One couldn’t say that the concept of vertical farming isn’t controversial, but they could say that it has serious merits that need to be considered on both sides of the issues.

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What is a vertical farm?  The basic premise, as you see in this image, is to be able to grow food in urban areas by creating tall buildings where, instead of each floor having offices, each floor is in essence its own super greenhouse, where different crops can be grown to feed people within its own community.  The idea is to not only be able to feed the community, but to protect the land that’s being damaged by over-farming and making sure that there will still be enough food for an ever growing population.

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Of course, not all designs would be the same, but this model of a design for the city of Seattle helps us to see how it would work.  It’s integrated into a city plan so that it fits in, and has areas where people can go inside to not only tend to the plants, but could actually buy their produce at the same time.

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Thinking of vertical farm in terms of super stores fits a model like this one, where the ground floor has everything a traditional supermarket would have,

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While upper levels would contain areas for growing produce.  This particular example tries to highlight how power might be created for all the energy needed to grow crops in urban areas, as the designs for vertical farming wouldn’t be able to provide natural light for all of the crops, so they’d need enhancement from artificial lighting.  It’s one of the major criticisms of trying to have vertical farms.

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As you can see from this image of what the inside of the vertical farm in Seattle might look like, not only are there people who tend to the plants, and in some cases can pick their own produce, but it’s a place of beauty and tranquility that many in urban areas have to leave the city to enjoy.

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In a city like New York, for instance, one could see a design like this in either lower or upper Manhattan, where they have dense populations and no land areas to grow their own products, making it expensive to get produce into the city.

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This is another design for the Roosevelt Island area of New York City, built not only to be productive, and not only to help generate its own energy with a combination of solar and wind power, but can also be a popular meeting place in the city, with a supermarket, restaurant, and even kind of a virtual indoor park in the middle of the city.

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This design was made for the city of Toronto, and was estimated to be able to feed around 35,000 people a year.  It would be a 58 stories high, becoming the fourth highest building in the city if made, but it’s design is still sleek enough to fit in with the culture of the city.  And,

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this gives us an idea of how the builders see different products being produced on the different levels.

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In this design for a city like Dubai, where fresh water isn’t as readily available, seawater is sued to cool the greenhouse and also create humidity, which not only helps the plants grow, but then produces more fresh water that can be used for not only the crops, but if produced in significant amounts could be used for the city’s water supply.

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The initial testing of the vertical farm system is already in place in a much different way.  One test is in El Paso, TX, where above you see how this type of farming concentrates certain types of plants close together, yet requires less water and needs almost no fertilizer for the crops to grow.

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Another real test is presently going on at Paignton Zoo in the United Kingdom, where they’re trying to cut the zoo’s overall costs by growing their own produce.  Both of the last two examples are outside, yet they still qualify as vertical farms because the idea is growing produce in limited space, not expanding space.

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Could you imagine a city like Las Vegas, which is not only landlocked but also has no true vegetation growing around it for hundreds of miles, being able to grow their own produce in a building like this one, which was designed as a prototype for them?  This design could easily capture enough sunlight, though there would still have to be modifications to keep the temperatures down, especially in summer months.

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Not all urban areas are the same around the world, however.  Vertical can still take up a lot of area, and as this image shows, it can be a planned community where everything is self contained and the farm can be a mixture of internal and external, as well as retaining certain elements of a culture.

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This was an idea for a vertical farm in Vancouver, which was drawn up in 2003.  This idea even comes with a plan for a grazing plain and a dairy farm, right in the city.  The energy for it would come from wind turbines and geothermal heat pumps.

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There are no end to the types of designs that vertical farms could be.  This is another one for Dubai, this time in the middle of the city, being powered by wind turbines and, once again, creating its own water.

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This one, the pyramid vertical farm, is a favorite of the guy who helped come up with the concept, Dickson Despommier, a professor of environmental health sciences and microbiology at Columbia University.  It’s not only a vertical farm, but a tourist attraction as well as a peaceful park of sorts.

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Something like this, a proposal that won 3rd place in an international competition, is the concept of an actual farming community right within the confines of a large city, in this instance Manhattan once again, where residents who would normally inhabit the city still live there, but share the space with farmers on alternate levels around the city.

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Even designs like this could be used, where, instead of taking over land that could be used for residential or commercial space, one could build vertical farms right into the waterways, where they would still be a popular attraction.

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If cities needed to be redesigned to fit a changing environment, a design like this one for the city of San Francisco would not only be environmentally friendly, but this one is estimated to be able to feed over 7 million people.

The world of vertical farming could offer so much to the world as it concerns food, the environment, and our living space issues, as its estimated that we could have as many as 9 billion people on the planet by 2050.  It will take a lot of planning, and a lot of energy, but if most of these buildings can be somewhat self energy sufficient, vertical farming could be viable within a relatively short period of time.

There are so many careers involved with Agriculture, unlike the common stereotype of everyone becoming a farmer with a degree in Agriculture. Farming is a big part of an agricultural degree, however there is so much more involved than meets the eye.

In Agriculture, you can get jobs within sales, management, managing accounts payable, doing scouting, or taking soil samples. The pay is generally very good in this field of work, depending on experience.

One can also become a technician in weed research, to assist with developing new ways to eliminate weeds more safely and effectively. You may also work in the field of seed and crop research, as a technician of researching the best ways to grow crops faster and more effectively.

Agricultural companies may also hire you on the basis of being a farm safety hazard inspector. Here, you will visit farms to ensure proper safety procedures are put in place, understood, and reinforced. One may also obtain work in Poultry Feed Sales, Dairy Feed Sales, Hatchery Operations Coordinator, Broiler Breeder Farm Assistant, and Broiler Breeder Farm Manager. Of course the salaries range here, but usually pay quite competitively.

Crop farming is a very popular career in the field of agriculture. Crop farming typically involves the extensive cultivation of vegetation and plants to yield feed for farm animals, food for humans, or fiber for the production of medicine or other industrial ingredients. Jobs within crop farming can involve research associates for a particular crop, such as cotton or corn, for example. Roles here may include everything from field operations, collection of data, and field scouting to repairing the necessary vehicles and farm equipment. Crop farming may also involve roles such as a testing operations manager, where you may be in charge of organizing, planting, measuring, harvesting and recording information on new experimental crop varieties and advanced breeding.

Within the dairy farming sector of Agriculture, there are also a wide variety of available roles. It isn’t like people usually assume, where all you’ll be doing is herding cattle or milking them. Roles can include animal nutrition experts, where you research and implement proper diet for cows.Within that field of animal nutrition comes sales consultants, and management jobs as well. One may also be a dairy herdsman manager, in which you will closely supervise the employees milking, herding, and caring for cattle. In this position, you will also work closely with veterinarians as you would be responsible for scheduling vaccinations, monitoring the cattle’s health, and when they get sick or injured you would be responsible for monitoring their treatments.

With a certificate or degree in agriculture you could also become a plant manager, in which you will be in charge of an entire plant which manufactures anything related to agriculture. The possibilities are endless, and as you can see, there’s so much more to do than planting and harvesting crops and milking cows!

In recent years, an increasing amount of media and consumer attention has been paid to not just what kinds of food we eat, but where the food we eat comes from and how it is produced. The result has been the soaring popularity of organic and free range foods. But what do these terms mean, what’s the difference between them, and which should you prefer?

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The organic label refers to certain production standards: restriction on the use of pesticides, insecticides, and herbicides and rejection of the routine use of antibiotics and growth hormones for livestock. In the U.S., foods must be “certified” organic which means that food producers are held to certain standards of the National Organic Program—part of the United States Department of Agriculture. Many people prefer organic foods out of health or environmental concerns because organic farms produce less potentially hazardous waste and foods are thought to be lower in pesticides and growth hormones which may impact human health.

Free range means something very different than organic. It refers to the raising of livestock in which animals are allowed to roam more freely. This often is contrasted to “factory-farming” in which animals are housed in small confined enclosures and rarely allowed to walk, run, exercise and sometimes even to lay down. Because free range refers to how livestock are treated, only meats, eggs, and milk—not fruits or vegetables—can be free range.

Consumers tend to be interested in free range foods, not just because of environmental or health benefits, but also out of concern for the humane treatment of the animals. Unfortunately there is not much oversight on this worldwise, as seen by the USDA about requirements for free range meats, dairy, and eggs. You can see here, for instance, a visual comparison between “factory-farmed” and free range chicken enclosures.

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Both the organic and free range industries are currently in high demand and consumers are likely to become even more interested in the future. Job opportunities are likely to increase in the coming decades as more farmers, meat-packers, and local food vendors will be needed to keep up with ever increasing consumer demand.

There are many different types of farms to be found in the United Kingdom, from mom and pop roadside stands to large industrial farms. Agricultural and dairy are the most important from the standpoint of resources as well as income. Here are some of the largest farms in the UK, what they produce, and how to find them.

Ireland’s Carrowreagh Farm, located near Dundonald on the outskirts of Belfast, is split into three smaller farms: Carrowreagh (the main farm), Reynolds, and Glenmoore. Spring calving and grazing of milking cows is done at Carrowreagh, autumn calving cows are held at Reynolds, and Glenmoore holds the beef cows. Each small farm has a different feeding system as well; Carrowreagh has silos, designed to be self feed, in a number of cubicle houses. For the autumn through winter seasons, Reynolds uses diet feeders, which are connected to a meal bin mounted on an RSJ; this makes refilling easier.

Rhug Estate Organic Farms, in Wales,is one of the largest farms in the country.In addition, its agricultural property has been in the hands of the same tenants for a number of years. It covers 1050 hectares, or 2,600 acres of land. Not only does it grow its own vegetables and raise its own livestock, it has a restaurant , a small grocery store, and a butcher shop on the premises. The farm “grows green”, which includes such practices as growing food for their animals, then plowing the unused crops under to provide nutrition for the soil later in the year.

The Co-operative Farms, located throughout the UK, is the largest farm in the UK. Like Rhug Estate, they also practice organic and “green” farming, using a minimum of pesticides and practicing crop rotation. They also encourage biodiversity by only trimming their hedges every couple of years (thus providing a habitat for local birds) and planting native deciduous trees.

In general, all of these farms are able to meet the needs of any client, and a couple even cater to individuals as well as companies. Contacting them is the first step; these are an excellent way to find supplies for one’s business.

We all believe that the job we do is the hardest, most stressful, difficult etc, etc.   Well I for one wouldn’t want to sit under this much bull everyday!!!!  Can any of you top that?

I managed to catch the second episode of Jimmy Doherty’s Farming Hereos this week and I must say the content was not what I had expected.  I had antiscipated organic, niche and top range products only.  Whilst we would all love to be buying the very best on a daily basis, let’s face it most of us have to compromise as the budget just wont stretch that far.

I was very pleasantly suprised by the realistic and balanced approach taken by Jimmy, his relaxed style of presentation conveyed a very important message about the reality of farming in 2008.

With the renewed interest in where our food comes from and how it is produced which has been spearheaded most recently by Jamie Oliver and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, the farming industries need heroes to project a more positive image of farming.

Do you think he’s doing a good job?

Well done Jimmy, you are one of my hereos.  http://www.jimmysfarm.com/