Urban Agriculture Summit 2.48

THE URBAN AGRICULTURE SUMMIT

The steering committee have after careful considerations decided to postpone the Global Urban Agriculture Summit and dates are still to be confirmed. It is also decided, due to content reasons, that the GUAS 2014 will be in Stockholm instead of Linköping, giving all participants a larger palette of opportunities and a greater overall experience.
We will shortly initiate communication regarding the set up for GUAS 2014. We gratefully accept any input on either the set up or the content and we will keep you updated accordingly.

Looking forward seeing you in Stockholm!

Programs, speakers and more info will follow.

There is a need for new solutions for producing food inside cities, in order to avoid long transports and emissions, but also due to the lack of arable land near the cities. There is a need for solutions that can use the emissions and waste of the city in a sustainable way, like CO2 spillage heat, grey water, etc. We also see a need for a new type of organization and a new way to own and operate a company that is better adapted to the demands and need of today's and tomorrow’s business world, an organization that is transparent and takes greater responsibility, yet is profitable.

WHAT IS URBAN AGRICULTURE AND WHY?

Recently the UN estimated that the Earth’s population will increase by 40 percent and exceed 9 billion people by the year 2050. Simultaneously 80 percent of the population will live in cities. With traditional farming practices and consumption patterns, the Earth’s arable land will soon not be sufficient to produce enough food for the growing population.

The increased urban sprawl along with the densification of the cities will create logistic as well as food security problems. As the cities are expanding, farms are pushed even further away from the population centers. As a result, longer transportation routes, increased reliance on petroleum-based fertilizers and more high intensity monoculture farming will be required.

In response to these challenges, Plantagon has developed one practical solution; an efficient vertical greenhouse for the urban environment. The Plantagon Greenhouse cut costs and emissions from the transportations by delivering directly to the consumers, hence creating a positive carbon footprint.

The Plantagon Greenhouse can be integrated into an existing or a new infrastructure to increase the efficiency regarding the use of water, waste and energy. The greenhouse will deliver fresh high-quality food directly to consumers.

The core of Plantagon’s solution for a vertical greenhouse is a spiral shaped transport mechanism that slowly moves thousands of planting boxes downwards as the plants grow. The concept is simple and appealing: fresh, ecological and cheap vegetables directly to the consumers.


WHO DOES PLANTAGON TAKE THIS INITIATIVE?

Plantagon International is active in the sector urban agriculture and is a global innovation leader in vertical farming. Plantagon's vertical greenhouse minimizes the need for energy, water and pesticides. The negative environmental impact of the greenhouses is very low, and since the products are delivered directly to consumers in the city, the transportation costs are also minimized. The concept is simple and appealing: fresh vegetables delivered daily directly to urban consumers.
No middle hands, no yesterday's food.

We have chosen Linköping as the site for our first project since the municipality, the local power plant and the university are leading in industrial ecology development.

We develop a symbiotic industrial system, which will transform spillage, waste products and CO2 into commercial
viable goods.

This thinking requires new forms of cooperation, new business models and eventually new organizational models. Will we really change the consumer behavior? Will we as consumers accept food that we may perceive as ”unnatural”?

But equally important is the creative cooperation between the academic community, business and society with the common goal of forming transformative projects that will create what we need.

We need to work together for creating a joint platform for technological, political market-driven development. It is our true belief that I we do not succeed in this, we will not be able to feed the mega-cities of tomorrow.

As Plantagon has the opportunity to facilitate such a platform, it is our responsibility to do so. That is why.