High-level methods for urban farming include hydroponics, aquaponics, aeroponics, and using artificial light. Hydroponics grows plants without soil by placing roots in nutrient-rich water or clay granules. Aquaponics combines hydroponics with fish farming, where the fish waste fertilizes the plants and the plants clean the water. Aeroponics uses mist as the water and nutrient source. Artificial light can provide plants with the specific wavelengths they need for photosynthesis. These controlled-environment farming methods allow for year-round production and use resources efficiently for applications in urban areas and other isolated places.

1. URBAN FARMING
High-tech methods for urban farming

2. High-tech methods
• Biosphere experiment
• Hydroponics (geoponics)
• Aquaponics
• Aeroponics
• Usage of artificial light
• Fungus farming/yeast extract
• Algae farming
• Other, nonurban usages

3. Biosphere experiment I.
• 1985-2007, USA, Arizona Biosphere 2 (Biosphere 1 is the Earth itself).
• An absolutely closed (hermetically) system, nothing can get in or
come out, excepting sunlight and heat.
• The initiation came originally from space research.
• Main purpose: creating such spaceships, or space stations, which can
produce the necessary oxigen and food for the crew.Even nowadays,
the food and the oxigen must be delivered onto orbit, which has a
huge cost.There is almost infinite amount energy up there (solar
energy) thus such biosphere systems would be extremely suitable.
• Problem: it did no work.
• First „mission” 1991-1993: food production was quite efficient, its
rate could be increased in second year. The health levels of humans
increased. BUT: the cosystem collapsed, vertebrates and pollinating
insects died out. The oxygen level lowered (20% ->14%), the carbon-
dioxide level extremely fluctuated. Oxygen addition was necessary.

4. Biosphere experiment II.

5. Biosphere experiment III.

6. Biosphere experiment IV.

7. Biosphere experiment V.

8. Biosphere experiment VI.

9. Biosphere experiment VII.
• Conclusions: the system was too small. Carbon dioxide fluctuation
came from the daily dark and light change.
• From our point of view: food production could be excellently done,
although some outer material adding (oxygen) was inevitable.
• Humans health was improved despite the general environmental
decay (not so promising).
• On a small enclosed space the necessary food production is possible
by adding only minor outer materials and a lot of energy.
• Possibilities of improvement: adding sunlight lamps by night (it is real
in space, and half of the Earth is always enlightened).
• Using purely water ecosystems (red algae) and using seafood
production. There is no drought, nutrition and gas suppleycan be
controlled more easily.
• It can be compared by fungus/yeast farming.

10. Hydroponics I.
• Agriculture without soil
• Two possibilites: using a net, which keeps the plants and their roots
are in water.
• Other possibility: usage porous clay granules (sterile) instead of soil
and the water fills the granules and reaches the roots on this way.
Better static attributes by the plants, and the airing of the root zone
is possible without any damage.
• In both case the only livings are the cultivated plants, nothing else.
Ever nutrition must be dissolved into the water (even all
microelements in appropriate rate).
• Due to the continous water coverage, ther can not be seasons
because of frost damage, thus the whole system must be closed
(heated glasshouse). Pesticide, herbicide, fungicide are not necessary,
if the system is hermetically closed and sterile, only materials
(nutritions, oxigen, carbon-dioxide, nitrogen can move in and out).

11. Hydroponics II.

12. Hydroponics III.

13. Hydroponics IV.

14. Hydroponics V.

15. Aquaponics I.
• Combination of hydroponics and fish farming
• Fish requires food, that must be provided to them. They produce
manure. The more intensive si the farming, the greater is the
concentration of the manure in the water.
• This water, with relatively high fish manure concentration is ideal
nutrition water for a hydroponic farm. Plants use up the manure as
nutrition and clean the water, which can be recirculated.
• The fish food must be provided from outer source.
• The nutrition in the water is more suitable for the plants (it has
naturally microelements).
• There is double income, fish meal on the one hand and the harvest
from the hydroponic farm.
• This is possible by both saltwater and sweetwater. Saltwater can be
provided in almost infinite amount by coastal farms (settelments).

16. Aquaponics II.

17. Aquaponics II.

18. Aquaponics III.

19. Aquaponics IV.

20. Aeroponics I.
• Using 100% relative air humidity, morover mist as water and nutrition
source.
• Require much smaller amoun of water than geoponics or
hydroponics.
• Require an enclosed system.
• Advantages and disadvantages are similar to those of hydroponics.
• Main difference is that in this case a continous energy supply is
required, which produce continously the mist (spraying). Without this
the plants can die in an hour.
• The archetypes are the tropical epiphytas in mist forests.
• The weight is much smaller than that of a similar hydroponic system.
Only absolutely dissolved nutritions can be used (aqua-aeroponics is
not a feasible way).
• Great advantage is the better oxigen provision for the plant roots.

21. Aeroponics II.

22. Aeroponics III.

23. Aeroponics IV.

24. Aeroponics V.

25. Usage of artificial light I.
• Plants can use only a narrow band of electromagnetic spectrum.
• The greatest amount of incoming light is in visible spectrum region.
• Momentous UV radiation also comes, but it is stopped by the ozone
layer.
• Momentous IR raiation also comes, but it provides quite low energy
density.
• Nevertheless, most of the plants uses only a narrow band of the
spectra, this is the visible red light (so that the leaves are usually
green).
• In some special cases other wavelength is also used, for example by
red and brown algaes, because the visible red can not reach in a few
metres deep into water (everything is greenish and blueish under the
water).
• In case of artificial light sources, providing only the visible red light is
enough to reach the same amount of metabolism by plants.

26. Usage of artificial light II.
• The electromagnetic spectrum.

27. Usage of artificial light III.
• Red algae. It uses the green light for photosynthesis.

28. Usage of artificial light IV.
• Using LED lights is the best solution. They have the best efficacy,
moreover they radiate in a very narrow selected wavelength.
• Depending on the plant species, the best wavelength LED can be
used. Some vegetables have different leaf colour.

29. Fungus farming/yeast extract I.
• Fungus farming is a quite good solution for urban farming.
• Traditional fungus farming needs only a closed chamber and
continous organic material supply.
• The great advantage of fungus is that they can use up such materials
(for example wood) which can not be eaten directly by human.
• The other great advantages, that fungus can create in their tissue
such materials (i.e. vitamins), which did not existed in the consumed
organic raw material.
• Yeast is a kind of fungus, but they are uniccellular organisms. They
are used basically for fermentation (beer, wine, black tea, yoghurt
etc. production).
• Yeast is ideal to create synthetically almost all kind of food. It has a lot
of different typesof nutrition.
• Yeast extract is yeast, which is treated with salt. The yeast slowly dies
and uses up its own materials. After heating it can be 100% eaten.

30. Fungus farming/yeast extract II.
• Using LED lights is the best solution.

31. Fungus farming/yeast extract III.
• A famous type of yeast extract. Already quite widely used as food.

32. Algae farming I.
• There exist already algae farming, mostly in East-Asia
• The cultivated species are mostly red algae types (Porphyra sp.) they
are used mostly as vegetables.
• Thanks to yeast and fungus many kind of algae can be cultivated,
which can not be consumed directly, but can be used up for yeast and
fungus cultivation.
• There are lot other type ofalgae, like green algae and brown algae.
• They live in different depth of seawater, thus they can use up
different wavelengthed light. Thus, there is possible to use up natural
sunlight more effectively, by using different types of algae.
• They live in saltwater, thus their water demand can easily provided,
which is a great advantage, especially nowadays, especially among
urban circumstances.

33. Algae farming II.

34. Algae farming III.

35. Algae farming IV.

36. Other, nonurban usages.
• These technologies can be used up not only among urban
circumstances. It can be used up every isolated sites, like space
stations, submarines, long term sea travels, research stations on the
Antarctica,the Arctic and in high mountain ranges.
• Originally they were created for providing the food for such isolated
spaces.
• They can be very effectively used up also in such territories, where
the local food production is very problematic i.e. Alaska, Canada
Northwestern Region, Saud-Arabia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates,
Iceland.
• In case of greater industrial sites, which are isolated they can be
extremely useful, especially on oceanic sites, i.e. oil drilling towers
on the sea.

37. Other, nonurban usages.
• These technologies can be used up not only

38. Other, nonurban usages.
• These technologies can be used up not only

39. Other, nonurban usages.
• These technologies can be used up not only

40. Thank you for your attention!