US (DC): Transforming vacant buildings to urban farms
District-level food justice efforts commissioned by First Lady Michelle Obama target the neighborhood, but Robinson sensed a void—her community needed a multi-functional pillar to address more than nutrition. With its 3,000 square foot (914.4 square meters) greenhouse, Locals tackles four problems—food insecurity, job training, feedback loops between climate change and traditional farming, and vacant buildings in city centers.
Three years ago, while a college student in Syracuse, Robinson built a small garden out of reclaimed construction materials in the basement of her apartment building. After graduating as a bioengineering and entrepreneurship major, Robinson returned to the Northeast side to transform a vacant building into the first of what she hopes will be many vertical urban farms in D.C.
By renovating empty urban spaces, Locals boosts the area’s economic stability. The proprietary aquaponics design yields eighty-percent more produce per unit of area than traditional field farming, while using no soil and ninety-percent less land and water.
Read more at Food Tank