Vertical farm in Manchester is a 'multi storey greenhouse'
在曼徹斯特的垂直多層溫室農場
在曼徹斯特的垂直多層溫室農場
By Phil Jeffery BBC News
Alpha Farm in Wythenshawe Alpha Farm is created in the derelict Alpha House in Wythenshawe
Continue reading the main story
在Wythenshawe的Alpha農場位於Wythenshawe的廢棄Alpha大樓
"Imagine a greenhouse stacked on top of itself, so you have three or four layers of greenhouse - it's a multiple storey greenhouse."
讓我們想像一下，這是一個多層溫室，在溫室上堆疊三層或四層溫室。
Dr Dickson Despommier is a pioneer of vertical farming, an agriculturual technique which has inspired an ambitious new project in Wythenshawe.
迪克森博士是一個垂直農場的先驅，他帶領了一項雄心勃勃的新農業計劃。
His basic idea - to increase the available land for farming - is now being put into practice inside a derelict office block on the edge of Wythenshawe Civic Centre.
His basic idea - to increase the available land for farming - is now being put into practice inside a derelict office block on the edge of Wythenshawe Civic Centre.
最初的想法是-增加農業用地-現在他利用一個廢棄的辦公大樓實驗他的農業計畫。
Over the next two years, Alpha House will be transformed into Alpha Farm, growing produce for the 2013 Manchester International Festival (MIF) on its eight floors.
未來兩年，Alpha大廈將改造成Alpha農場，2013曼徹斯特國際藝術節（MIF）將展出其成果。
As well as growing leafy plants and root vegetables, it is also planned to incorporate fish tanks, bee hives and a hen hangar on the roof.
越來越多的綠葉植物和根莖類蔬菜已陸續進駐，還計劃在屋頂上的納入魚缸，蜜蜂和一隻母雞蛋場。
Simon Mellor, general director of MIF, said what made Alpha Farm unique is that it is the first attempt to turn an existing building into a food supplier for the 2013 event.
MIF主席西蒙說，Alpha農場的獨特處在，它嘗試2013年前將現有建築物變成食品農場。
"That is our dream," he said.
“而這是我們的夢想，”他說。
"Can we get to a sufficiently productive level that most things that people are eating, in terms of the vegetables, have been grown on this farm?"
我們能不能在該農場種植的大多數人們吃的蔬菜並達到足夠的生產力水平？
The main challenge, as a former worker in the derelict block put it, will be the "ramshackle, decrepit old building" they are working with.
現在主要挑戰是，這是一個“搖搖欲墜，破舊老建築的”廢棄大樓。
"It is poorly insulated, single-glazed and it will be hard to maintain the temperature.
“單層玻璃絕緣很差，難以保溫。
"If they can do it in there, they can do it anywhere really."
如果他們實驗成功就可以移植到其它地區。Local involvement
當地參與
The concept of vertical farming grew from the prediction of many scientists that, that as the pressure increases on already limited farm land, food shortages could occur in the coming decades.
The concept of vertical farming grew from the prediction of many scientists that, that as the pressure increases on already limited farm land, food shortages could occur in the coming decades.
By employing new technologies, it is possible to cultivate crops inside a building rather than outside in the soil.
First proposed by Gilbert Ellis Bailey in 1915
The Alpha Farm uses Dr Dickson Despommier's model, laid out in his book, The Vertical Farm
It will use aeroponics (growing in air or mist), aquaponics (growing fish and plants in a symbiotic relationship) and hydroponics (growing in nutrient rich water)
Consequently, vertical farms can support agriculture in environments where farming has previously been impossible, such as cities.
There are prototypes being planned and constructed in Japan, Korea and Holland.
Whilst the project has global significance, MIF have been keen to stress the role the local community can play in the project.
Local people, schools and community groups will have the opportunity to be involved in a variety of ways from learning how to grow crops to thinking how produce will be distributed into local homes and shops.
Mr Mellor said the ambition is that it becomes "a project that the local community find so indispensable that they want to take it on as their own."
If that can be achieved, Wythenshawe will have taken a big step towards the forefront of the vertical farm movement.
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