Events

Past Event

Tuesday Talk

March 20, 2018
12:00 PM - 1:30 PM
Event time is displayed in your time zone.
Faculty House, 64 Morningside Dr., New York, NY 10027 Garden Room 2
Dickson Despommier, Professor Emeritus of Environmental and Public Health will discuss his recent book "The Vertical Farm: Feeding the World in the 21st Century." For twenty-seven years, Professor Despommier, a microbiologist and an ecologist, conducted research on cellular and molecular parasitism and held lectures and courses on parasitic disease, medical ecology, and ecology. From one of these courses, in 1999, he founded the root for his idea of raising crops in tall buildings, vertical farming. In 2010, he published his widely received book "The Vertical Farm: Feeding the World in the 21st Century" (St. Martin's Press). Not long ago vertical farms were regarded as utopian, but prototypes have now been built, including a three-story farm in Suwon, South Korea, over 50 plant factories that qualify as vertical farms in Japan, a commercial vertical farm in Singapore that opened in 2012, and another in Chicago that was built in an old industrial building. Vertical farms have many advantages: food is organically farmed, urban space is saved, it is possible to farm all year round and in any place, and use of agrochemicals is eliminated. Professor Despommier's idea was regarded as visionary several years ago, but today it has become a beacon for all countries where food imports are high. Copies of "The Vertical Farm" will be given as door prizes.