How this Rooftop Grew 20,000 lbs of Food

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  • Опубліковано 18 вер 2024
  • Permaculture Instructor Andrew Millison visits the biggest rooftop farm on the West Coast of the US located in Oakland, California. Designed and built by Benjamin Fahrer of Top Leaf Farms and operated by Deep Medicine Circle, this is an impressive project bringing food production, food security, and food justice to the heart of the city.
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КОМЕНТАРІ • 100

  • @bombadil776
    @bombadil776 6 годин тому +30

    Your stories have the best messages.

  • @djudju8047
    @djudju8047 6 годин тому +26

    Impressive work by these rooftop farmers.

  • @christinerenee5616
    @christinerenee5616 6 годин тому +55

    Can you imagine if every new flat-roofed building was required to have a roof like this? It could change everything.

    • @ceili
      @ceili 5 годин тому +7

      Yep, locally grown, efficient use of space. Not enough people/entrepreneurs and businesses out there to utilise all that unused space

    • @Dirt-Fermer
      @Dirt-Fermer 5 годин тому +20

      Don’t make it a requirement. Make it a tax deduction

    • @Dirt-Fermer
      @Dirt-Fermer 5 годин тому +2

      @@ceili safe from most thieves to

    • @Kitsune_Shirotsuki
      @Kitsune_Shirotsuki 4 години тому +1

      ​@@Dirt-Fermer unless the thief is a traitor, like usually

    • @lets7121
      @lets7121 4 години тому +5

      @@ceili definitely enough people. and we don't want to turn the rooftops into businesses. just Grow food and shARE IT.

  • @gardenmind4515
    @gardenmind4515 6 годин тому +37

    It'll take a long time for the snail and slugs to find your veggies! What a great project!

    • @jerryfeist318
      @jerryfeist318 6 годин тому +4

      I hadn't thought of that 😂

    • @buhu446
      @buhu446 6 годин тому +1

      lol that's a brilliant understanding of our ecosystem 😂

    • @Aimismyname
      @Aimismyname 6 годин тому +7

      slug: this is some bullshit

    • @olivere5497
      @olivere5497 5 годин тому +7

      When small they can get carried on shoe tread or in bags of mulch or the plummage of sparrows or pigeons.

    • @matthewanipen2418
      @matthewanipen2418 3 години тому +3

      Even the annoying critters serve a purpose and contribute to a balance. I'm sure they have an answer to that too!

  • @Im-just-Stardust
    @Im-just-Stardust 6 годин тому +20

    There are many big problems in this world, but the solutions are immense too.

  • @W4iteFlame
    @W4iteFlame 5 годин тому +13

    That is something I wish to see more of

  • @TurboLoveTrain
    @TurboLoveTrain 6 годин тому +7

    Thankyou for sharing this Andrew--these people are simply wonderful.

  • @sparetire3
    @sparetire3 5 годин тому +8

    Amazing video, if all cities could embrace this our world would be a better place.

  • @kevindolan2755
    @kevindolan2755 5 годин тому +3

    This actually made me spontaneously start crying. I’m so glad someone is doing this ❤️ 🙏

  • @aaronjgranados5698
    @aaronjgranados5698 6 годин тому +9

    Amazing inspiration. Love to see the change!

  • @julietteyork6293
    @julietteyork6293 6 годин тому +11

    So impressive

  • @WorldWideGardeningWizard
    @WorldWideGardeningWizard 3 години тому +2

    Love this! It cools and stores energy as food, creating green spaces, cleaning the air! Imagine how the city looks from above covered in these beautiful green roofs!

  • @articulateit-andgetwhatyouwant
    @articulateit-andgetwhatyouwant 6 годин тому +5

    THIS MUST GO VIRAL!!
    ❤PLEASE SHARE❤
    my daughter wants to be a gardener and I shared it with her 🥰

  • @essieamorin9976
    @essieamorin9976 6 годин тому +8

    Wow! Amazing.

  • @greatgongo3772
    @greatgongo3772 3 години тому +2

    I get so excited every time I see one of these videos. There genuinely isn’t any other channel that I get as excited about as this one. Thank you so much!

  • @andysPARK
    @andysPARK 6 годин тому +6

    Very impressive, well done.

  • @JelliinaCup
    @JelliinaCup 3 години тому +2

    OOOOOO That's the thinnest soil garden I've seen yet! That glassboard timelapse showing the irrigation was so cool!

  • @wotanmituns33
    @wotanmituns33 6 годин тому +21

    As solarpunk as it gets! 👏

    • @TurboLoveTrain
      @TurboLoveTrain 6 годин тому +4

      When permaculture and community farms is the counter culture... what a world.

    • @Dirt-Fermer
      @Dirt-Fermer 5 годин тому +4

      @@TurboLoveTrain it shouldn’t be counter, it should be worked into the culture by just doing it on your property and it will spread

    • @lets7121
      @lets7121 4 години тому

      as greenwashing as it gets. these apartment complex owners do these types of these to make them look green and moral. this is not solar punk. solar punk would be the tenants saying we want to garden the roof and doing that together, even if the owners said no. this is just another form of capitalist greenwashing.

  • @shadeedmuhammad8107
    @shadeedmuhammad8107 4 години тому +1

    Yeah Allen you did it again!!!!!! Great showing. Peace to you homie and much love

  • @NateLee-nc6tb
    @NateLee-nc6tb 3 години тому +1

    A spark of light in a time that seems so dark.

  • @oraculofantasy
    @oraculofantasy 6 годин тому +7

    How do you find all this amazing projects!!! I got amazed with the one located in the South of Spain, thanks for all the inspiration ❤

  • @thatguychris5654
    @thatguychris5654 5 годин тому +6

    Great concept! But here are a few issues not addressed:
    - If you take food out, you will have to haul nutrients in to replace it. Composting scraps helps keep some stuff on site, but the rest is gone.
    - The city pollution surrounding crops might not be the best idea.
    - There's no rain catchment, so most of the water is treated city water.
    - If power gets interrupted, you aren't hauling anything in or out.
    - I hope they have at least some worms up there. Not sure since they do thermal composting. Perhaps adding rabbit hutches will more wisely make use of the scraps, feeding people healthy meat while fertilizing the soil.

    • @rosemarymcbride3419
      @rosemarymcbride3419 3 години тому

      idk if oakland does city wide compost collection but i could imagine that would be a good source of input for projects like this

    • @brokentwilight3136
      @brokentwilight3136 Годину тому

      I think they use the same method as most farms, either organic or industrial fertilizer

  • @chriswilkinson9177
    @chriswilkinson9177 3 години тому +1

    Thank you for this episode! I pass by this building all the time, and I never understood how it worked. I love your content, and especially your visual explanations through art. You are very talented.

  • @Queencreole504
    @Queencreole504 5 годин тому +2

    This is amazing

  • @avgFloridian
    @avgFloridian 4 години тому +2

    It's nice to see another tactic to get around the current method of remote industrial food production that isn't working.

  • @arnelfernandez
    @arnelfernandez 5 годин тому +2

    Amazing and impressive! 😱

  • @gustavorubio5112
    @gustavorubio5112 5 годин тому +1

    Awesome, there is hope for the present and future, thanks for sharing this information.

  • @WiejskieInspiracjePL
    @WiejskieInspiracjePL 3 години тому +1

    Good idea, well done...

  • @raman5329
    @raman5329 5 годин тому +1

    Beautiful!

  • @feestuart2499
    @feestuart2499 Годину тому

    I like this so many are going hungry needlessly. Thanks for sharing

  • @ToukiMS
    @ToukiMS 2 години тому +1

    This is beyond awesome 🎉

  • @CitiesForTheFuture2030
    @CitiesForTheFuture2030 2 години тому +1

    Wow - I'm blown away! This is awesome... this is what cities should be like. This is very inspiring. Thank you.
    Question: as long as the roof can support the weight, isn't it better to use containers or self contained raised garden beds?
    One thing not mentioned: who owns the building (residential or commercial office?) - I'm sure employees can reduce work stress & increase productivity by helping out during work breaks, or just sit in amongst nature throughout the day.
    The green roof at Thammasat University in Bangkok feeds the campus plus community. Both these projects shines a light on quality urban living for all, irrespective of income level (good food is for everyone).
    Much blessings to all involved. I hope this catches on in every community in every city.

  • @derekelliott3971
    @derekelliott3971 6 годин тому +4

    Wow!

  • @PorchGardeningWithPassion
    @PorchGardeningWithPassion 57 хвилин тому +1

    This is an incredibly great idea! 👊🏻🌻👊🏻

  • @kelenaeddins3078
    @kelenaeddins3078 3 години тому +1

    This is AMAZING! ❤

  • @superduper7911
    @superduper7911 5 годин тому +2

    Seems pretty expensive but the one planning it is a genius

  • @colleeneggertson2117
    @colleeneggertson2117 Годину тому

    Wonderful. YWCA in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada has a rooftop garden and last I heard they donated the produce to people with food insecurity.

  • @omermann
    @omermann 4 години тому +1

    Great video love your work! ❤

  • @garciavashchino1
    @garciavashchino1 5 годин тому +4

    I've always thought, why don't roof tops for all buildings have either Solar/Farms/Greens/Parking... This video answered it... and it always went over my head... you have to plan the building around it.
    This probably kills my idea since the cost might be much higher than the owner/renters want to pay. I wonder if there is another way... Maybe the Solar since it's lighter... anyway...

  • @kristinraabe6887
    @kristinraabe6887 46 хвилин тому

    Awesome concept!!❤

  • @genebodjtb
    @genebodjtb 2 години тому +1

    it also reduces the cooling cost for the penthouse dwellers

  • @Eligriv_maitre_constructeur
    @Eligriv_maitre_constructeur 5 годин тому +2

    Solarpunk enjoyers are enjoying.

  • @Matty002
    @Matty002 Годину тому +1

    glad they thought about planting some native plants to help the local pollinating insects, including native bees, which are the ones in trouble

  • @bonniepoole1095
    @bonniepoole1095 57 хвилин тому

    Impressive!!!!

  • @greendsnow
    @greendsnow 4 години тому +3

    I don't believe that they're paying healthcare worker wages to their workers.
    I don't believe the produce is healthy either, considering all the car exhaust and all that.
    I don't even think this is an economically viable project.
    The question is: WHERE DOES THE MONEY COME FROM?

  • @donHooligan
    @donHooligan 4 години тому +1

    "This is the way." -Din Djarin

  • @zaired
    @zaired Годину тому

    you should do a video on lufa farms in montreal, they have 4 huge greenhouses on the roof of industrial and commercial buildings

  • @jackbrown3092
    @jackbrown3092 42 хвилини тому

    the gardener in me loves this. The facilities manager side of me hates this.

  • @matthewanipen2418
    @matthewanipen2418 3 години тому +1

    On top of all of these amazing benefits, how much does it contribute to controlling the climate of the building? With that much soil on top it almost feels like the building is slightly underground. The sides of the building I'm sure still get a lot of heat but the direct top seems quite insulated especially during the summer months.

  • @GallowglassAxe
    @GallowglassAxe 5 годин тому +2

    I really like this though its a shame you need a specialty roof to do something like this at this scale. I'm sure you could do smaller scale on regular rooftops. There should be some sort a tax incentive based on how much food and the diversity of the food you grow. I know its a bit more complicated than that but that is how taxation was done across the world for most of human history.

  • @gracealonso275
    @gracealonso275 48 хвилин тому

    Lovely, maybe you could provide your produce to a few restaurants to generate income to support the farm

  • @natealbatros3848
    @natealbatros3848 5 годин тому +1

    this is good but i have to play devil advocate here; they said that for those rooftop "farm" you need to take it into consideration at the engineering phase of the building so I wonder what the total cost (including the added engineering into the building) compared to a normal farm, also it would be interesting to know if such projects could work on already existing buildings and the cost of doing so in the many flat roof buildings

  • @AMPProf
    @AMPProf 5 годин тому +2

    Bet you could end up with new Employment Opportunities.

  • @MrMountainchris
    @MrMountainchris Годину тому

    This shoukd be required for all new flat roofed builds. Its such a waste of space otherwise. I can imagine a system of interconnected rooftop parks and farms connected by sky bridges like The High Line.

  • @yesstar6307
    @yesstar6307 5 годин тому +1

    🏆

  • @W4iteFlame
    @W4iteFlame 5 годин тому

    I have a bit of tricky question. So, in the cities most of the organic waste just goes into the city dump...which is a huge waste. And as far as I know if you just start composting it somewhere near the apartment building people will not be happy, cause kitchen scrap attracts all kind of animals. So...the question is: is there a solution that may help to use this kind of waste to grow something in the big city? I am thinking about it for some time now, yet I can not think of the answer

    • @jonatanolsen37
      @jonatanolsen37 5 годин тому

      In sweden we are required to take all our food waste in a special bin. It is taken by the recycling truck to a facility were it is made into compost and other organic compounds.

    • @W4iteFlame
      @W4iteFlame 5 годин тому

      @@jonatanolsen37 I wish we had similar system here...but there is none

    • @chriswilkinson9177
      @chriswilkinson9177 3 години тому

      This is in Oakland, CA and we have citywide composting

  • @hatz11
    @hatz11 5 годин тому +7

    "Through public funding" The whole time I'm watching this I'm wondering how something like this could be economically viable especially given that the entire building structure needs to be fortified for the massive amount of weight on the roof, which obviously make for a more costly build, and add on top of that everything is given away for free. Then the lady mentions public funding, and there in lies the rub - the only way something like this can be paid for is off the backs of the taxpayer. Seen it all too often

    • @hatz11
      @hatz11 5 годин тому +5

      I don't think I've ever gone back and commented on my own comment but I had to because the more I think about this, the more absurd I realize it is. As someone who has grown thousands of pounds of food, I know how cheap it is to plant stuff in the ground. You've taken something that has little to no cost (planting in the ground) and have raised that cost by orders of magnitude larger. It would be far more cost effective and efficient to buy a cheap piece of land just outside the city and plant inground and simply DRIVE the fresh produce to the city.

    • @kylecb
      @kylecb 4 години тому +4

      @@hatz11 All very fair points, and I was thinking along the same lines. I guess the real progress would be if they can come up with cheaper ways of making rooves 'plantable', because they are right that rooves are underutilized space. Unfortunately, the current plan sounded so expensive and un-repeatable. I say all this after watching and being super excited by the video - so I don't want to be a naysayer, but the reality is this gives vibes of: this is a short-term utopia until a new government/budget cycle comes and the funding stops. But I hope I'm wrong!

    • @amillison
      @amillison  4 години тому +5

      The costs were paid for by the developers because they wanted a farm on the roof. So the burden was paid for by the residents who buy or rent the apartments. You could look at it similarly to an apartment building that puts a swimming pool on the roof. There is extra cost involved to create an amenity that is valued by the residents. That is how the project installation was paid for.

    • @arcadiapermaculture974
      @arcadiapermaculture974 3 години тому +3

      "the only way something like this can be paid for is off the backs of the taxpayer. "
      It's not the only way - it's just the way that THIS one was funded. It seems that part of their goal is to develop the model and business case for it. If a business case is proved - ROI in ____ years in energy savings (cooling), food, property value, etc - then public funds won't be required.
      There's a good argument for the use of public funds is also covered in the video - if we view food access as a community issue - an "essential service" like sanitation, streetlights, and so forth, rather than an individual issue of every person for themselves - then investing in these models makes sense. There are public benefits to this project - in stormwater runoff alone - 1 inch of rain on a 1 acre rooftop = 27,000+ gallons. The farm undoubtedly absorbs a great deal of that. Without the farm, that runs directly into the storm sewers - and Oakland has some major issues with overloaded storm sewers dumping millions of gallons of untreated human waste into waterways, so holding more water where it falls is definitely part of a solution. Lower dependence on food banks and other community services, less traffic on the roads, less pollution, water purification, cleaner air, supporting wildlife - there's lots of other indirect public benefits.

    • @hatz11
      @hatz11 3 години тому +1

      @@amillison How much extra did something like this cost? The amenity is not comparable to a pool if most of the amenity is given away. I can understand people may value this, but that does not make it economically viable and would love to see where the developers received their funding from

  • @mtrisi
    @mtrisi 6 годин тому +3

    I wonder how much asphalt and tire debris ends up in the finished product in these city farms.

    • @TurboLoveTrain
      @TurboLoveTrain 6 годин тому +6

      I'm significantly more concerned about how much asphalt, tire debris, heavy metal shedding and exotic chemicals from surface water runoff go from surface water runoff straight through stormwater and into the ocean with zero treatment... which is where ocean acidification comes from.

    • @jerryfeist318
      @jerryfeist318 6 годин тому +4

      I can't imagine much asphalt and tire debris ends up hundreds of feet in the air on a roof. That's probably more of a concern at your typical rural farm just from wind and water run-off than it is at an urban rooftop farm.

    • @brokentwilight3136
      @brokentwilight3136 Годину тому

      @@TurboLoveTrain The ocean acidification is caused by rising levels of atmospheric CO2, which desolves in the water this causes the pH value to become more acidic. However the problems you listed are indeed a serious danger to water quality worldwide, but not the cause of ocean acidification

  • @aenorist2431
    @aenorist2431 4 години тому +3

    Its amazing what you can do if money is no object.

  • @mvadu
    @mvadu 5 годин тому +4

    Impressive project.. 2:00 how much does that additional engineering and construction adds to a typical cost of the building (in x% added cost).