Soilless

Urban Farming

Jeanelle Miller

Soilless Urban Farming: feeding 9 billion from the perspective of abundance

Feeding the World The advent of the industrial-agricultural revolution changed culutral ideas about agriculture and altered the way farms have been managed [13,24]. Brute force and control of nature has become the standard and although it has led to massive increases in production, large-scale degradation of limited water and land resources has been the hidden expense [21,24]. Industrial soil farming has additional negative impacts of greenhouse gas emission, deforestation, desertification, soil erosion, nutrient leeching, loss of biodiversity, water contamination and overuse, and soil and groundwater salinization [13,21,26]. Despite the USs 158% increase in crop production in the past 50 years (from 1948 to 2008) [24], one out of seven of the worlds 7 billion people do not get enough to eat [8,13]. With estimates for the world population increasing to over 9 billion by 2050 [11,32], and estimated required food production increase of 70-100% of today production [11,13], a Malthusian question looms: how can food production increase enough to sustain the population without further degrading limited natural resources? A significant change from historical faming practices is the prevalence of monocultures, or single species/strain crops, that dominate the landscape reducing biodiversity and economic stability of farms [1,15,22]. Monoculture seeds are controlled by monopoly corporations and governments are forced to subsidize and mandate planting times to mitigate the economic market failure [15]. Although crop species are limited, crop production continues to increase, however; the rate of increase is declining each year [11]. The brute force methods of agriculture only produce 1 calorie for every 10 calories of 1

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petroleum products put in and this process is a negative feedback: it takes more work, and more brute force, every year to achieve the same results [8,21]. Increasing crop production 70% would increase use of arable land by 5%, or 70 million ha, most of which would occur in Latin America (some 598 million ha in Brazil alone) and sub-Saharan Africa [11]. Access to currently underutilized arable lands is limited due to lack of infrastructure, lack of water, isolated geography, and the ecological cost of alternative resource depletion in those areas [11]. At present, 36-38% of total arable land worldwide (12% of total land surface) is already used for agriculture and 70% of that land is used to rear cattle [8, 11]. World economies, even those thought of as third world, are climbing the economic ladder and consuming more; demanding more food crops, dairy, fish, and meat, in the process [8,13,24]. Wealth also disproportionately increases the demand for meat [8,13]. In the past 50 years, cattle, sheep, and goats have each increased 150%, pigs 250%, and chickens 450% [13]. Despite the increase, 200 million tons more meat per year will need to be produced in 2050 [11]. Additionally, estimates for future water requirements to feed 9 billion have been low due to the fact that animal husbandry, especially cattle, requires significantly more land and water resources that plant crops [8,11,13]. Only some 15% of world dietary protein consists of wild caught and farm raised fish [12]. Some estimates suggest that over 90% of large fish have already been lost, 80% of wild fisheries are overexploited, virtually all are fully exploited [12,13], and that we may run out of wild caught seafood altogether by 2048 [8]. 47% world fish consumed are raised in aquaculture facilities (an industry growing at 5% per year) but this amount is not enough to alleviate the strain on wild populations [7,8,12]. Similar to agricultural crops, spoilage incurs

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considerable losses from capture to consumption and lack of processing facilities reduces the ability to recycle organic fish wastes [12]. Future agriculture will require significant increases in production but that production is stifled by the distribution system. By 2050, 79% of the worlds population will live in industrialized cities [8]. Cities are linear in that they must import goods and export wastes [7]. 30-40% food is lost to waste worldwide and transportation of the food we eat incurs a loss of 50% of the available energy (in the form of organic solid waste) from the farm to our dinner tables [8,13]. The vegetables available a common city local grocery has traveled an average of 2,000km and the majority of the loss is incurred during this travel or by overconsumption of the consumer [8,11]. In 2050, each person will require 3150 kcal per day to maintain proper nutrition [11]. With current infrastructure, that is a loss of over 30 million calories of food a day. Feeding 9 billion people and alleviating hunger is a large, complex issue. It may even seem overwhelming. This article seeks to describe an innovative solution that is emerging in populations around the globe. Several ancient and current technologies will be described that will outline soilless urban farming as a legitimate and effective method for solving the worlds food security crisis. Sustainable Agriculture US farms are major contributors of greenhouse gases, biodiversity loss, public health issues, and natural resource degradation [27]. Current industrialized practices are economically unstable, increasing farmer susceptibility to resource shortages, market supply and demand, and climate change [27]. Several solutions have been suggested and become popular in collaborative international discussions including; increasing production

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by closing the yield gap, increasing production limit with genetically modified crops, and policy changes encouraging decision making through group collaboration involving public, farmers, policy makers, and institutions [13,27]. There are two perceived pathways to change: incremental and transformative change [24,27]. Incremental change is the more likely scenario as slow adoption and advancement of innovative agriculture is more likely a market and policy issue [27]. The technological advances that make transformative agriculture possible are not the limiting factors, instead; it is the infrastructure and institutions that will require the incremental change to catch up [8,27]. Whatever solutions are suggested, it is apparent that a global, multi-faceted strategy is needed to meet growing food demands without compromising land, water, energy, and fisheries [13]. Sustainable agriculture takes a different perspective than traditional/industrialized solutions. Where industrialized solutions continue to focus on increasing production and spreading out, sustainability focuses on long-range goals that incorporate a triple bottom line [22]. In agriculture, this means ensuring food security and production that meets human needs, environmental and natural resource protection, economic viability of farming procedures and lifestyles, and maintaining or increasing the quality of life for society, farmers, and workers [24,27]. One issue that is becoming apparent is the need for economic flexibility. That is, getting away from industrialized monocultures and supporting several types of crops at the same time and in rotation [15,27]. Following the current path of agricultural production is not sustainable because of the increasing reliance on petrochemicals and the degradation of the soils from increasing production. A solution method that is emerging in several fields is that of biomimicry [1,7,21]. Looking at the production loop of agriculture shows many linear relationships

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with the soil taking the brunt of the abuse [1,21]. Some suggest that modeling agriculture after a forest, or a farm after a tree will lead to a system that is more stable, resilient, and closer to a closed loop with little to no brute force inputs [1,7,21]. This systems approach has led to successes in many less industrialized areas such as Africa where natural push- pull systems can be utilized without advanced technology and reduce the reliance on chemical insecticides [1]. In many ways, developed countries can learn from the innovations utilized in less developed nations as they find solutions even with perceived technological limitations [27] The Urban Farming Movement Perhaps the biggest change that has occurred since the industrial-agricultural revolution is the perception in western culture that small-scale food production cannot produce enough food [7,18]. Urban agriculture has existed for centuries and was the staple of food production before the agricultural revolution [4]. Urban gardening movements have continuously cropped up over the past century. Victory Gardens during WWII helped households produce 40% of US vegetables [3]. The DIY movement, and new ecology movement, in the 1970s ingrained a bohemian bourgeois in US culture that instilled a public desire to live off the land [3,7,8]. Most often, a price hike in produce will invariably result in a resurgence of self-sufficiency and home growing movements [3,4]. Urban agriculture in the United States typically refers to commercial and residential gardening endeavors within metropolitan zoned areas [3]. The global definition includes livestock and fish production but this is not usually included in the US [3]. Urban farms can be as small as a hanging window-farm made out of recycled bottles in and apartment, or as large as a several ha industrial greenhouse [3,7]. In 1991, 33% of US farms were located in

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urban areas producing 35% of all crops and livestock [3]. Additionally, an estimated 25% of urban households in the US participate in gardening, whether aesthetic or food production [3]. In other nations like Asia and Africa, 60-80% of urban dwellers cultivate urban food [3,4]. Utilizing intensive farming methods in urban settings has been shown to produce up to 13 times more per acre than rural farms [3]. Additional benefits include: reduction of transportation costs [3], reduction of losses from processing and transport [8], reduction of GHG emissions from staying local [13,27], increasing pubic awareness of ecological needs, improving inner urban soil quality, reducing erosion, soil leeching, and in some cases remediation of soil contamination [3]. Animal husbandry also allows recycling of organic wastes as feed, and the manure can additionally be recycled into soils to maintain soil health [3]. The personal benefits to growers and consumers are also plentiful and will be addressed in the human aspects section of this article. A current urban agriculture movement in the US is Urban farming [33]. The website and organization are sponsored by larger corporations such as Home Depot and Coca-Cola and several prominent public figures like Snoop Dog and Prince. Urban Farming has helped create and link global distributions of urban farms and bolster urban farming education. Their mission is: to create an abundance of food for people in need by supporting and encouraging the establishment of gardens on unused land and space while increasing diversity, raising awareness for health and wellness, and inspiring and educating youth, adults and seniors to create an economically sustainable system to uplift communities around the globe.

Soilless Urban Farming

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Though urban farming has become increasingly prevalent over the past 20 years, resistance to the movement stems from skepticism, lack of government and policy support, lack of financing, and fear of human health risks [3,4,18] Risks of Urban Farming Two main human health concerns dominate the arguments against the growth and development of urban farming [10]. These concerns are for chemical contaminants and diseases and include: illness from use of improperly or untreated human and animal wastes as fertilizers, contamination of foods from heavy metals in soil, air, or water, air pollution absorption into foods, pollution from industrial sites, hospitals, roadways, and municipal wastes, and increased zoonotic diseases [3,10]. Additionally, the use of petrochemicals, fungicides, and pesticides in the confined urban farm areas, where farming is typically more intensive, could impact human health directly and environmental health through runoff and air pollution [3,10]. Although many urban farmers avoid use of chemicals, there are no regulations and limited ability to safely discard unused products and treat runoff [3]. Urban waste compost has long been suspected as a human health risk [6]. The compost contains high levels of heavy metals and retains certain bacteria and fungi that pose some risk to human health. Ingestion of the compost itself, mostly by children or on unwashed vegetables, can be a direct pathway for disease. Contaminants may build up in soils over generations causing issues in the future, but at present there is little data to prove the soils can contaminate foods or the air (through dust) in amounts significant enough to negatively impact human health. Areas with contaminated soils can, and have, been used to grow crops [3,10]. Managing the soil with additives like mulches and

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composting, and only planting crops that have low uptake of heavy metals have been shown to reduce the risk of contamination of food crops [10]. In other instances, the contaminated soil can be capped and produce can be grown on top with filler soils intended for vegetable production [3]. Wastewater reuse in agriculture has been argued as a key solution to the water resource crisis, however; pharmaceuticals and heavy metals that are not removed during treatment can have adverse affects on crops, animals, and human health [23]. Although research hasnt definitively proven all the dangers associated with growing crops in urban soils, it is wise to know the history of the lot and how the soil has been treated before the soil is put to use for agricultural production. Urban farmers should check the history of the land and be wary of industrial use, gasoline and petroleum products exposure, cleaning solution exposure, older paint sloughing from buildings, and scrap recycling. Lead from gas and older paints can remain in the soils as well as carcinogens and mutagens from older cleaning solutions that were left out as a means of disposal. If there is concern, soils should be tested. Urban livestock husbandry mostly meets with complaints of noise, odor, and sanitation, however; space limitations provide pathways for pathogenic diseases both species-specific and zoonotic [10]. Close conditions can cause rampant spread of disease among animals but also encourages the mutation of pathogens. Zoonotic diseases like brucellosis can be transmitted animal to animal or from unpasteurized milk. The pathogen is highly infectious and can affect many species including cows, goats, sheep, swine, dogs, mice, humans, and even marine mammals. Flu viruses like the 1918 flu pandemic, avian flu, and swine flu are all suspected to have mutated from animals living in close proximity to

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their human keepers. Animal husbandry can affect human health through sanitation issues and zoonotic disease, however; livestock is more strictly regulated within urban areas and in many cases the animal population densities that cause disease cannot be attained within city limits. Techno-Innovation: Soilless Farming There are three staples of soilless farming: hydroponics, aeroponics, and aquaponics [7,8]. Hydroponics utilizes a simple flood/drain system where plants are grown in a bed of expanded clay or suspended in net pots. The water cycles by repeatedly flooding and draining the grow beds with water from a reservoir. The reservoir is monitored for nutrient content, and nutrients are added as needed as plants absorb them through their roots during the flood stage. This method is 70% more efficient than soil farming and can eight times as productive than intensive urban soil farming. Aeroponics adds to the hydroponic method. The water from the reservoir is piped through misters that are located below the plants suspended in net pots. This simple change increases water efficiency to 90%. That is, 10% of the water that would be used in soil agriculture to produce the same amount of vegetables. Aquaponics in turn combines hydroponics and aquaculture utilizing fish aquaculture as the water reservoir and the source of nutrients for the plants. The plants act as a natural filter for the water that returns to the aquaculture tanks. Soilless farming uses less space and industrial farms, does not leech nutrients from soil, does not decrease biodiversity, nor increase deforestation [7,8,26]. There is a social stigma of hydroponics being only used by marijuana growers however; soilless farming is at the forefront of advancing agricultural technology and aquaponic growing utilizes an

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entirely different ideology that encompasses sustainability beyond that of sustainable soil agriculture goals. Aquaponics follows a closed loop production cycle modeled on nature [7,26]. That is, the system is designed to be as close to an interdependent ecosystem as possible. Nature is modular, efficient, and follows power law distributions [8]. Janine Benyus book Biomimicry describes the essence of what modeling human systems after nature entails with these short verses: Nature runs on sunlight. Nature uses only the energy it needs. Nature fits form to function. Nature recycles everything. Nature rewards cooperation. Nature banks on diversity. Nature demands local expertise. Nature curbs excess from within. Nature taps the power of limits. In soilless farming, there inputs as with every agricultural technique [7,26]. Put simply, these inputs are: nutrients, energy, and water. Aquaponics seeks to reduce these inputs while increasing the outputs [26]. Nutrient inputs are reduced by the fish waste providing nutrients for the plants, and plant wastes and dead fish providing food for vermiculture or flies, which are in turn fed to the fish. Utilizing solar power and growing in greenhouses with no artificial lighting or indoors with LED lighting can reduce energy inputs. Other energy sources that could be utilized are Biochar reactors and hydropower

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micro-turbines. Water consumption is already reduced due to the increase in efficiency from soil agriculture and can be increased further by rainwater collection or greywater reuse [7,8,26]. Production itself can output several products depending on the complexity of the system. A study in Basil found that the conversion of the rooftop of one parking garage into an aquaponics farm could fully feed 100 people for an entire year [7]. In such a system, 1 kilo of harvestable fish can produce 50 kilos of harvestable vegetables [26]. Although fish comprise a small portion of the global human meat consumption, they are one of the most efficient converters of energy to protein [12,26]. Increasing fish production could reduce the strain on the environment that larger livestock impart. Aquaponic farms can additionally grow food for terrestrial livestock in the form of fodder [7]. Fodder is wheat or barley that has been started for 6-8 days. The started greens, seeds, and roots form a complete, nutrient rich diet for cattle, birds, rabbits, and many other ruminant species. Studies have shown that feeding fodder increases overall animal health and fecundity. Limitations of arable land in future agriculture puts a strain on the competition between livestock crops, human food production, and biofuel crops [11,22]. Incorporating fodder into aquaponics can therefor reduce land competition for livestock feed. Another technology that comes into play with soilless farming is the advent of vertical growing. Vertical farming maximizes food production in limited space [7,8]. There are numerous types of vertical growing from planted soil walls, hanging bottles that cascade into each other, and articulated horizontal beds that rotate along a vertical column such as those designed by Sky Greens, the worlds first commercial vertical farm located in Singapore [29]. Aquaponic farming combined with aeroponic farming in addition to

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vertical growing has the potential to provide meat and produce while using less than 10% of the water used in traditional agriculture [7,8]. 1 indoor farm can produce the same amount as 10-20 acres of soil farms. Productivity of the systems is 20% more than rural soil farming. Indoor farms additionally produce year-round instead of seasonally [7,26]. Vertical farms can be modular and scalable to location. A closed system modeled after nature (biomimicry) can offer a cradle to cradle system where brute force is not necessary because the system recycles itself with very little human input and is virtually disease free thereby requiring no insecticides or petrochemicals [1,7,8,21,26]. Vertical farms also have the potential to create shared value and follow a triple bottom line paradigm, which is imperative to spreading the ideology of sustainable development [25,26]. A shortcoming of the vertical farming movement is the idea that vertical farms need to be built from scratch like the facility in Thailand [25]. These single facilities large enough to feed entire cities can cost millions of dollars [7]. There are several ways to incorporate vertical aquaculture utilizing existing structures [8,26]. Vertical grow beds could be installed above aquaculture facilities that are already established. Fish do not require much sunlight and can even get sunburned (which weakens the immune system and can lead to major losses from infection of bacteria and fungi in the wounds if they are exposed to too much direct light). Instead of shading, aquaculture facilities can grow food for human consumption thereby creating a second marketable output product or food for fish (insects, vermiculture, greens, duckweed) thereby reducing their internal costs [13,26]. Aquaculture facilities also spend a significant amount of resources and energy on water filtration both for recirculation and remediation

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of effluents, these expenses could be eliminated altogether by utilizing the natural filtration capabilities of food crops [12,13]. Recycling fish waste in water and the unmarketable fish and fish byproducts themselves could become a source of revenue instead of expense with the addition of hydroponic beds and vermiculture. Another option for vertical aquaponic facilities is vacant land and buildings. The United States Government Accountability Office estimated that there were 10 million vacant properties in 2010 (an average increase of 51% over the past 10 years). Government sponsored enterprises paid over $953 million for unmaintained properties while local governments paid additional millions for maintenance and/or demolition. These vacant buildings invite crime, risk public safety, lower income from property taxes needed to maintain the properties, reduce the value and aesthetics of the surrounding area, and decrease the moral of the surrounding communities [30,31]. Many cities have initiated programs to reduce the blight of vacant properties. Solutions range in scale and definition but most focus on the burden of the buildings and land as revenue sinks and attempt to promote re-use of the areas for community benefit to some extent [30]. The scalability of vertical aquaponics makes the technology a perfect fit for vacant lots of any size. Farm: store in London converted a small shop sandwiched between a nail salon and an aged center, into a closed loop aquaponics farm showcase shop with public meeting space, educational outreach, and a restaurant [26]. Renovating unused buildings and lands for community benefits such as local food security does more than just lift some of the burden off natural resources. These businesses can perform many public services, and contribute to public and personal health. The Human Aspect

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Wendell Berrys essay in the book Moral Ground, depicted a hyper-individualized world where of people did not interact with their neighbors, people had 50% fewer friends than their parents generation, and farmers markets inspired ten times more conversations than grocery stores [5]. The human mind desires a tribe size of about 150 individuals [8]. In a hyper-individualized world, the mind fills the gaps with Television personalities and fictional characters, forming fake relationships to fill the void of real relationships [8]. Urban gardens, especially community gardens, help individuals connect with each other and form bonds. Gardening additionally increases mental health, motor skills, and stress-reduction [3] The presence of an urban garden influences the community as well. A community garden bolsters community organization and leadership. Gardens give low-income regions a sense of place and pride and urbanites green-space and relaxation. Local gardens give residents what has been dubbed, a third-place [9]. If home is the first-place, and work is the second-place, then the place people go to hang out and relax is what defines the third-place. Access to these so-called third-places has been shown to reduce crime, and give individuals purpose, unity, and sense of belonging [20]. A testing ground in Haiti turned a crime-ridden slum into a clean, friendly community just by adding a community business and renovating space to gather in. The renovation movement has been born from community sustainability [9]. In many suburban areas there is a severe lack of a third place. Suburbia and small towns are built around the framework of family homes but with the decline of the baby boomer generation, fewer families are living in family oriented communities. Generation X and generation Y suburbanites desire city accommodations, restaurants, bars, and other social gathering places, but live in suburbs or

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small towns. An urban garden can act as a third-place while at the same time improving physical and mental health and, similar to farmers markets, inspire more conversations. On the economic end of the spectrum, individuals have been utilizing home gardens for generations to supplement household income and reduce expenditures around the globe [4]. Community gardens or urban farms that supply more than just a single family are also breeding grounds for new business models incorporating community sustainability [26]. Economic hardship can serve to bond a community together but also makes traditional methods of business structure more difficult [2,16]. Stagnated economic growth often leads to a lack of entrepreneurs, a lack of funding, and an inability of historical business practices to compete within uneven regional growth [17,19]. In economically stagnatedeconomically stagnant communitiesies, businesses must adapt to thetheir environments. Johnstone and Lionais (2004) suggest that businesses in depleted towns should take on a new business model that focuses on community business entrepreneurship. Business must innovate and measure profit and benefit for the overall community instead of the individual. Community business differs from social entrepreneurship in that businesses are not solving a social problem but are instead providing a needed service to the community in a new way. Urban farms are a service and a community program. Providing local green-space and fresh produce can reciprocate community support. Management of community farms can support the ideas of community sustainability through bottom-up emergent management, and the requirement and incorporation of traditional or local ecological knowledge [14,16]. This emergent behavior allows incorporation without political/definitional barriers. Summary

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The industrial/agricultural revolution has succeeded in continuously increasing crop production. However, the rate of increase is slowing down and the brute force petrochemical stimulation is advancing every year. Monoculture crops of plants and animals cover almost 40% of the worlds available arable land. Increasing crop production by decreasing the yield gap and increasing production yield altogether with genetically modified crops will still require significant increases in arable land use in order to double production by 2050. Industrial soil farming has degraded natural recourses through deforestation, desertification, loss of biodiversity, soil erosion, nutrient leeching, water over-use and contamination, greenhouse gas emissions, and a continued reliance on fossil fuels. Any increase in production or land use could threaten soils and ecosystems. The rising demand for meat will also compete for land, water, and feed crops. Fisheries are also being depleted and some suggest that aquaculture will be the only source of quality fish by 2050. Both fish and plant crops loose significant amounts of product to organic solid waste from transportation, lack of processing facilities, and over-purchasing without consuming. Sustainable agriculture does not focus solely on increasing production. Sustainability movements focus on long-range goals and a triple bottom line. Future sustainable agriculture seeks to ensure food security and production that meets human needs, protect the environmental and natural resources, and improve economic viability and resilience of farming procedures and lifestyles. Additionally, sustainable agriculture focuses on a human dynamic, seeking to increase the quality of life of society, farmers, and workers. Biomimicry, or a natural systems approach, has been suggested by several fields as a method of managing and modeling resilient agricultural systems.

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Urban farming encompasses the growing of food or livestock within metropolitan zoned boundaries. Urban farming has existed for centuries and movements often resurface when economic shifts raise the price of food staples. In some countries, 60-80% of urban dwellers cultivate urban crops. During WWII, 40% of US vegetables were grown in the backyards of US citizens and currently, 35% of US produce and livestock are grown in urban areas. Urban farms utilize intensive growing techniques that can be 13 times more productive than industrial soil farming in rural areas. Resistance to urban farming stems from skepticism at production levels, lack of government and policy support, lack of financing, and fear of human health risks. Contaminants and zoonotic disease dominate the concerns over human health risks from urban farming. There is very little data that contaminants from municipal waste composts can adversely affect human health through vegetables or the act of gardening. The history of urban soils themselves should be studied before crops are grown. Contaminated soils can still be used for crop production and soil remediation if care is taken. Zoonotic diseases can be prevalent in tight confines and large numbers of livestock animals. These conditions can also influence the mutation of pathogens to become zoonotic. However, urban regulations typically limit the numbers and kinds of livestock that can be kept in urban areas thereby reducing the frequency of this risk. Hydroponics, aeroponics, and aquaponics are the technological staples of soilless farming. Hydroponics is 70% more efficient and 8 times more productive than soil farming. Aeroponics in turn uses only 10% of the water that would be used in soil farming to produce an equivalent crop. Aquaponics, the melding of aquaculture and hydroponics, utilizes a biomimicry closed-loop system to increase output and number of outputs while

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reducing inputs. In these systems, 1 kilo of fish can produce 50 kilos of vegetables, a single rooftop aquaponics system above a parking garage can feed 100 people for a year, and production is up to 20 times that of rural soil farms. Vertical farms propose to combine soilless farming techniques while limiting growing space. Although these facilities can be built from scratch, the scalable nature of soilless farming allows the installation of vertical farms anywhere. Current aquaculture facilities and vacant and abandoned lots and homes could reduce expenditures and bring in revenue by housing vertical farms. Urban gardens promote human health physically, mentally, and communally. Gardening space provides communities with a third-place to hang out and take pride in. Community management of gardens offers a more robust and sustainable business structure during economic hardship. These community business structures can reduce crime, increase home value, and bond a community building real, and lasting relationships. Soilless farming provides a unique, transformational framework for future agriculture. Current and recent projects have shown that aquaponics and vertical farms can provide communities with substantial amounts of food with less energy and nutrient expenditures. Local food security through vertical soilless farming additionally reduces fossil fuel reliance, greenhouse gas emissions, deforestation, soil erosion, natural resource use, land use, water use, wastes, and additionally reduces the 2050 world crop production goal because there is less loss from processing, shipping, and marketing. Soilless farming systems go beyond the goals of sustainable soil agriculture and provide communities with many health benefits and something those individuals can take pride in. These farms can help produce more food, with less land, less natural resource degradation, and they can do it, all from citizens backyards or abandoned buildings.

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Soilless Urban Farming References

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1. Benyus, J.M. (1997). Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature. New York, HarperCollins Publishers. 2. Bernard, T. (2010). Hope and Hard Times. Gabriola Island, New Society Publishers. 3. Brown, K. H., & Jameton, a L. (2000). Public health implications or urban agriculture. Journal of public health policy, 21(1), 2039. 4. Bryld, E. (2003). Potentials , problems , and policy implications for urban agriculture in developing countries, 7986. 5. Berry, W., (2011). A Promise Made in Love, Awe, and Fear. Yes Because We Love The World. In Moore, K.D., & Nelson, M.P, (Eds.), Moral Ground: (pp. 387-389). San Antonio, Trinity University Press. 6. Dportes, I., Benoit-Guyod, J. L., & Zmirou, D. (1995). Hazard to man and the environment posed by the use of urban waste compost: a review. The Science of the total environment, 172(2-3), 19722. 7. Despommier, D. (2010). The Vertical Farm: Feeding The World in the 21st Century. New York, Thomas Dunne Books. 8. Diamandis, P.H., & Kotler, S. (2012). Abundance: The Future Is Better Than You Think. New York, Free Press. 9. Dunham-Jones, E. (2010). Retrofitting Suburbia. Retrieved 2/14/2013 from: http://www.ted.com/talks/ellen_dunham_jones_retrofitting_suburbia.html 10. Flynn, K. (1999). An Ov erview of Public Health and Urban Agriculture: Water , Soil and Crop Contam ination & Emerging U rban Zoonoses.

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11. Food and Agriculutre Organization of the United Nations. (2009). How to Feed the World 2050. 12. Frid, C. L. J., & Paramor, O. a. L. (2012). Feeding the world: what role for fisheries? ICES Journal of Marine Science, 69(2), 145150. doi:10.1093/icesjms/fsr207 13. Godfray, H. C. J., Beddington, J. R., Crute, I. R., Haddad, L., Lawrence, D., Muir, J. F., Pretty, J., et al. (2010). Food security: the challenge of feeding 9 billion people. Science (New York, N.Y.), 327(5967), 8128. doi:10.1126/science.1185383 14. Hawken, P., Lovins, A. & Lovins, L.H. (1999). Natural Captialism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution. New York, Hatchette Book Group. 15. Holt-Gimenez, E. (2009). From Food Crisis to Food Sovereignty The Challenge of Social Movements. Monthly Review, 142156. 16. James, S. & Lahti, T. (2004). The Natural Step for Communities: How Cities and Towns can Change to Sustainable Practices. Gabriola Island, New Society Publishers. 17. Johnstone, H. & Lionais, D. (2004). Depleted Communities and Community Business Entrepreneurship: Revaluing Space Through Place. Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, 16, 217-233. 18. Kaufman, J., & Bailkey, M. (2000). Farming Inside Cities: Entrepreneurial Urban Agriculture in the United States. 19. Kilkenny, M., Nalbarte, L., & Besser, T., (1999). Reciprocated Community Support and Small Town Small Business Success. Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, 11, 231-246. 20. Laurence, D. (director) of Challenge Your World. Reflections from Haiti: CASCAF. Retrieved 2/10/2013 from

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http://www.webpages.uidaho.edu/sustainability/casestudies/case_study- reflections_from_haiti.html 21. McDonough, W., & Braungart, M. (2002). Cradle to Cradle: Remaking The Way We Make Things. New York, North Point Press. 22. Munier, N. (2005). Introduction to Sustainability: Road to a Better Future. Dordrecht, Springer. 23. Muoz, I., Gmez-Ramos, M. J., Agera, A., Fernndez-Alba, A. R., Garca-Reyes, J. F., & Molina-Daz, A. (2009). Chemical evaluation of contaminants in wastewater effluents and the environmental risk of reusing effluents in agriculture. TrAC Trends in Analytical Chemistry, 28(6), 676694. doi:10.1016/j.trac.2009.03.007 24. National Research Council. (2010). Toward Sustainable Agricultural Systems in the 21st Century. The National Academies, Washington, DC. Washington, DC. 25. Porter, M.E. & Kramer, M.R. (2011). Creating Shared Value. Harvard Business Review, 65, 62-77. 26. Price, C. (2011). Aquaponics: getting more out of less. TED Talks X Warwick. Retrieved 4/3/13 from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nIL9hWW3-Q 27. Reganold, J. P., Batie, S. S., Harwood, R. R., Kornegay, J. L., Bucks, D., Flora, C. B., Hanson, J. C., et al. (n.d.). Transforming U . S . Agriculture, 910. 28. Rosling, H. (2006). Debunking Myths About The Third World. Retrieved from http://www.gapminder.org 29. Sky Greens. Retrieved from: http://skygreens.appsfly.com/home on 4/13/2013. 30. United States Conference of Mayors. (2008). Vacant and Abandoned Properties: Survey and Best Practices.

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31. United States Government Accountability Office. (2011). GAO-12-34. 32. United Nations Population Division. (2009). World Population to Exceed 9 Billion by 2050. Press release: 3/1/2009. 33. Urban Farming. Retrieved from: http://UrbanFarming.org 4/12/2013.

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