Urban Farming Movement Taking Off in Johannesburg
South Africa’s Small Business Development Department is funding
24 urban hydroponic farms in Johannesburg. The cash comes on the
heels of a successful pilot project run by Nhlanhla Mpati, who created
a hydroponic garden on the balcony of a city heritage building. Mpati,
with some training, planted basil and was able to harvest 10 kilograms
three weeks after planting. Now, he is expanding his garden to about
2,800 plants, including carrots and spinach. “Anything above 2,500-2,600
is sustainable; you can afford to employ two to three people permanently,
and more during harvest and planting—depending on what you’re growing
and how much you get per kilogram,” Mpati says. The 24 new urban farms will
be located within Johannesburg’s inner city as property owners have made
buildings available. Johannesburg has been home to urban farms since 2001.
—businesslive.co.za
Non-Profit Farm Group Benefits
From Crowd Funding for Solar Energy
Mission of Mary, a faith-based urban farming organization,
creates oases of sustainability via five inner-city plots
growing organic produce in economically struggling
East Dayton, OH, communities. The expanding non-profit is installing
a geothermal heating system for its new headquarters. Using solar
to power the building would be perfect but the price tag for solar
panelling is very high. However, Mission of Mary is now on its way to
going solar thanks to RE-volv, a national non-profit organization that
is creating a revolving seed fund to buy solar for more non-profits
in the future. “We were interested in solar from the get-go,”
Mission of Mary farm director Stephen Mackell says. Recently,
the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation said it would match RE-volv
fundraising dollar for dollar for five projects, including Mission of Mary
and a Madison, WI, organization called Project Home, which does energy
efficiency retrofits on lower-income homes.
—energynews.us
Scientists Harvest Vegetables in Antarctic Greenhouse
Scientists at Neumayer III Polar Station harvested their first crop
of hydroponically grown vegetables in Antarctica this April. They
picked eight pounds of salad greens, 18 cucumbers, and 70 radishes.
Representatives at the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum
für Luft- und Raumfahrt, or DLR, in German), which coordinates
the project, say that the Antarctic scientists should have started
harvesting four to five kilograms of fruit and vegetables a week in
May. Aside from providing fresh food for scientists at
the South Pole, the project is designed to help
discover how astronauts could cultivate a wider
range of fresh vegetables on other planets.
—businessinsider.com
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