Urban Agriculture: Recent Episodes
Vincent Racaniello
Urban Agriculture is a podcast about the Third Green Revolution. Brought to you by Dickson Despommier and Vincent Racaniello.
Dickson travels to indoor farm Gotham Greens in Brooklyn, New York to speak with Co-founder and CEO Viraj Puri.
Hosts: Dickson Despommier and Vincent Racaniello
Guest: Viraj Puri
Links for this episode * Gotham Greens
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Hosts: Dickson Despommier and Vincent Racaniello
Guest: Daniel Podmirseg
Daniel joins Dickson and Vincent to talk about the Vertical Farm Institute, which provides advice and planning on the design and construction of indoor farms.
Links for this episode * Vertical Farm Institute * Daniel's thesis, 'Up' * Letters read on Urban Agriculture 28
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Hosts: Dickson Despommier and Vincent Racaniello
Dickson provides an update on progress towards establishing long-term, sustainable, local, safe food systems based on indoor farming.
Links for this episode * Pumpkin genome sequenced (SciDaily) * The Next Big Thing(s) * Seeds and Chips * A Farm Grows in the City (WSJ) * Plenty * Square Roots * Infarm * Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Center (Wikipedia) * Letters read on Urban Agriculture 27
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Hosts: Dickson Despommier and Vincent Racaniello
Guest: Robert Colangelo
Dickson and Vincent speak with Robert Colangelo, founding farmer and CEO of Green Sense Farms, the world's largest commercial indoor vertical farm.
Links for this episode * Green Sense Farms * Green Sense Radio * Letters read on Urban Agriculture 26
This episode is sponsored by CuriosityStream, a subscription streaming service that offers over 1,400 documentaries and nonfiction series from the world’s best filmmakers. Get unlimited access starting at just $2.99 a month, and for our audience, the first two months are completely free if you sign up at curiositystream.com/microbe and use the promo code MICROBE.
This episode is also brought to you by Drobo, a family of safe, expandable, yet simple to use storage arrays. Drobos are designed to protect your important data forever. Visit www.drobo.com to learn more. Listeners can save $100 on a Drobo system at drobostore.com by using the discount code Microbe100.
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Hosts: Dickson Despommier and Vincent Racaniello
Dickson defines the term 'vertical farm': a high-tech greenhouse that is stacked on top of itself, transforming it into a multi-story growing space.
Links for this episode * GreenTech Amsterdam * The Man Who Planted Trees by Jean Giono * Rewilding the World by Caroline Fraser * Carbon farming
This episode is sponsored by CuriosityStream, a subscription streaming service that offers over 1,400 documentaries and nonfiction series from the world’s best filmmakers. Get unlimited access starting at just $2.99 a month, and for our audience, the first two months are completely free if you sign up at curiositystream.com/microbe and use the promo code MICROBE.
This episode is also brought to you by Drobo, a family of safe, expandable, yet simple to use storage arrays. Drobos are designed to protect your important data forever. Visit www.drobo.com to learn more. Listeners can save $100 on a Drobo system at drobostore.com by using the discount code Microbe100.
Send your questions and comments to urbanag@microbe.tv
Hosts: Dickson Despommier and Vincent Racaniello
Guest: Joel Cuello
Dickson and Vincent speak with Professor Joel Cuello about his work on engineering of sustainable biological and agricultural innovations, including bioregenerative space life support, crop hydroponics, plant tissue culture, micropropagation, and industrial mass production of algae and plant cell and microbial cultures.
Links for this episode
- Controlled environment agriculture
- World without walls (pdf)
- 10 tips for engineering students
- Realizing algal biofuels full potential
- Image credit
This episode is sponsored by CuriosityStream, a subscription streaming service that offers over 1,400 documentaries and nonfiction series from the world’s best filmmakers. Get unlimited access starting at just $2.99 a month, and for our audience, the first two months are completely free if you sign up at curiositystream.com/microbe and use the promo code MICROBE.
Send your questions and comments to urbanag@microbe.tv
Hosts: Dickson Despommier and Vincent Racaniello
Guest: Gene Giacomelli
Dickson and Vincent speak with Professor Gene Giacomelli about his work on controlled environment plant production systems research, design, development and applications.
Links for this episode * Controlled environment agriculture * Biometry and biosystems informatics * Food, bioproducts, and renewable energy * Image credit
This episode is sponsored by CuriosityStream, a subscription streaming service that offers over 1,400 documentaries and nonfiction series from the world’s best filmmakers. Get unlimited access starting at just $2.99 a month, and for our audience, the first two months are completely free if you sign up at curiositystream.com/microbe and use the promo code MICROBE.
Send your questions and comments to urbanag@microbe.tv
Hosts: Dickson Despommier and Vincent Racaniello
Guest: Clare Miflin
Dickson and Vincent speak with architect Clare Miflin about biomimicry - innovation inspired by nature - and environmentally sound building practices.
Links for this episode * Kiss & Kathcart Architects * Biomimicry Institute * Biomimicry 3.8 * Make biomimicry your career * Hermit crab vacancy chain (Vimeo) * Image credit
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Hosts: Dickson Despommier and Vincent Racaniello
Guest: Gregory Kiss
Dickson and Vincent speak with architect Gregory Kiss about how to build self-sustaining urban buildings.
Links for this episode * Kiss & Kathcart Architects * 2020 Challenge (pdf) * The 2050 city (pdf) * Science barge * National Building Museum * Greenhouse Project PS 333 * The Man Who Planted Trees by Jean Giono
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Hosts: Dickson Despommier and Vincent Racaniello
Guests: Ed Horton and Danielle Horton
Dickson and Vincent speak with Ed and Danielle Horton from Urban Produce, which uses a high-density vertical indoor growing system which they hope to implement all over the world.
Links for this episode
- Urban Produce LLC
- Urban Produce on YouTube
- Urban Produce on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram
- Urban Produce virtual tour at YouTube
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Hosts: Dickson Despommier and Vincent Racaniello
Dickson and Vincent review recent developments in indoor farming, and catch up with the backlog of listener questions and comments.
Links for this episode * Roots of organic farming on campus (NY Times) * Green Sense Farms in China (NWI) * Image credit * Letters read on UrbAg 19
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Hosts: Dickson Despommier and Vincent Racaniello
Guest: Caleb Harper
Dickson and Vincent speak with Caleb Harper about the Open Agriculture initiative at the MIT Media Lab.
Links for this episode * CityFARM * MIT Media Lab * Growing data will be hosted at openag.mit.edu (not yet live) * Caliber Biotherapeutics * Caleb Harper on Twitter, Instagram * MIT Open Agriculture on Twitter
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Hosts: Dickson Despommier and Vincent Racaniello
Dickson and Vincent review recent entrants into the growing discipline of urban agriculture.
Links for this episode * Greener Roots * Urban Produce * US Pavilion Milan Expo 2015 * TruLeaf * Ray Kurzweil on Vertical Farming * 10 Mile Farms * Seoul adopts urban agriculture * Green Sense Farms * Lufa Farms * Image credit
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Hosts: Dickson Despommier and Vincent Racaniello
Guests: Penny McBride and Nona Yehia
Dickson and Vincent speak with the founders of Vertical Harvest, an indoor farm in Jackson, Wyoming.
Links for this episode * Vertical Harvest * Vertical Harvest before (jpg) * Vertical Harvest video (view at YouTube)
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Hosts: Dickson Despommier and Vincent Racaniello
Guests: Ed Harwood and Mark Oshima
Dickson and Vincent visit AeroFarms, an indoor farm in Newark, NJ and speak with Chief Science Officer Ed Harwood and Chief Marketing Officer Mark Oshima.
Links for this episode * AeroFarms * AeroFarms in NY Times * Photogallery
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Hosts: Dickson Despommier and Vincent Racaniello
Guest: Henry Gordon-Smith
Dickson and Vincent meet with Henry Gordon-Smith, founder of Agritecture and board member of the Association for Vertical Farming.
Links for this episode * Agritecture * Association for Vertical Farming * Blue Planet Environmental * Henry's Bronx model vertical farm * AeroFarms * The Martian by Andy Weir * Mirai Co. Japan * Letters read on UrbAg 14
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Hosts: Dickson Despommier and Vincent Racaniello
Guest: Dan Albert
Dickson and Vincent talk with Dan Albert, founder of Farmbox Greens, a commercial urban farm in Seattle, Washington.
Links for this episode * Eco-Laboratory * Farmbox Greens video (YouTube) * Buy Farmbox Greens (Marx Foods) * John Todd (Wikipedia) * The Lean Startup by Eric Ries * Image credit: Marx Foods * FarmedHere story at Business Insider
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Hosts: Dickson Despommier and Vincent Racaniello
Guest: Paul Hardej
Dickson and Vincent speak with Paul Hardej, founder of Farmed Here, a commercial vertical farm in Chicago, Illinois.
Links for this episode * FarmedHere * FarmedHere opening (YouTube) * FarmedHere story at Business Insider * Video of this episode - view at YouTube
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Hosts: Dickson Despommier and Vincent Racaniello
Guests: Chris Hammelef and Paul Grey
Dickson and Vincent speak with Chris and Paul of Illumitex to learn about their revolutionary approach to designing horticultural LED lighting.
Links for this episode * Illumitex * LED (Wikipedia) * Photosynthesis (Wikipedia) * Illumitex horticultural LED products * Image credit: Illumitex
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Hosts: Dickson Despommier and Vincent Racaniello
Dickson and Vincent read listener email about urban agriculture, hydroponics, aquaponics, underground vertical farms, climate change, and more.
Links for this episode * Quinoa * Asparagus * Letters read on UrbAg 10
Send your questions and comments to urbanag@urbanag.ws
Hosts: Dickson Despommier and Vincent Racaniello
Guests: Milan Kluko and Daniel Kluko
Dickson and Vincent speak with Milan and Daniel Kluko, owners of Green Spirit Farms, a sustainable vertical farm in New Buffalo, Michigan.
Links for this episode * Green Spirit Farms * Green Spirit Farms News * Green Spirit Farms videos on Vimeo * Letters read on UrbAg 8 * Video of this episode - view at YouTube
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Hosts: Dickson Despommier and Vincent Racaniello
Guest: James Cannon
Dickson and Vincent speak with James Cannon, Chief of Horticulture at Green Farms A&M, about how his company produces food indoors.
Links for this episode * Green Farms A&M * James Cannon on Green Farms (YouTube) * Upright Farms, Inc. * Photo credit: Andy LaValley, Sun-Times Media * Letters read on UrbAg 8
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Hosts: Dickson Despommier and Vincent Racaniello
Dickson and Vincent continue their discussion of the science of indoor farming.
Links for this episode * Soil Science Society of America * Haber process (Wikipedia) * Sky Greens * Plantagon * PlantLab * Phillips LED * Salad greens * Brooklyn Grange * Hydro-Stacker * Growing plants upside-down * Letters read on UrbAg 7
Dickson's pick Bog bodies of the Iron Age (Nova)
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Hosts: Dickson Despommier and Vincent Racaniello
Dickson and Vincent provide an overview of the technologies that allow the practice of indoor farming.
Links for this episode * Hydroponic root crops * Nutrient film technology (Wikipedia) * Aeroponics (Wikipedia) * Aquaculture (NOAA) * Pasona O2 * Chlorophyll spectrum (Wikipedia) * Peak phosphorus and food security (pdf) * Omega Grow Systems * Image credit: Kono Designs * Letters read on UrbAg 6
Dickson's pick Practical Hydroponics and Greenhouses
Listener pick Christophe - Inquiring Minds podcast
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Hosts: Dickson Despommier and Vincent Racaniello
Dickson and Vincent discuss how the vertical farm concept was developed and where it stands today.
Links for this episode * Vertical farming (Wikipedia) * Dickson on Colbert Report * South Korea researches vertical farming * Cary Fowler (Wikipedia) * Commercial vertical farms * Vertical farm in Scranton, PA * Omega Garden hydroponics * A bright future (HuffPo) * Tower Garden aeroponics * Letters read on UrbAg 5
Vincent's pick Big Ideas (YouTube)
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Hosts: Dickson Despommier and Vincent Racaniello
Dickson and Vincent talk about why and how farming practices will change.
Links for this episode * US drought monitor * Drought maps, last 5 months * Chongming County * Thermocline (Wikipedia) * Dr. Gene Likens
Dickson's Pick The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
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Hosts: Dickson Despommier and Vincent Racaniello
Dickson and Vincent continue their brief history of farming with a discussion of farming after the Dust Bowl.
Links for this episode * Panel on climate change report (Slate) * US and World population clock * Luther Burbank (Wikipedia) * Where does your food come from? (Mother Jones) * US drought monitor * Earth Observatory * Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN * Image credit
Dickson's Pick Silent Spring by Rachel Carson
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Hosts: Dickson Despommier and Vincent Racaniello
Dickson and Vincent discuss the effects on industrialization on the development of farming.
Links for this episode * History of agriculture (New World Encycl) * Haber process (Wikipedia) * Urea synthesis (Wikipedia) * Plants need 18 elements (Cornell) * The industrial revolution * Crop indemnity maps (USDA) * Image credit
Dickson's Pick Photographs of Dorothea Lange
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Hosts: Dickson Despommier and Vincent Racaniello
Dickson and Vincent launch their new podcast with a discussion of the early origins of farming.
Links for this episode * Newgrange (Wikipedia) * Joseph Campbell (Wikipedia) * Landsat * Image credit
Dickson's Pick Origins of agriculture
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