Vertical Farm
Dickson Despommier
With rising global populations putting ever more pressure on farm land, the race is on to find new ways of feeding the world. Solutions to this issue include vertical farms; a revolutionary new idea to create high rise farms within the urban environment.
As part of our long-term commitment to urgent stories of our time, MIF is exploring an ambitious project to create a new vertical farm in a disused tower block right here in Manchester.
Launched at MIF 2011, this is a project in planning for the 2013 Manchester International Festival. For now, we are in the early development and feasibility phases, exploring different models and options for build, installation and delivery of the work. As plans develop we will be working with key community partners to identify new opportunities for local engagement. Keep up to date with progress in the run up to 2013 on www.alphafarm.org.
Press enquiries to catharine.braithwaite@mif.co.uk
Dickson Despommier
Dickson Despommier is the pioneer of the Vertical Farm movement. He spent thirty eight years as a professor of microbiology and public health in environmental health sciences at Columbia, where he won the Best Teacher award six times and received a national award for teaching. His work on vertical farms has received much media attention and been featured by BBC, CNN and The Tonight Show, as well as in full-length articles in The Guardian, Time Magazine, Scientific American, and The New York Times. He recently spoke at the TED Conference and the World Science Festival, has addressed audiences at leading universities, including Harvard and MIT, and has been invited by the governments of China, India, Mexico, Jordan, Brazil, Canada, and Korea to work on environmental problems. Despommier lives in Fort Lee, New Jersey.
