Presented by SGInnovate, the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Singapore, and the Netherlands Innovation Network
Singapore is a large, well-developed city state, boasting the 7th highest GDP per capita in the world, with almost 6 million inhabitants and 17.5 million tourists per year. The country is heavily dependent on imports of food sources, with more than 90% of all of the produce is imported. Because of Singapore’s compact size and competing land uses, there is a limit to what can be grown using traditional farming methods.
Singapore is encouraging alternative and sustainable methods of growing produce for the local market to increase food security. Urban (indoor) farming has the advantage as it can be implemented all year round, and limits crop diseases and the vulnerability to climate change. It is a misunderstanding that high-tech urban farming is much more expensive. In places where labor costs are high, high-tech systems with harvesting robots have a relative short pay-back time. If environmental externalities are monetarised, systems that help with precision farming or recirculation of nutrients will have even shorter pay back times. In addition, increasing consumer awareness and demand will be important, as there is significant advantage in local produce in terms of taste, flavour and in the nutritional value.
While there are already various urban farming initiatives in Singapore, scalability and price are sometimes seen as severe issues. In this webinar session, we will discuss the possibilities of urban farming in highly dense cities, with Singapore as an example. Is urban farming the future for large cities and, if so, what are the requirements they should meet?
Date: 26 June 2020 (Friday)
Time: 4:00pm – 5:00pm (UTC+8)
Programme:
4:00pm – 4:05pm: Remarks by SGInnovate and the Netherlands Embassy in Singapore
4:05pm – 5:00pm: Panel Discussion and Q&A on Urban Farming
Cindy van Rijswick, Senior Research Analyst – Food & Agribusiness, Rabobank
Dylan Soh, Founding Member, One Kind House
Grace Lim, Founder, Urban Farming Partners Singapore
Moderator: Luke Tay, Principal Futurist – Planning and Organisation Division, Singapore Food Agency
source
