The great spreadsheet in the sky

04/28/20 • 24 min

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)

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The farmers moving their fields indoors

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

Next Episode

A Sporting Chance

We all know that sport is great for our health - and if you’re talented it can bring you great riches. But this week we look at how sport is changing lives and giving hope to young people leading the toughest lives. In Cape Town, South Africa, a British surfer noticed how kids from poor townships hardly ever went to the beach. So he started giving them free surfing lessons. Now hundreds go along each week to get “surfing therapy”. Not only is surfing giving them a buzz, it's helping to improve their life chances. In Afghanistan we meet the people who have brought skateboarding to the streets. As well as being an exciting challenge, it’s giving girls in particular a safe place to do sport and changing their outlook on life. And in one of the more deprived parts of London we find out how horse riding - a sport normally associated with the elite - is now inspiring young people from all backgrounds. Reporter/Producer: Richard Kenny