“In congested peri-urban areas, we can use vertical farms in warehouses or abandoned buildings, for example, to produce food. We can make use of gray water and waste energy from homes to grow food in small plots, shade houses or covered tunnels where frost is likely to occur. “Trees in peri-urban and urban areas can provide food, provide shade, have a cooling effect and sequester carbon,” he says.
Madramootoo says that a wholescapes approach can also be applied to food production in urban and peri-urban areas – the spaces immediately surrounding a city. Greens are grown at the Bowery Farming vertical farm, in Kearny, New Jersey. She adds that ICBA has also tested technologies such as hydrogels (gels that retain water) and sub-surface irrigation systems, and found they can significantly cut farmers’ water use. Alzaabi describes it as a “desert superhero” for its ability to grow in the brine that’s created as a byproduct of the water desalination process. She says ICBA has identified a number of salt-tolerant varieties of date palm, and is successfully cultivating Salicornia, an edible plant found in many parts of the world. One solution is to grow crops that thrive in salty soil. Tarifa Alzaabi, director general of the International Center for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA), a not-for-profit research organization based in Dubai. Globally, more than 1 billion hectares (2.5 billion acres) of land – an area larger than China – – are already degraded by salinity, according to Dr. Showkat Rather/ICBAįor many parts of the world, climate change means water is becoming increasingly scarce, and that presents a huge problem for farmers in regions such as the Middle East, which is reliant on desalinated sea water in many places. The International Center for Biosaline Agriculture is researching the potential of salt-tolerant crops, including quinoa.
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