.

-Solutions for Change has earned itself even more cash, $1 million dollars, to expand aquaponics program to provide 1.6 million servings of greens. These folks know how to raise cash!!!

-Talk about comprehensive, take a look at this article (on all of the links!!!) about the strategies, tools and role parks (especially those in and near Los Angeles) can play in combating climate change.

-Utne magazine proposes that another form of green infrastructure, trails, are the new town square and farms have the potential to be agritourism destinations.  

-Tacoma's food forest is 6 months old. Here's an update on how it is coming along. I love how the adults are keenly focused on the trees, the baby is staring right into the camera.

Urban farming under gun fire

Urban farming for refugees in Syria is a risky, but necessary part of daily life. Two facts from the article really stand out to me, first that farming on rooftops is often done under the threat of snipers (!) and secondly that some refugees picked up farming techniques from youtube.

-Washington State is making people who want to keep small livestock take a certification class, I think they're the first state to do this. Smart. Urban agriculture is likely to cost the city extra money for animal control services (rounding up loose or abandoned animals), so this makes a lot of sense. 

-On the east coast a $1.5 million dollar federal grant awarded to Virginia State University will go to refurbish an old building and turn it into an urban agriculture hub featuring both aquaponic and hydroponic systems. 

-Here's a school aquaponics facility which hopes to add snails to its offerings.

-When Land8 talks about urban agriculture it seems to happen in spurts. Two weeks ago they published a helpful 10 principle article for creating food-producing landscapes and then a follow up article which delves into the challenges of urban agriculture.

-As practitioners know permaculture can mean many things. Here's how one group makes it synonymous with activism.

-A rise in community activism and pressure on governments to scale back and save money in the face of declining revenues has led to more do-it-yourself groups. The trend is taking off in San Francisco and Vancouver as residents help build mini-public parks using their own tools and ultimately time and money.

Schools start the New Year with urban agriculture announcements

Late December normally brings cold, snow and a slow GILA newscycle. 2013 was no different, but there were a some interesting discoveries over the last couple of weeks. And kids in three cities will be very happy when they come back after the winter break.

-To start things off, the Toronto Star covered the massive, urban agriculture rooftop at Eastdale Collegiate. You heard about it first here on Living Architecture Daily because we were part of the team! Hopefully the story takes Toronto by storm in the spring, a write-up on Christmas feels like the story could be buried a bit...but it's so incredible I am sure that it will resonate across Canada, and the world, for decades to come.

-Not to be outdone a school in New York will have a $1.2 million hydroponic garden on its roof this year. 

-Everyone one of the 31 schools in the Delta school district will have an urban agriculture installation by the end of the year, reports the Vancouver Sun. Wow!!!

-Edmonds Community College is the first college in North America to offer an urban agriculture degree (plus six certificates) focused on learning to grow, develop and manage urban agriculture systems and businesses for local markets and clients. The first quarter starts today!

-The last few years have been dominated by aquaponics. Before that hydroponics was the biggest "ponic" and once upon a time there aeroponics inspired the imagination. Could it be back?

New Jersey Adopts Horticultural Therapy Resolution + World's Largest Vertical Farm

If you're in St. Louis or Washington State there are a couple of ways to make your voices heard to support living architecture/green infrastructure in your cities.

Write to your legislators to support Bill 228 (in St. Louis, to incentivize urban agriculture) and call (1-800-562-6000) in Washington State to support a much bigger measure, $100 million in general obligation bonds. The latter seems to be, at least partially, inspired by Seattle's green infrastructure successes.
One more piece of legislation to consider supporting. Texas House Bill 1306 would reduce the amount of property tax a homeowner would have to pay if they engaged in urban agriculture.

-Speaking of legislation, one already adopted is the most comprehensive Horticultural Therapy Resolution (by New Jersey) to date. What does it mean? I am not sure, but perhaps a funding stream for horticultural therapy projects? We can only hope!

-The biggest news of the week (in my book) is the first Canadian school (and, I think, North American...correct me if I am wrong) to get an working urban farm! In a unique partnership between the school board and local not for profit, the kids have a place to learn about farming and get some fresh food!

-In the winter I passed through Chicago's O'Hare airport and had no idea something so cool was growing there. A demonstration vertical farm, almost 1000 square feet of aeroponics, provides herbs and vegetables for three airport restaurants.
Chicago also will boast the world's largest vertical farm...for now. 90,000 square feet on Chicago's South Side!

-What do you get when "The Plant" meets "Plantagon"? A lovely vertical farming facility where Manchurians are treated to a venture that educates communities about sustainable food production. 

Horticultural Therapy Conference starts tomorrow

The American Horticultural Therapy Association's Annual Conference, in Olympia, Washington starts tomorrow and continues through October 7. 

State of the green roof movement in North America

In light of recent discussions in Toronto and Montreal, I thought that we could take a look at the state of the green roof movement around the world, starting with North America. In about a year we'll take a look at the list again to see what has changed. 

My rating system:

*** = green roof guru

** = green roof supporter

* = green roof newbie

Feel free to let me know your thoughts!

Austin - 

In the Southern United States Austin has been a true green roof pioneer. Starting with a white paper jointly produced by their water protection, conservation and planning departments in 2007, they have experienced slow, but constant growth. Incentives are offered in Austin for the installation of green roofs, however not in the form of direct grants. They still have three more years left in their implementation plan, so I would say the future looks bright in Austin. Although their current mayor is up for re-election. And we all know how important political support for your cause is. 

**

Chattanooga -

Talk about late breaking news, on Monday came the first signs they will begin offering credits to developers.

*
Chicago - 

What can you say about Chicago? It's green roof cred is rock solid. In 2001 Mayor Daley jumps in, sedums a' blazin', and they haven't looked back.

Don’t get me wrong, it would be great if they still gave cash incentives, let’’s hope they do with Rahm Emmanuel at the helm. Ahhm...Rahm?

**1/2

DC -

Get your cash!!! One of the latest big cities to join the party, they offer a very generous $5/square foot, up from $3. Let’s hope in 3 years time it jumps to $8. We can hope, can’t we?

**1/2

Louisville - 

We've got some good signs coming from Louisville. Last fall incentives for developers were agreed to, which is a great start.

*

Milwaukee -

Since 2003 Milwaukee has steadily increased support for green roof (and of course, urban agriculture). Tom Barrett is your man with a plan, but with his entry into the gubernatorial race, if he wins, what happens in Milwaukee?

**

Minneapolis -

Add a green roof and you can receive up to a 50 percent credit (aka reduction) in your stormwater utility fee. Sweet!

**

New York City -

After a comparatively slow start, New York City has gotten serious about green roofs and green infrastructure quickly. A comprehensive green infrastructure plan and $187 million dollars over the next three years with perhaps $2 billion more over 20 years speaks volumes.

The green roof tax abatement is up for renewal this year, but I feel good about its extension considering the city is building “green” playgrounds now and the mayor put a green roof on his foundation. 

***

Philadelphia - 

In 2010 Philadelphia began offering a tax credit for businesses willing to install a green roof, great move!

**

Portland - 

The city is synonymous with green and for good measure. Their program started in 2008 and has been going strong since, installing over 100,000 square feet in 2011 alone! 

**1/2

Seattle -

It appears Seattle had an incentive program back in 2007. Then in 2009 changes were made to Seattle's building code opening the door for developers to get credit for installing green roofs. Then the green roof momentum slowed. Not sure what is happening now. 

*1/2

And last but not least, one small but committed municipality...a 30-45 minute drive from the centre of Vancouver, Port Coquitlam has it’s very own green roof bylaw. 

**

Two green infrastructure/ living architecture (GILA!) words of the week

-More on the practice of countries buying agricultural land abroad and global food security. This really is a hot topic.

-San Diego city council is firmly behind urban agriculture. Let the goat keeping begin.

-In a couple of articles this week I saw attempts to expand the definition of green infrastructure. Trees are a quintessential (read: budget threatened) example.
I think most people would agree rain gardens are already seen as such. Urban agriculture, not yet, but if adopted city wide (a definite possibility in New York City in a few years), it would be hard to argue against it.

-A double dose: two living architecture/green infrastructure words of the week: regenerative cities and way finding. Yes, things can get wacky in February!

Urban Ag Tax Incentives in MD.

-"Where’s the food security when foods representing more than 70% of our diet—the bulk of what we eat” come from across the world?

In 2008 the Appalachian Staple Foods Collaborative (APFC) was formed, dedicated to building a replicable system for regional staple foods. Recently they opened a processing facility called the Shagbark Seed and Mill Co. As the collaborative grew, they discovered that growing staples is relatively easy; harvesting and processing them into dry beans, milled flour, or pressed oils, and then transporting and storing those foods is the complicated part, requiring investment in infrastructure and equipment.
Here's a short video and for the full shebang, get this month's Permaculture Activist.



-House Bill 1062 was introduced last week in the House of Delegates Ways and Means Committee that would allow for local jurisdictions to give tax exemptions to landowners for
urban agriculture use!

-The Kiwanis Club in Olympia, Washington grows vegetables for the local Food Bank. Not just a little, 24,000 pounds last year. With another 13,000 square feet planned, they are going full tilt.

-Ever wanted to find a good permaculture podcast? How about a really good one? How about 25 exceptional ones?

verticiel on the air + west coast living architecture crawl

I should probably have a weekly post featuring all the cool things cities have planned. But first tune in to the Green Majority radio show (CIUT 89.5 FM) Friday, February 12 at 10:30 am as verticiel Inc. drops by to talk about green roofs and Toronto's new Green Roof Bylaw.

On to the west coast, last week the City of Seattle proclaimed 2010 "Year of Urban Agriculture". Looks like they have a slew of activities planned so far.

On to Portland, where we get a primer on where to get urban agriculture and permaculture supplies.

Further south in San Fran, in two weeks the American Institute of Architects, San Francisco chapter (AIA San Francisco) will present an exhibition highlighting vertical gardens in all their splendor.

There's a call for papersfrom the Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development (JAFSCD) focusing on best practices in urban and peri-urban agriculture. Up to 2,500 words so don't get verbose!

And last but not least, we'll head to the mountains to spotlight Green Roofs Utah. I'll have to introduce myself, like a good neighbor should!