The farmers moving their fields indoors

04/21/20 • 23 min

We visit farmers growing lettuce, herbs and strawberries indoors in the middle of cities. The plants are stacked up on shelves in vertical farms that use hydroponics and aeroponics to cultivate them.

The idea is to grow food closer to where it’s eaten. At the moment, cities get most of their produce delivered from far away, but transporting it uses energy, while fruit and veg can lose their freshness in transit.

We visit two European companies hoping to change the supply chain. One makes indoor farming units for food retailers, restaurants and hotels, and the other grows strawberries in shipping containers on the outskirts of Paris.

We find out if these pioneers of European urban farming are able to feed our growing cities.

Produced and presented by Dina Newman.

Picture credit: Getty Images

We visit farmers growing lettuce, herbs and strawberries indoors in the middle of cities. The plants are stacked up on shelves in vertical farms that use hydroponics and aeroponics to cultivate them.

We find out if these pioneers of European urban farming are able to feed our growing cities.

Produced and presented by Dina Newman.

Picture credit: Getty Images

Previous Episode

Making the world a quieter place

People around the world are coming up with ways to make the world a quieter place, from portable sound barriers to schemes to stop people honking their car horns.

The trouble is that noise from traffic, railways, builders, even neighbours, can have a huge impact on our health and wellbeing, according to the World Health Organization.

One of the solutions we look at reduces decibel levels around building sites and music festivals, while another collects acoustic data to help local councils enforce laws if people are being too noisy. Also, a woman in India is doing her bit to reduce noise levels on the streets of Mumbai.

Presented and produced by Anisa Subedar Picture credit: Getty Images

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The great spreadsheet in the sky

There’s a technology on the block which has the power to change all kinds of things for the better. If that power is harnessed, it has the potential to end corruption, protect your online identity and a whole lot more. Start-up companies and charities are using it in everything from tuna supply chains to medical records and ID documents and everything in between. The technology is blockchain and on this episode of People Fixing the World, we’ll explore whether its great potential can be realised. Produced and presented by Tom Colls Image: Blockchain illustration (Getty Images)