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Vancouver Plans a Farm Atop a Parking Garage


Read More: http://designinghealthycommunities.o...arking-garage/

Generally speaking, there’s not much on top of parking garages except cars. But in downtown Vancouver, B.C., a parking garage will host a high-density “VertiCrop” farming structure, the first in North America. Valcent Products has signed an agreement with the garage owners to build the 6,000-square-foot vertical farm, which will feature 12-foot-high stacks of growing trays on motorized conveyors that will ferry plants around to be watered, to catch the sun and, finally, to be harvested.

The array will produce about the same amount of produce as 16 acres of California fields, according to Christopher Ng, chief operating officer of Valcent. Ng says the patented technology was developed to grow food naturally in bustling urban environments and represents a paradigm shift in farming and food production — providing up to 20 times the yield of normal field crops, while using only 8% of the water typically required for soil farming. The company says the structure is designed to grow healthy, leafy green vegetables in closed loop and controlled environments, eliminating the need for harmful herbicides and pesticides, while maximizing taste, nutrition and food value.

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