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Farming the City: Urban Agriculture in Hong Kong

NASA’s plant-growth research has encouraged the development of clusters of private operations in cities around the world.

By Natasha Li
Prestige
23 Sep 2022

Excerpt:

Relatively new to the scene is the Farm Club by Agrician. Founded by Jack Leung, the indoor vertical farm is located in a former bicycle warehouse in Fo Tan, where it grows an impressive selection of leafy greens, herbs, microgreens, edible flowers and tomatoes using the mobile and modular hydroponics structure Farm Wall, made by the Canadian agricultural technology company ZipGrow.

On a tour of Farm Club, Leung summarises how everything came to fruition in early 2021. “I’ve always been intrigued by produce sourcing, because my family is in the F&B industry. I’m painfully aware that most ingredients we cook with in Hong Kong, both in restaurants and at home, are imported. When I was in Rotterdam, I came across Agritecture, the world’s first floating farm, and was in awe of the operation. They showed me the endless possibilities of farming in an urban setting and got me thinking I could do something similar in Hong Kong.”

Before looking for a physical space where he could turn his idea into reality, it took months of intense study for Leung to familiarise himself with the science and techniques behind indoor farming. After that, the biggest challenge was setting up the operating system, which Leung had to configure with a few volunteers. The entire growth span of each plant – from germination and seeding to repotting and harvesting – takes place in the 2,000-square- foot space. All materials used in the process are either biodegradable (such as the seeding putt made from peat), or reusable, which includes the vertical growing panels and even the nutritional water. To ensure a good harvest, Leung’s team infuses the water tank with a cocktail of nutrients, the quantities determined through experimentation, which is then fed to crops using a dripping system that recirculates the current to maximise absorption and minimise water consumption.

Read the complete article here.