Feature Earth

Let’s Get Vertical

City buildings offer opportunities for farms to grow up instead of out

By Rachel Ehrenberg

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Locally grown food is often touted as a perk of rural living. But if Dickson Despommier has anything to say about it, city dwellers will soon have the same environmental bragging rights.

DOWN ON THE CITY FARM | The Science Barge, a prototype of urban farming in New York City, is decked out with solar panels, windmills and a biofuels-fed generator. Tomatoes, strawberries and other crops thrive in the barge’s greenhouses.