Sky Harvest – Reimagining Sustainable Urban Agriculture
Agriculture needs to be reimagined
Over the past 100 years, the world has experienced an unprecedented phenomenon of urbanization. Currently, about half of the world’s population lives in an urban setting and with present trends, this number is predicted to grow to as much as 70% by 2050. The rate of urbanization is astonishing. 50 years ago, New York City and Tokyo were the only megacities globally. Now, there are 13 mega cities and this trend is only growing. Urbanization has grown into a way many of us choose to live, but it also comes with a range of problems society needs to address to ensure it can be enjoyed sustainable. Farming is a major component needing to be reimagined.
There have been a variety of methods explored that look to minimize the strain mega cities put on the food supply and Sky Harvest has adopted a variety of them. To start off, the transition from irrigable land to an indoor setting is crucial in helping to minimize the carbon footprint of the supply chain. Cities have often relied on importing produce from outside the city borders which comes at a steep environmental impact. To address this, Sky Harvest operates out of a warehouse located in the heart of Vancouver City. This not only capitalizes on pre-existing city space, but it also allows us to further minimize our environmental impact by transporting our microgreens via bicycle to the surrounding communities. Not only does this ensure consumers get the freshest microgreens possible, it ensures the food transportation plate is reduced! A true win-win.
Another core component we utilize is a method known as Vertical Farming. Vertical Farming is the practice of stacking layer upon layer of plants on top of one another to drastically increase the yield per square meter and minimize the space needed to produce a harvest. In addition, Vertical Farming allows a farm to optimize the nutritional requirements for each plant’s
unique needs ensuring the most nutritional and efficient yield is produced.
As the world continues to progress and urbanization becomes an increasing norm it’s clear we need to reimagine how we approach agriculture. Sky Harvest looks to be an industry leader to help cities across Canada reimagine urban farming. Our farm uses less water, grows plants faster, operates year-round and was Canada’s first organic urban farm. Check out our large selection @ https://skyharvest.ca/home/shop/. Sustainability starts with your dinner plate!!