Italy: New “rooftop farm” at FAO highlights how innovative technology can help safeguard agro-biodiversity
The initiative at the UN agency’s Rome headquarters is fruit of a collaboration with Italian food retailer NaturaSí
FAO
Nov 18, 2021
Excerpt:
Rome – The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) today unveiled a prototype rooftop farm at its Rome headquarters, an initiative that highlights how innovative technology contributes to making agri-food systems more sustainable and to increasing access to healthy diets.
The farm will help explore the potential of urban agriculture to alleviate food shortages in areas where agricultural land and soil is limited, such as mountains and cities.
Sponsored by the Italian retailer NaturaSì and designed by the Italian urban garden design company Ecobubble, the installation is housed entirely in mobile, triangle-shaped modules made of corrosion-retarding steel. The farm is also equipped with an “intelligent” automated system that ensures crops get what they need to thrive, as well as with sensors that monitor nutrients, pathogens, atmospheric pollution, moisture and climate.
Addressing the inauguration ceremony, the FAO Director-General, QU Dongyu, noted that the rooftop farm is in line with FAO’s mission to promote agro-biodiversity, science, innovation and sustainable agri-food systems as key tools for fighting hunger and implementing the 2030 Agenda. He stressed the rooftop farm “will serve as a prototype that can be replicated as terrace farming in urban areas.”
Qu also noted that the new rooftop “reflects the potential of collaborating with innovative and ethical private sector companies”. But “above all, it is an example of how we can ensure better production, better nutrition, a better environment and a better life for all – leaving no one behind.”
