The vertical-farming movement continues to grow with the recent unveiling of FARM-X's modular vertical-farming concept, which the Oakland, CA-based organization developed with Zurich-based Conceptual Devices founder Antonio Scarponi and an agronomy team led by University of Bologna Professor Giorgio GianquintoI. In the most idealistic sense, the FARM-X model would maximize production of fresh food up to 5 tons per day, can be applied anywhere as one means to sustainably revive unused urban spaces, and would create more jobs to develop a "green collar workforce" of urban agricultural farmers.

FARM-X aims to construct 10,000 sq.m. (approx.110,000 sq.ft.) of total vertical farm space throughout Oakland over the next decade. For starters, a pilot run of the project is near completion nearby in Richmond, CA.

Read on for more project details that we received:

"Food has historically been grown in areas of low real-estate interest, far from densely populated settlements normally described as 'cities'. Farm-X is a modular vertical farm concept that shifts the historical dichotomy between the production and the consumption of food. It grows up to 5t / day of fresh food in 1000 Sqm using specific hydroponic farming techniques in a fully controlled environment to maximize productivity of leaf and fruit vegetables."

"Farm-X is conceived as a tool of re-activation of abandoned warehouses plots, widely diffused within US urban city fabrics. It is designed to operate as catalysts for urban reactivation, providing employment and exchange energy, as well as services within any urban development complex.

The optimal size of a farm corresponds to a medium sized urban block (32m x 32m) at four-stories in height. This new building typology can be easily integrated into any modern urban fabric and play an active role in a local community development with compact construction."

"Farm-X is designed to be standardized in construction and dismountable to optimize its cost effectiveness and replicability. Thanks to its flexible layout, after a neighborhood reactivation is completed the farm can be moved elsewhere, or it can be adapted to another functional program by removing the lightweight hydroponic equipment.

Farm-X can also generate energy by processing green waste, creating a close loop between people, food, waste, energy within the urban environment. Farm-X is designed to reduce the distance of food distribution and production and to reduce the distance of waste dismantlement by re-integrating it to the farm to produce energy."

Learn more about FARM-X here.

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