INSPIRATION-LAB

  The future of food: Why farming is moving indoors By Russell Hotten BBC News, New York Published 23 August 2019 Share IMAGE COPYRIGHT SQUARE ROOTS image caption Tobias Peggs says the fledgling industry is still developing the right business models A car park opposite the infamous New York City housing estate where rapper Jay-Z grew up seems an unlikely place for an agricultural revolution. Ten shipping containers dominate a corner of the Brooklyn parking area, each full of climate control tech, growing herbs that are distributed to local stores on bicycles. This is urban farming at its most literal. The containers are owned by Square Roots, part of America's fast-expanding vertical farming industry, a sector run by many tech entrepreneurs who believe food production is ripe for disruption. The world's best basil reputedly comes from Genoa, Italy. Square Roots grows Genovese seeds in a container that recreates the city's daylight hours, humidity, Co2 levels - and all fed h...

Wild seed collectors turn Indiana Jones in the search for resilient crops More than 370 species were gathered during a six-year mission to widen the gene pool and ensure future food security "Without adaptation, the climate crisis could reduce agricultural production by up to 30% by 2050, according to a report produced by the Global Commission on Adaptation. Breeders want to create new crops that look and taste like domesticated varieties but that are more resilient to drought, flooding and temperature extremes." the guardian