FWOP has been involved in various urban and rural agriculture projects in Mexico, Costa Rica and USA for many years. Our FWOP colleague, Dr. Isidor Wallimann, a leader in social economy and urban gardens ( some 5000) in Basel, Switzerland. Basel. Social Economy focuses upon unemployed and underemployed in Basel. http://urbanagriculturebasel.ch/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Social-and-Solidarity-Economy-for-Sustainable-Development-Perspectives-and-the-Social-Economy-Basel-Example-of-Practice.pdf
Bonton Farms in Dallas is a Texas attempt to restore hope in a depressed urban community.
https://www.facebook.com/pg/bontonfarms/videos/?ref=page_internal
Hydroponics and Aquaponics
Flor de Campo, a small village near Mazamitla, Mexico , was our first attempt with Aquaponics. UNT students teamed up with locals to build the structure according to Oscar Padilla Mexican Insurance standards. Spring water feed the pond with fresh water continuously, using gravity. Alga
e and bugs feed the fish.
More recently FWOP has stimulated Denton Rotary Club to install four Aquaponic units near CATIE in Costa Rica. One unit has been built in Lewisville, Texas by the Lewisville Morning Rotary Club.
Recently, we learned that UNT had a hydroponic system in a container called ‘The Greeney’ that provides fresh green vegetables year around. For clean and green environment all year round check out http://maidthisfranchise.com. While expensive, the production of high quality vegetables was determined to pay for the ‘ farm in container’ in 2- 3 years. UNT plans to buy three more units to provide vegetables for their many dining halls. https://www.freightfarms.com/
Ohio State has created a Controlled Environment Food Production Research Complex. “ A greenhouse production system can potentially produce 10 times the yield in the same square-foot area as outdoor land, because crops are grown year-round in a closed structure that protects them from winds, hail and pests. Professor Chieri Kubota comments: “ Controlled environment was originally designated to do intensive production close to cities where people live … that model is making more and more sense . “ Also allows to control E. coli outbreaks when they occur. https://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/news/2018/08/21/construction-of-ohio-state-universitys-food.htm
