Greenhouse Village, Agroparks, Floating farm, Geothermal energy, Polydome, ECOFERM Circular Farm, Seafarming, Innovation

1. New ideas for feeding cities in 2030
Jan de Wilt
Innovation Manager
Ministry of Economic Affairs
The Netherlands
Stockholm, 10th
October 2016

2. Content
 Challenges in global food production
 (Peri-) urban farming: the next level
 New ideas and concepts
 Closing remarks

3. 3
 Develop groundbreaking innovations
in food production
 Foundation with own board
 Main Funder: Ministry of Economic
Affairs
 6 program managers
 Budget € 3.0 million per year
 Evaluation every 5 years
InnovationNetwork (2000-2016)

4. 4
2050

5. 5
Challenge for future food production
How to feed
the urban population
around the world
in a sustainable way?

6. Combine harvesters in rye field, USA

7. Deforestation Salinisation
Soil erosion
Degradation of natural environment

8. Drought
Pests Floods
Natural disasters reduce production

9. Available space for food production
(m2 per person)

10. Land needed for food production

11. Meat consumption 1960-2002

12. 12
Growth of megacities

13. Increasing food miles

14. 14
“Food deserts” isolate citizens
from healthy food

15. Drivers for (peri-) urban food
production
 Providing fresh and healthy food
 Reducing transport
 Connecting consumers and producers
 Local employment and income for poor
 Utilising unused space
 Education
 Social cohesion

16. Havana, Cuba
Detroit, US
Examples of (peri-urban) agriculture

17. 17
Brooklyn Grange, New York City
Rooftop farming

18. Supermarket with organic rooftop
gardens Greenpoint, Brooklyn, NYC

19. (Peri-) urban farming: the next level
 Optimal production of safe food
 Optimal use of space
 Efficient use of resources (waste recycling)
 Connection to urban metabolism
 Contained, closed loop farming
 Climate and water independent
 Year round production
 Additional services (energy, clean water)

20.  Area: ca. 10.000 ha
 Located near mainports and cities
 0,5% of Dutch land surface
 Production value: € 5 billion per year
 50% of production value of agriculture
 10% of national resources of natural gas
used for heating and CO2 supply
Dutch greenhouse sector

21. 21
 Control of growth factors
 Extension of growth season
 Exotic products
 Control of pests and pollutants
 Control of predators
 Highly efficient use of resources
Characteristics of greenhouses

22. Greenhouse Village
Purification
Energy
from biogas
Drinking water
Cooling and
heating
Waste
treatment

23. Heating
Electricity
Drinking water
Nutrients
Nitrogen in water
Use of general utilities
% of standard use in greenhouses and houses

24. Spatial configurations
Integration
Co-existence
Separation
Greenhouse:
Buildings:

25. The Hague
Rotterdam
Greenhouses near Rotterdam

26. Clusters
of intensive agricultural sectors
with industrial sectors
in urbanised areas
which recycle waste products
inside the cluster
 Industrial ecology
Agroparks

27. CO2
Heat
Manure NPK
Biogas
ElectricityElectricity
CO2
Feed NPK
Pigs
Horticulture
Arable
farming
Biogas
NPK
Residues
Digester
Material flows in agropark
Heat

28. Agropark in Rotterdam Harbour
(proposal)
Artists’ impression

29. Glass Pyramid design (Amsterdam)

30. Agriport A7
380 ha greenhouses, 400 in preparation
40 independent CHP units
180 MW of power, heat and CO2

31. Datacenter Microsoft in Agriport A7
 Reduced risk of electricity breakdown
 Use of redundant heat by the greenhouses
 Possibility of cooling by water reservoirs greenhouses

32. New developments
in the Dutch greenhouse sector
 Use of urban metabolic waste (CO2, heat)
 Geo-thermic energy
 LED-lighting

33. CO2 pipeline
for horticulture

34. Geothermal heating of greenhouses
1,5-2,5 km deep, 200 m3/hr
Temperature gradient: 3 degrees C per 100 m

35. Drilling unit

36. 36
Number of installations and heat produced

37. Philips Grow Wise (opened July 2015)

39. Caliber Biotherapeutics
Texas, US

40. 40
Fresh Garden Mall, South Korea

41. Aerofarm concept

42. 42
Area of solar panels needed for LED

43. 43
Polydome: High Performance
Polyculture Systems

44.  Greenhouse
 Self-maintaining ecosystem
 Without fertilizers and pesticides
 Mostly perennial crops (fruits, vegetables)
 Animals (chicken, fish, bees)
 High value niche products for local markets
Key-elements of Polydome

45. 45

46. 46
First experiments: starting small

47. 47
Advantages of aquaponics
 No fertilizer or chemicals
 No disposal of toxic fish waste
 90% less water used
 Reduction of fish species depletion
 Little space necessary
 Insensitive to flooding, drought, soil
problems

49. 49
ECOFERM – The circular farm

50. product protein content yield (t dm/ha) protein production (t/ha)
soy bean 40% 2,5 1,0
rape seed 25% 3 0,8
sunflower 23% 3 0,7
peas 22% 4,5 1,0
beans 28% 4 1,1
lupins 35% 2,5 0,9
grass 12% 12,5 1,5
lucerne 19% 13 2,5
sugar beet leaves 12% 4,5 0,5
micro-algae 50% 15 7,5
duckweed 30% 25 7,5
wheat 11% 10 1,1
Protein sources: yield/ha

51. ECOFERM Circular Farm, Uddel

52. 52
Duckweed
Greenhouse

53. Results ECOFERM
 85% reduction in NH3 emission
 35% reduction in CH4 emission
 Selfsuffiency of 107% in electricity
 Heat supply to nearby farm
 Duckweed meets feed safety
regulations
 Savings in cost of manure disposal,
feedstock supply, energy requirement,
greenhouses gas emissions
 High investment costs

54. Floating Farm

56. 56
Seafarming

57. 57
Seafarming in windparks

58. Ring of wind parks in the North Sea
Design: OMA Architects, 2009

59. Diversification in food production systems
 high tech - low tech
 small scale - large scale
 rural - (peri-)urban
 land – sea
From linear to circular systems
Change diets to products lower in food chain
How to feed the urban population
around the world in a sustainable
way?