Hydroponic greenhouses on top of supermarkets !

[KurtNYC]

A couple of companies have recently raised millions of dollars in venture capital to expand on a concept that was pioneered by Eli Zabar of NYC and Lufa Farms of Montreal. The idea is to be able to sell absolutely fresh, local and in some cases live, fruits and vegetables year round by using greenhouses that are built on top of supermarkets.

8 supermarket chains in the US have signed up to test this concept by partnering with BrightFarms. To me the even more exciting work is being done by Lufa Farms of Montreal. They are pushing the concept further by targeting better tasting varieties of tomatoes and selling "live" basil and lettuces that the consumer can keep growing in a glass of water on the countertop until they are ready to eat them. They are developing proprietary techniques for high tech hydroponics that include their "energy curtain" which is pulled across the interior of the greenhouse at night to avoid heat loss.

This vid is a TED talk given by one of the founders of Lufa Farms

I love this concept!

[CanSocDem]

1. This is a great idea.

One of the worst aspects of the industrial food industry is the wasted energy of distribution.

Dehydrating the south west to grow zero nutrition lettuce to ship across the country is absurd.

.

[HopeHoops]

3. We grow high-nutrition lettuce in containers. Good stuff.

On the other hand, since our rabbit passed on to that great garden in the sky, we've got more lettuce than we know what to do with.

[HopeHoops]

2. Sounds great. I haven't gotten the cold frame up for the winter, but I might still do it.

My back's been on the fritz for a long time. I used to build whatever I wanted. That plan sounds like an all-around winner.

[marzipanni]

4. That sounds like a good idea!

I bought this lettuce recently when it was on sale- it was good!
http://www.livegourmet.com/products.html
I had avoided 'clamshell' packaging until a couple of years ago when the garbage pick up company started recycling most plastic.

Sometimes when I put a lettuce stem in the compost pile it begins to grow leaves again.

As long as they reinforce the roofs' supporting structures if the weight warrants it, since roof collapse due to snow has been a problem
with big box stores especially.
http://www.icsc.org/srch/sct/sct9906/11.php

[KurtNYC]

5. typically these greenhouses on the roof are built stornger than land-based ones

and the overall structure far less heavy than some of the roof top farming which is done with soil.

Montreal seems like a good place to test how much snow the system can withstand. I would think that with the heat and the slope of the glass that these would slough off the snow. They made it through last winter.

I think the prevalence of flat roofs are a sign that we are going backward as a civilization. Even Frank Lloyd Wright's house have issues with their roofs. The collapses are not surprising to me.

[antigone382]

6. If you link it with aquaculture (a system called aquaponics)

You replicate a natural nutrient cycle--fish waste becomes food for plants, which become one component of a biological filter that cleans the water for the fish--and you get a high quality local source of protein out of the deal.

The downside is that the fish tanks will of course require much more water, and by extension, much more support of their weight, than a hydroponic system alone.