Singapore’s 1st rooftop farm aims to supply produce to F&B outlets
Vegetables, heirloom tomatoes, Italian basil, spearmint and peppermint are among the crops that will be harvested from Singapore’s first commercial rooftop farm run by social enterprise Comcrop, and the aim is to supply them to hotels and food and beverage outlets. Already, the company has sent product samples to 20 F&B establishments to drum up interest.
Speaking during a visit to the farm by Minister for National Development Khaw Boon Wan yesterday, Comcrop Chief Executive Allan Lim, who is also co-founder of biodiesel company Alpha Biofuels, said the company is attempting to tap the potential of “marginal land”, which is land traditionally not used for farming, for commercial farming.
Mr Keith Loh, who develops sales and marketing strategies for Comcrop, said the system adds value to land already being used. “This vertical system allows us to grow eight to 10 times the amount of conventional flat land, soil-based farming,” he said. “Because we are using aquaponics, the plants have access to an abundance of nutrients.”
The 6,000 sq ft farm began as a test-bed outside the National Youth Council Academy, before Comcrop struck a partnership with *SCAPE to move the test-bed to the building’s roof last June.
The crops are planted in rows on pipes stacked on top of one another. The pipes draw water from tanks filled with living tilapia fishes, mimicking a freshwater lake ecosystem where by-products from fishes are broken down and absorbed as nutrients by the plants.
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