Singapore: Next-gen farming concepts on show
On show until Oct 31, it is the fifth in URA's Urban Lab exhibition series, which started in 2015.
Dr Koh Poh Koon, Senior Minister of State for National Development and Trade and Industry, who launched the exhibition, said the world needs to produce an increasing amount of food in an increasingly challenging environment affected by factors like urbanisation and climate change. On top of that, Singapore is faced with challenges like land scarcity and high labour costs.
"If our farmers can continue to take bold steps to innovate and push the envelope, Singapore will not only be able to strengthen our own food security, but also contribute to global food security by exporting food and farming technologies to help with other countries' food security needs," he added.
One featured farm is Sustenir Agriculture, located in a Sembawang industrial building. It features many levels of vegetable-growing spaces, with precisely controlled lighting and other conditions that can grow vegetables in half the time of traditional farming, and with 95 per cent less water.
Its kale-growing room smacks of science fiction, with a lurid purple pink glow from the combination of red and blue LED lights optimal for the growth of that crop.
Not too long ago, Sustenir chief executive Benjamin Swan, 36, could not be further from being a farmer. He was an engineer and project manager involved in the development of Marina Bay Sands, and spent a few years helping two major banks in Singapore revamp their banking systems.
But one evening in 2012, he was on the MRT when he read an article posted on Facebook about vertical farming, and it set off a "light bulb".
Read more at The Straits Times (Lin Yangchen)