I have written about vertical farming before on this blog. Hence I was interested when I saw a story on CNN this morning. It profiles a Singaporean venture called “Sky Greens” that has been running innovative city farms for a while. Their farms are a little different than the monstrous ones imagined by mainly concept artists and (possibly weird) scientists. They remain quite small to this date and although the CEO of the company has big plans, they don’t seem megalomaniac.
We flew to Okinawa over the new year to escape the (admittedly mild) winter here in Tokyo for a few days. The weather held up to its reputation (we even swam in the ocean!), the beaches were beautiful and the food tasty. Now back in Tokyo, it’s time for me to put up a few pictures of the trip and look back at the first three months of my blogging here.
American military plane in landing approach Continue reading
Writing about Tokyo Art Space and the project’s innovative publishing strategy further established one certainty within me. Digital publishing, media creation, journalism – all that sort of stuff – must be one avenue I am going to explore further for my own professional future. (Note: this blog is partially about finding out what it is that will keep me busy once a six-month stint in Tokyo will be over.)
I like the idea (and experience) of curating information that I am interested in myself and disseminating it via a bunch of channels old and new. Against this backdrop, I have been checking out some recent Kickstarter projects.
After I spent a few years in an oil major, I decided to change jobs and work for the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in London. I was a bit tired of debating and analysing at the macro level, and keen to understand better what drives companies that build stuff. I joined the EBRD’s agribusiness team because it’s a fascinating sector with growing allure for professionals around the world.
One of my entries to the sector (apart from that my dad’s family were farmers) was my fascination with vertical farming. Perhaps because it marries agriculture, urban development and future technology unlike anything else. Imagine vertical farms as greenhouses stacked on top of each other; soil is replaced by a hydroponic solution, the sun by artificial light. The temperature is controlled for optimal growing conditions. Almost nothing is left to chance.
“We’ll have three tons of broccoli ready on the 24th floor in 7 days and 5 hours.”
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