From global to local food

“All forms of culture originate from the stomach.”

-- Frederick, the Great

Havana in Cuba is known around the world for its premium blends of hand-rolled cigars catering to different tastes, ranging from the mild robusto natural to the full bodied Scarface.

However, little known around the world — and what Germans are now ‘hooked’ to — is ‘agricultura urbana’ (urban farming) practised in Havana and other Cuban cities, which is not just about producing one’s own vegetables but more about creating an urban living, working and meeting place.

So, in the summer of 2009, non-profit company Nomadisch Gruen leased a site in Berlin/Kreuzberg to create a mobile urban farm called Prinzessinnengarten (Princess Gardens), a 6,000-sq.m site which had been a wasteland for over half a century. The local residents worked hard to collect and dispose years of accumulated garbage, and built transportable organic vegetable plots.

Hodgepodge of cultures

The Kreuzberg district in Berlin has been a hodgepodge of cultures, with inhabitants hailing from East and Central Europe, the Mediterranean, Africa, Asia and Latin America.

In keeping with this cultural miscellany, the Moritzplatz urban garden in Berlin grows everything — from Turkish tomatoes to root vegetables and citrus fruits from Morocco; from Russian winter squash, snow peas, and iceberg lettuce to Italian parsley; from potatoes of African and South American origin to mint, herbs, savory, basil and cilantro from around the globe.

Since its inception in 2009, Moritzplatz is now transformed into an urban garden, cafe and place of working, learning and relaxing. Over a thousand volunteers have helped the place to grow from an unsightly vacant plot into a paradise. Over 100,000 visitors come to Moritzplatz each year to see this mini utopia for the sustainable city of the future.

The dining tables of Germany, the UK and France are mainly filled by South European countries – Spain and Italy and the Benelux countries of Netherlands and Belgium. Bananas are the most popular imported fruit to the EU, accounting for 65 per cent of fruit imports.

Other popular imported fruit include apples, grapes and several citrus fruits. The largest third-country suppliers to the EU market are South Africa, Costa Rica, and several Central and South American countries.

Obviously, much of the food on European dining tables leaves a heavy carbon footprint.

Awareness of this fact is growing across Europe and every available space in big cities is, therefore, being used to let new green spaces bloom — green spaces that local residents themselves create and use to produce fresh and healthy food. The locally produced herbs and vegetables are grown in raised compost beds without using any pesticides or artificial fertilisers.

The results are becoming evident in increased biological diversity, less carbon emission and a better microclimate.

Similar projects are springing up in other cities of Germany and numerous cities across Europe.

Aquaponics

Yet another initiative in Berlin is The Frisch vom Dach, or ‘Fresh from the Roof’ project that is creating a 7,000-sq.m roof garden, complete with a fish farm, to provide Berliners with sustainable, locally-grown food. The idea is to take advantage of all free urban spaces, from rooftops and vacant lots, to derelict industrial parks, to grow food.

Aquaponics combines traditional aquaculture or fish farming with hydroponics, the cultivation of vegetables in water. The result is a food production system that reduces both water consumption and waste.

Although the water-based aquaponic concept was invented in the 1970s, the ‘Fresh from the Roof’ team say their project is the first rooftop garden to use the technology for a global size and scale.

This project makes it obvious that food can be produced without fertilisers, pesticides or antibiotics. Similar projects are sprouting up across Europe, in Copenhagen, Stockholm, Zurich, Vienna, Amsterdam and Paris.

Sustainable societies

In cities such a Mumbai, Bangalore or Chennai, an average of ten million sq.m of rooftops could easily be transformed into gardens.

It would be possible to provide vegetables and fruits to 10 per cent of the local population without using chemical inputs and with minimal emission of greenhouse gases, since no transportation is involved.

As the world urbanises rapidly, finding unique ways to get food closer to the consumer is inevitable. The United Nations estimates that by 2050, two out of every three people on earth will live in a city.

In this scenario, the Prinzessinnengarten and similar initiatives in Europe demonstrate that small-scale interventions contribute to a progressive, sustainable society.

(The author is former Europe Director, CII, and lives in Cologne, Germany.)