Staying grounded amidst the skyscrapers

March 14, 2023 12:21 PM

"Though it seems improbable, an innovative law in place for three decades has ensured that farms –– some of them having operated for hundreds of years –– continue to thrive in one of the world’s biggest concrete jungles. Now, with a major expiration date attached to the law that protects these farms, Tokyo’s farmers, with the city’s help, are finding ways to keep cultivating their land."
posted by Brandon Blatcher (5 comments total)

One thing that always surprised me about urban Japan is just how quickly you can go from a fairly built up area to a couple of small farms. You don't see them right downtown but you'll be in a neighbourhood by a train station and then all of a sudden there'll be a farm. To my mind I wouldn't want my produce to be coming from a small plot of land surrounded by roads because I'd be worried that the exhaust and runoff from the roads would make its way into it but maybe that isn't such a big deal.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 12:40 PM on March 14, 2023 [1 favorite]

The exhaust will disappears in a few years, though. I could do with some more solarpunk in my actual future, and urban farming is a big part of that.
posted by Harald74 at 1:34 AM on March 15, 2023 [1 favorite]

In Tall Buildings - John Hartford
posted by mikelieman at 8:39 AM on March 15, 2023

Cool. The story in the West has been the aborted rise of "vertical farming" - the margins just aren't there for it and a lot of VC money has been set on fire.

I wonder if vertical farming (robotically controlled, no [routine] human intervention, so no pesticides, highly controlled nutrients and nutrient/ water recycling) might have better luck in Japan?
posted by porpoise at 2:33 PM on March 15, 2023

It may not be vertical, but I understand the Netherlands have great success with greenhouses.
posted by alexei at 6:17 PM on March 15, 2023 [1 favorite]