Norah Stucken Award

High rise food

Paignton Zoo Environmental Parks Verti-Crop facility uses a multi-level conveyor-belt system in a greenhouse to produce green leaf crops to help feed the zoos animals. Kevin Frediani, the zoos Curator of Plants and Gardens, thinks the system, which was presented with the Norah Stucken Award 2011, has wider applications for urban food production.

lose your eyes and think of a city. What do you see? A jumble of rooftops stretching off into the distance?... But cities are not just made of bricks and mortar, they are inhabited by flesh-andblood humans, and so must rely on the natural world to feed them. Cities, like people, are what they eat.

agreements signed by the Conference of the Parties under the Convention on Biodiversity exist. This is evidenced by the recent tracking of the results of the implementation of the first eight years of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (Chase et al 2011). Zoos and botanic gardens are tracking the result of this change, becoming archivists and repositories of species whose former habitats are lost due to the human melee. The story these lost plants and animals tell is an indictment on the inactivity of mankind; the garden landscapes filled by species in need of conservation, whose plight is highlighted to visitors every day. These visitors, of course, collectively represent a modern civilisation that unsustainably feeds the global change that underpins the very demise of the wildlife they come to see! But what about the problem of feeding the cities to take pressure off this wilderness, to reverse a trend that domesticates land that is increasingly marginal, to feed these growing cities and instead help them become less parasitic upon farmed land, that produces food using unsustainably harvested natural resources?

Making the case for change

In undertaking a review of the gardens and plant at Paignton Zoo when I arrived to take up the post of Curator in 2008 I chose to look at the issues that inform and derive from plant use in a living botanical collection (Frediani, 2009). The strategy that resulted and was subsequently published, identified eight plant-use themes which could fulfill the mission of the organisation and contribute positively to visitors, staff and researchers through the procurement, growing, showing and eating of plants in the zoo and botanic garden context. Three of these plant-use themes sustainability, food provision, enrichment proved much more difficult to show to the public in terms of positive exhibits or demonstration work on site that would enhance the value of plants, landscapes and the habitats they encompass (Frediani, 2010a). Rather than focus on a small display of organic raised beds to show food provision in a domestic context as an exhibit and focus on interpreting the negative impacts of plant and habitat loss due to agriculture and growing human populations, a new project was devised and given the working title the VertiCrop project. This was explored in The Horticulturist (Feeding time at the zoo, Vol 19, No 2 April 2010) (Frediani, 2010a). It has helped explain to visitors where food has come from for the animals they come to see but also helped define a new approach to growing fresh leafy salads for public benefit beyond the zoo. A commercial pilot project in a public space explores a way to improve the opportunities for plant conservation by improving opportunities for urban food provision and therefore taking pressure off marginalised land that may otherwise be converted to agriculture. It would enable the provision of sustainable
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Introduction to Hungry City by Carolyn Steel (2008, Steel). Hungry City is a polemic that explores the underlying paradox of urban civilisation through the eyes of a respected architect, who graphically explores the problem of feeding an increasingly urbanized and heavily populated world within the current shortcomings of sourcing and supplying food to feed them. The book highlights the likely outcome of continued urban growth upon a future generations ability to sustainably feed itself against the backdrop of an impoverished earth, whose natural resources are being systematically depleted! While this vision of the world is difficult to grasp in terms of finding tangible solutions, its underlying assumptions of the human impact upon the environment and its biodiversity is easy to see, especially for someone working in the field of conservation and education in the context of a modern zoo or botanic garden (WAZA, 2005 & BGCI, 2005).

Kevin Frediani is Curator of Plants and Gardens at Paighton Zoo Environmental Park. He has been in post at Paignton since June 2008 and recently completed his post-graduate degree in conservation and environmental management at Surrey University. An article on this topic by Kevin Frediani, Feeding time at the zoo, was published in The Horticulturist Volume 19 No 2 April 2010. Kevin has updated and expanded that article, as Paignton Zoo Environmental Park Verti-Crop Facility is the recipient of the Institute of Horticulture Norah Stucken Award 2011.

Feeding the world

Population has been described as the great taboo of environmentalism that no-one seems willing to address (Feeny, 2009). The case for reducing human impact upon the natural environment is avoided as it seems too difficult and uncomfortable for many to raise or try to resolve. The implications of human population growth on the environment are well known and described (Goudie, 2005), while successful conservation measures are not so widely accessible. A recent example, effecting change with regards to globally agreed conservation strategies has not been so easy to demonstrate or implement on a wide international scale, even though such

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Feeding the world sustainably using Sustainable Crop Production Intensification (SCPRI) based on principles of optimising sustainable yields through good practice in conservation rural agriculture; integrated plant nutrient management; integrated pest management; pollination management and the development of a new urban agriculture that produces food where people live (modified after FOA: Increasing crop production sustainably 2009).

food, as fresh leafy salad crops, which usually embed a large volume of water for small nutritional return in the centres where most populations live and consume such food. High Density Vertical Growing (HDVG) is the name being used to define a new application of technology to optimise the potential for crop plants to grow, within a protected environment by vertically stacking them using hydroponic technology. It has the potential to be linked to other biological technologies such as aquaculture to provide fertility or renewable energy generation systems such as Thermophilic Anaerobic Digestion, that can generate waste heat and gas that can be converted into energy with gas turbine engines and the evolved CO2 used to boost crop growth. To date VertiCrop is the only commercially operational pilot project of its type anywhere in the UK.

time, using trays in a vertically integrated system over eight levels stacked 3m high, covering a ground area of approximately 70m2 and rotating within a greenhouse. In specially designed trays, various microgreens, lettuce and salad mixes are planted

sequentially to provide a regular supply of fresh green leaves to the animals; with the primary focus of economic profitability, improved nutritional value and environmental enrichment to enhance the lives of captive animals in the zoo (Frediani 2010a). The project goes beyond the provision of fresh food for captive animals through the provision of an exhibit that provides an opportunity to publicly trial HDVG as a sustainable solution to feeding increasing urban populations in twenty-first century towns and cities (Frediani 2010b). The technology comes at a time when alternative land uses, such as bio-fuel and fibre production, are competing with traditional food production for the available soil and water resource. Increasing pressure is being placed on the managers of land to adapt to change, to feed more from less and positively contribute towards the mitigation of climate change, through the adoption of less intensive resource management strategies. VertiCrop (VC) is an integrated hydroponic approach that addresses the central issue of optimising resource use to grow crops near to where they are consumed, using the most advanced technology to ensure efficient crop production. Advanced irrigation equipment and a soil-less culture removes the need for good agricultural land for non-staple food production, while utilising vertical space further reduces the area of land required to grow any crop (Bayley et al 2011). The pilot project is housed in a polytheneclad greenhouse that harvests rainwater and uses a conveyor growing system to optimise the exposure to light, minimise water use, nutrient waste and optimally grow various micro-greens, lettuce and salad mixes. The potential of VC opens up the way for cities and towns to challenge the excepted paradigm of food control and begin to grow their own leafy vegetables, to reduce their carbon footprint and associated food miles. In the future, it will be possible to extend the

A new type of exhibit in the zoo

Europes first high-density vertical production facility is currently being piloted with VertiCropTM at Paignton Zoo Environmental Park in Devon. Since summer 2009, 11,200 plants were grown at any one
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To promote the technology to visitors the zoo has been trialling a domestic aquaponics unit alongside the VertiCrop. The crops take up nutrient from the fish waste.

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support a novel model of urban development based around growing (Newman, 2008). Reducing the impact of the worlds cities is one of the great challenges of our generation. Cities take up just 2% of the earths surface, yet account for roughly 78% of the carbon emissions from human activities, 76% of industrial wood use, and 60% of the water tapped for use by people. Rather than devouring water, food, energy, and processed goods, and then belching out the remains as pollutants, cities need to align their consumption to realistic needs, produce more of their own food and energy, and put much more of their wastes to use (Newman & Jennings, 2008). Paignton Zoo may not be the first place you think about innovation in horticulture however, with this project at least it has made a start towards raising awareness of the potential for plant cultivation and technology to make a difference in reversing a trend may just be innovative and meaningful but remains innovative and stimulating all the same.K

References
Bayely J, Frediani K. & Muy M. (In Press). Sustainable Food Production Using High Density Vertical Growing (VertiCrop). Acta Horticulturae. Symposium 10 IHC 2010 Lisbon proceedings BGCI (2005). 2010 Targets for Botanic Gardens. Botanic Gardens Conservation International. 1 November 2005. Accessed on 2August 2011 at: www.bgci.org/ourwork/2010_bgtargets/
A zoo gardener inspects the crop prior to harvest.

research direction to include vertical cultivation of food, bio-fuels and medicinal crops, such as high market value pharmaceutical products (Bayley et al in press).

Taking the project message outside the zoo

The industry has no centre that researches or develops the technology to benefit growers in the UK, indeed the VertiCrop was the first production facility of its type in the world. Further, there are no colleges or universities training students or engineers in building, installing or operating these facilities. In trying to address these issues the zoo has taken forward a Europeanfunded project proposal under the banner: Urban Food. The proposal looks to provide a wide collaborative base throughout Europe and establish three next generation working pilot projects; one each in Belgium, France and England. The idea being to build upon the concept of sustainable urban agriculture, to not only promote but find ways to address the industrial and professional shortfalls in the technology and its uptake. There should also be a link to aquaculture to provide a

sustainable source of fertiliser and additional crop of protein-rich fish. Parallel to the industrial application of the technology has been the continued need to raise public awareness through public talks, articles and media opportunities. The working partnership in the UK is represented by Paignton Zoo and South Devon College who, together with industrial partners, will form a working Foundation for Research into Environmentally Sustainable Horticulture (FRESH). Through promoting the technology, enabling new research and development and training a new generation of applied horticulturists and green technologists, FRESH and the Urban Food project hope to be the catalyst to change and looks forward to seeing people growing food in urban centres, take pressure off transporting water and marginalised habitat in the wild, reduce the embedded fossil energy in crops and improve the food security of our cities. For the past six months under the banner of the School of Social Entrepreneurs, the author has been exploring the potential to establish FRESH as a strategic partnership to integrate compatible technologies to help enable a sustainable urban agriculture. The vision of a new kind of urban agriculture to

Chase M W, Ali N S, Paton A J, Lughadha E N & Fay M F. 2011. Editorial: Science and development of government policy postGlobal Strategy for Plant Conservation: lessons for the future. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 166, 213-216 Frediani, K. 2009. The ethical use of plants in zoo: informing selection choices, uses and management strategies. International Zoo Yearbook 49 pp. 29-52. Frediani K. 2010a. Feeding time at the zoo. The Horticulturist April 2010 pp 12-15. Frediani K. 2010b. Vertical plant production as a public exhibit at Paignton Zoo. Sibbaldia, The Journal of Botanic Garden Horticulture, No8 pp139-149 Edinburgh. Freeny J. 2009. Population: The elephant in the room. The BBC The Green Room Viewpoint. Accessed on 2 August 2011 at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/78653 32.stm Goudie, A. 2005. The human impact on the environment: past, present and future. 6th Edition. Blackwell Publishing. Oxford, United Kingdom. Newman, P & Jennings, I. (2008) Cities as sustainable ecosystems. Island Press. New York. WAZA. 2005. Building a future for wildlife: The world Zoo and Aquarium Conservation Strategy. WAZA, Berne, Switzerland, 2005.

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