the
innovative LEDGER
An e-Newsletter from The Innovative Edge™ Inc.
Vol.
9, No. 1 - January 2009
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Taking Agriculture to New Heights
By Jeff Govendo
Occasionally
I am compelled in this publication to replace my usual, outdated headshot
with an image of even greater interest (which some have suggested
I do every month).
What
you’re looking at is a farm located on Chicago’s waterfront.
Well alright, it’s not really there. Don’t expect to
see it as you’re flying over Lake Michigan on your way to O’Hare.
This
is a computer generated rendition of what a “skyscraper farm”
might look like if it actually existed. It’s one of many
that have been imagined by a group of environmental scientists and
urban planners who are intrigued by the concept of vertical farming:
large-scale crop production done on a tiny footprint in order to preserve
space, bring food closer to population centers, and greatly reduce
the need for fertilizers and pesticides.
We
humans have been farming much the same way for about 10,000 years.
While production methods, implements and other enhancements have evolved
over time, farming always been a largely horizontal enterprise
– spread out over acres and acres of usually flat land. But
as the world’s population continues to grow, along with the demand
for food, one can envision a time when there will not be sufficient
acreage to sustain us, particularly in rapidly developing countries
such a China and India. Additionally, there is increasing concern
over the environmental impact of transporting food to markets hundreds
or thousands of miles from where it’s grown.
Enter
Dickson Despommier, a professor of environmental health at Columbia,
who, along with his students, took the concept of urban rooftop gardening
to the next level (levels, if you will), by proposing a 30 story,
climate-controlled greenhouse structure capable of producing enough
food for 50,000 people. "With 160 of these buildings,"
he says, "you could feed all of New York."
Will
crop-growing buildings ever (sorry…) take root? Only time will
tell. There are certainly many practical issues to consider, not the
least of which is the cost effectiveness of a structure inhabited
mainly by vegetables. But the fact that it’s even being discussed
is a good example of thinking in an entirely new direction –
literally and figuratively – to address pressing real-world problems.
It’s a critical first step in the innovation process; and in
how humankind actually moves forward.
And
perhaps the most difficult. While we can sit bemused looking at pictures
of high rise farms in the middle of a city, one can imagine the response
the very first time somebody actually proposed the idea. "Too
costly!"…"Too many logistical problems!"…"That’s
not how farming is done!" Or the ever-popular, "That’s
just crazy!"
Now,
take these kinds of reactions and place them in a corporate environment,
where people’s jobs may rest on how they are perceived by their
managers and peers, and you can see why folks may be reluctant to
tap their creativity for answers. And why organizations often aren’t
as innovative as they could be.
In
our current troubled economy, most companies are hunkering down, trying
to cut costs, preserve cash and just keep the lights running, as well
they should. Innovation? That’s for flusher times.
But
ideas are free, and we won’t be hunkering forever. And, there’s
a very good argument why this is exactly the time to be encouraging
people use their imaginations against the very dilemmas we now face,
as well as for how we’ll be positioned when things finally do
turn around. In good times and bad, the capacity for innovation
has always been a key differentiator in the fortunes of our businesses.
It
simply can’t hurt to let your people think new thoughts.
Even
if they go against the grain.
