APRIL Film: Vertical Farming — Feeding the Cities of Tomorrow

Growing produce hydroponically, without soil, may be the future of agriculture.  Plants grow on trays stacked 30 feet high, or more, or in columns. Farmers practice vertical farming both outdoors in giant, tall green houses, and indoors, using artificial LED light. Entrepreneurs are investing in this advance around the world. Companies are beginning to scale up, but have yet to prove it can be commercially successful on a large scale. One such company, Spreads, is negotiating coming to Walnut Creek.

Will this be the way we feed the cities of tomorrow? Some advantages are:

– Vertical Farming does not require acres of arable land,

– It can be done in urban areas, close to the consumers — avoiding transportation costs and pollution, and delivering fresher food, and

– Vertical Farming can be done with 1/10th the amount of water, in a shorter time, and without pesticides.

One such enterprise has its retail store on the first floor. Some have their employees wear what look a bit like hazmat suits.

After the one-hour film, a local farmer/teacher, Shawn Seufert, will share his experiences and answer questions. The event is another opportunity to pickup a free Sustainable Rossmoor raffle ticket prize drawing in the afternoon of April 25th.

Trailer: http://youtu.be/BAZInHlE5og

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SHAWN SEUFERT will be sharing his experiences teaching middle school and high school students Vertical Farming on Wednesday, April 10 at 8 pm in Peacock Hall immediately after a 7 pm movie on the same subject. He is known as Farmer Shawn in the the Mt. Diablo High School Sustainable Hospitality Program which focuses on the science of food through culinary, hydroponics and nutrition education.

He works with Cindy Gershen. Together, they are doing amazing work in one of the lowest income schools in the San Francisco Bay Area. The senior class focuses on Career Technical Education through such topics as farm-to-table and farm-to-cafeteria with hands-on experience in the process of planting, growing and harvesting produce and entrepreneurship through catering.

Farmer Shawn is a full-time faculty member. Shawn teaches young people about the full growing cycle of plant life from the science of soil to harvest, storage and food prep, as well as some of the business aspects of agriculture, including how to influence crop yields, reduce water needs, etc.

He owned and managed his family’s farm in Pleasanton for many years. Now he teaches gardening outdoors in soil, as well as hydroponics indoors using twenty soil-free garden towers.

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