Just interviewed Stephen Smith Kennedy Jr. for next week's show.  His father was political advisor and finance chairman for the presidential campaign of John F. Kennedy.  He also managed the presidential campaigns of Robert and Edward Kennedy.

Stephen Smith Kennedy Jr. is working on a really interesting agricultural project in which crops are being grown vertically and precisely with much less water and energy inputs.  On 7000 square feet you can grow the equivalent of ten to sixty acres.  I'll tell you more specifics momentarily but now I want to say this about the interview:  the company with which he is a minority partner is designed to put military veterans to work and also has all military veterans on the board.  We talked about how interesting and unique this is.  If military minds are thinking green, isn't it okay for Republicans in Washington to do the same?  I just like the fact that he is helping to repay a debt to our nation's veterans that frankly we can never pay enough of to pay it off.  What they've done and endured is beyond this nation's ability to fully repay. 

I also like that this system could put a lot of people to work all across America.  Why shouldn't we grow our own local vegetables?  Why not use extra roof space?  Why not promote food security?  Right now transportation miles are a huge factor in food costs.  Plus, transportation miles increase oil dependency and create the kinds of greenhouse gas emissions many scientists have linked with humanmade global warming.  In California and the West, drought is omnipresent.  We just had two weeks of rains but in a few months we will be bone dry.  We are a desert.  And what about the Middle East?  The Middle East is a net food importer by a big margin.  Wherever water is scarce, the system makes huge sense.  And it is scarce here in Califonria, especially for farmers up and down the San Joaquin Valley.

In every city I can see the system putting people to work growing local vegetables that are healthy, nutritious and doing good things for our nation.

There are pilot demonstration projects going on now with America's mayors throughout the country.  Stephen mentioned Denver and Manhattan--and there will be many many more.  This is a good way to spread the wealth.  Smtih Kennedy talked about that a lot.  Let's not concentrate power, he said, referring both to business and energy.    It's economical.  It helps put people to work, and it produces good healthy food with far fewer environmental costs. 

The real idea behind green is that nature makes its will known to us at all times.  We must adapt to nature.  Adaptation causes innovation and is almost always in response to environmental or outside stresses.  

Now here's the lowdown from Valcent Products, the company with which he has partnered (with his US company) to introduce the concept to the USA:

Valcent Products Inc. (OTCBB: VCTZF) introduces its revolutionary VertiCrop high density vertical growth system, technology that provides a solution to rapidly increasing food costs caused by transportation/fuel costs spiraling upwards with the cost of oil. Together with higher cost comes a reduction in availability and nutritional values in the food we consume.

Developed over several years by Valcent and Valcent (EU), the system is designed to grow vegetables and other foods much more efficiently and with greater food value than in agricultural field conditions. The VertiCrop system demonstrates the following characteristics:

Produces approximately 20 times the normal production volume for field crops Requires 5% of the normal water requirements for field crops Can be built on non arable lands and close to major city markets Can work in a variety of environments: urban, suburban, countryside, desert etc. Does not use herbicides or pesticides Will have very significant operating and capital cost savings over field agriculture Will drastically reduce transportation costs to market resulting in further savings, higher quality and fresher foods on delivery, and less transportation pollution Will be easily scalable from small to very large food production situations

How It Works

The VertiCrop system grows plants in a suspended tray system moving on an overhead conveyor system. The system is designed to provide maximum sunlight and precisely correct nutrients to each plant. Ultraviolet light and filter systems exclude the need for herbicides and pesticides. Sophisticated control systems gain optimum growth performance through the correct misting of nutrients, the accurate balancing of PH and the delivery of the correct amount of heat, light and water.

Why Now?
 

 

 

 

VertiCrop - The Solution

In a rapidly urbanizing world where the majority of people now live in cities, localization requires that food and fuel be produced in an urban context. At present, there are no examples of a locally sustained urban community anywhere in the world. Urban sustainability is yet to be realized primarily because urban agriculture presents a number of technological challenges. The main challenge is a lack of growing space.

Vertical growing is a new idea currently emerging in the sustainability discourse which offers great promise for increasing urban production. Vertical growing systems have been proposed as possible solutions for increasing urban food supplies while decreasing the ecological impact of farming. The primary advantage of vertical growing is the high density production it allows using a much reduced physical footprint and fewer resources relative to conventional agriculture. Vertical growing, hydroponics and greenhouse production have now been combined into an integrated commercial production system, a system that has major potential for the realization of environmentally sustainable urban food and fuel production.
 

• Food and Fuel Safety, Security and Sovereignty
• Local Food is Better for Public Health
• Building Local Economies
• Control of Externalities and True Costs