Vertical Farming - Reinvented for Urban Cities

Ce qu'il fait

We have invented an automated farming system mounted on building exteriors that converts carbon dioxide into food on a large scale via photosynthesis without land, to provide large food sources within the urban city and combat climate change.

Votre source d'inspiration

It started during the peak of the covid pandemic when Singapore's food security was being threatened. My family challenged me to utilise my chemical engineering knowledge to grow some food, so I did. Little did I know I have really green fingers, and I started to grow vegetables everywhere - on my aircon ledge, hanging right outside the window, even my bedroom was not spared. I decided to take it further to grow vegetables on walls because that is the only space that has been left dormant and at home untouched. This technology takes root from the concept of a waterfall, whereby water flows downwards through gravity to irrigate the food crops.

Comment ça marche

Our system is an automated farming system mounted on building exteriors, which allows for harvesting on the ground level. The nutrient solution, in this case, passes through cavities of modular and detachable vertical conduits which hold the leafy vegetables. These conduits are lightweight and modular, which allow them to be easily mounted or detached from the system during harvest. In addition, the conduits are designed with planting cups in which vegetables can take root ergonomically to withstand high wind currents when cultivated on tall buildings. The absence of soil prevents nutrients from leeching through a scientifically formulated nutrient composition coupled with an automatic smart regulating technology system, ensuring consistent yields and taste without physical monitoring. Pest repellent curtains will be deployed as physical barriers against rain, wind and pest. A clean and pathogen-free system provides thriving food crops conditions under the sun

Processus de conception

It started during the covid pandemic when Singapore's food security was being threatened. My family challenged me to utilise my chemical engineering knowledge to grow some food, so I did. Little did I realise that this knowledge blessed me with really green fingers. I started growing vegetables everywhere, on the aircon ledge to my bedroom. The idea of growing vegetables on the wall sparked when I couldn't find any more space lying around at home, except for the vertical walls that have been lying dormant. Hence, it takes root from the concept of a waterfall, whereby water flows downwards through gravity to irrigate the food crops. The Dyson Innovation Challenge, which I pulled out later, allowed me to pull a team to work on the software and self-regulating technology. We built a POC on NTU's rooftop, using our self-constructed brick walls. Initially, we wanted to 3D print the conduits, however, the printers available to us could not print something big enough to demonstrate our vision. So we bought some PVC panels, glued them together and hung the POC on the brick wall. We later incorporated a company, overcome other challenges and regulatory requirements, and with some grants, we built a 1.5-storey pilot in collaboration with JTC Corporation on their temporary site office wall.

En quoi est-il différent ?

Our product is differentiated from other farming systems in Singapore because it utilises existing building exteriors instead of taking up more land space, whilst producing an extremely high yield of leafy vegetables. Because of the limited land in Singapore and other dense cities, current farming technology adopted in these areas are usually prohibitively expensive and ineffective. Our product solves the need for a hydroponics system that is cost-effective, easy to maintain and has high yield productivity, without large land and carbon footprint. It involves IoT, mechanical lifting systems, structural engineering, robotics, and nutrient formulation to achieve this. All these components allow our system to be easily operated with minimal wastage, land and manpower. Essentially, the farmers will only need to be present on-site during harvest, to replace the crop on the planting cup with a new seedling, hence the same labour can be used for multiple systems.

Plans pour l'avenir

Singapore has 11,000 HDB Buildings with an average of 12-storey in height, 30 metres high. With a wall that spans 4-metres found on the gable-end walls of buildings, Amplefresh monthly harvest density of 3.1 to 4.2kg/m2 depending on the crop selection of vertical space can grow up to 500kg of vegetables based on 120m2 of vertical space/month, which would amount to 66,000 tonnes of leafy vegetables/year if we have one system located on every building. According to Singapore, approximately 12,700 tonnes of vegetables are grown locally, thus meeting 14% of Singapore's needs. Our solution can potentially beef the production to 86%*

Récompenses

NTUitive Top 10 Ideasinc.veni startups, APAC CEO of the Year Awards 2022: Most Innovative Agribusiness CEO 2022