Urban Farming can reduce our reliance on food imports, as well as provide us with a buffer in the event of supply chain disruptions. CATCH sat down with two players in the local urban agriculture scene and unearthed the innovative processes urban farms in Singapore are employing to keep themselves sustainable.
Story by Toh Chun Ling | Photos by CATCH team, Artisan Green & Nature’s International Commodity
If you’ve not heard of the ‘30 by 30’ objective under the Singapore Green Plan 2030, then perhaps it is time to get informed. Singapore is aiming to strengthen our food security by working towards the goal of producing 30 percent of our nutritional needs locally and sustainably by the year 2030. This ensures that we can have a secure supply of foods to boost our economy and diversify our imports.
CATCH caught up with two of Singapore’s urban farms to find out what innovative ways they’ve come up with to increase production and further impact the community.
Started in 2018 by Ray Poh, 36, Artisan Green (AG) is a hydroponics farm located at 16 Kallang Place. It specialises in a variety of vegetables and herbs. AG is well-known for its fresh produce, especially its baby spinach.
“We can keep our vegetables for about a month,” Ray, the director and founder of AG said proudly. “This is because our products spend less time on the road and reach consumers fresh.”
Having worked in the casino gaming industry in Macau for five years, Ray felt that it was time to dabble in something sustainable and closer to home.
So he decided to concentrate on hydroponics after consulting with experts in the field. Hydroponics is the process of growing plants without soil, using only water, nutrient solutions and a growth medium.
“I had to make sure that the system is automated and able to run with or without human dimensions as much as possible,” Ray recounted. “Every few months, we have a change in the farm. We constantly reiterate our systems, our processes and even the packaging to make it easier for operations.”
The main aim of AG is to reduce its costs while scaling the business up. To achieve this, Ray uses multiple automation systems to ensure that he gets a good harvest.
“We think about the process and identify what machines are suitable,” Ray said. “There’s a nutrient recirculating system for the plants, where it douses more nutrients into the tank when the levels are depleted,”
Other plant monitoring systems such as climate and carbon dioxide are also found on the farm. Ray plans to incorporate new technology in AG, such as machine learning.
“Everything is about costs, electricity and efficiency,” Ray said.
To ensure that seedlings have a high germination rate, AG does seed priming and has a good sanitisation process. Ray also takes preventive measures by integrating pest management as farms are prone to insects and diseases.
For Ray, hydroponics is an integral part of Singapore’s growth. He sees urban farming as a building block to the future and works towards producing more to contribute to Singapore’s self-sufficiency.
“Right now, we harvest about 100kg per week, and we are trying to double it up to 200kg. Our next aim would be to hit 1 tonne.” Ray shared.
Currently, Ray is in talks with Jurong Town Corporation (JTC) to expand the business “by 60 times” through building a full-scale automated farm with new technology at the end of 2022.
Another farm working towards the ‘30 by 30’ objective is Nature’s International Commodity (NIC) - one of the nine multi-storey car parks in Singapore converted to an urban farm.
Located at 723A Tampines Street 72, NIC grows and sells an assortment of farmed vegetables, organises farm tours and spreads awareness of Singapore’s food security.
Farm manager, Kevin Chua, 38, explained that NIC is unlike any other regular farm. “For us, we’re concerned about the community we’re building. We aim to be a place that is inclusive where people can learn about farming, enjoy the environment and build relationships,” he said.
Despite being in business for about a year, NIC has a close-knit community that comes together to harvest vegetables ranging from pak choi to bitter gourd.
Even with the push towards other farming methods, Kevin believes that there is a good reason to work with soil.
“Soil is complicated as it’s as old as our existence,” Kevin said. “But soil is also well-studied and has natural antidepressants, making it a natural mood lifter.”
At NIC, grow towers are used to plant their produce. “I had to build these towers and fill each one with about 110kg of soil. I felt like I was going to die,” Kevin exclaimed. “In the middle of each tower, there’s a column for our fertiliser. Every tower is seeded with compost worms that break down waste into nutrients.”
As NIC is a soil-based farm, most of its operations are still done manually. However, Kevin is constantly looking for new technology to increase efficiency.
“There are some Internet of Things (IoT) sensors and specialised equipment like pumps, that we want to implement to improve our irrigation and fertigation processes,” Kevin said.
He also plans to install solar panels around the farm to convert the sun’s rays into electricity to improve their operations.
“At the end of the day, we want this place to be very sustainable,” Kevin said. “Even if the borders shut down, we can still survive as we can grow anything with soil.”
NIC plays a vital role in terms of food security. “It is pretty clear what our purpose is, firstly we are farmers, secondly educators, and thirdly community builders,” Kevin explained.
To him, urban farming is where community and innovation meet. Kevin is content as NIC can have the best of both worlds.