"What if we could build a different world? One in which anyone could farm anywhere, not just on land devastated by disaster, but in basements, skyscrapers, and abandoned subway tunnels? Or in classrooms, rooftops, and old factories?"

In this article by Caleb Harper, the Director of the Open Agriculture Initiative at MIT, he criticizes the "snarled cats-cradle of crisscrossed strings between origin and destination, shipment and storage" that constitutes today's global agricultural system.

At the Open AG Initiative, they're experimenting with hi-tech but low-impact ways to produce food, such as the “Food Computer,” a "controlled environment agriculture platform." The platform utilizes robotic control systems and plant-sensing mechanisms to produce a "precisely calibrated environment for growth."

By utilizing thirty sensing points per plant, the group believes they're creating more of a dialogue with biological systems than the dominating tendencies of conventional architecture.

The Open AG Initiative has also an "Open Phenome" database of "climate recipes," or precise measurements of the best artificial systems to grow certain crops.

"Ultimately, we’re looking at a scatterplot world of informational beacons, with digital farmers uploading the recipes that yielded their best produce and “liking” this yield, much like Instagram users," Harper states.

For related content, check out these links:

• OMA to master plan a "Food Hub" in Louisville
• FARM-X shares its modular vertical farming approach, pilot project nears completion
• The future of urban farming belongs to the bugs
• Rooftop farms combine the rural and urban in future cities

This month Archinect is focusing on socially-aware projects as part of our special theme for May, Help. Have projects of your own that are oriented towards creating a more equitable and livable society? Submit to our open call before Sunday, May 22.