Urban farming is on the rise here and green-thumbed Singaporeans are developing new solutions to cultivate plants in better and more efficient ways; such as making vertical farms the size of wine fridges or creating special enzyme solutions to boost plant health.
The Straits Times checks in with three groups from the new generation of innovative gardeners.
Bukit Batok’s Cosy Garden
Called Cosy Garden, it is a delightful space for the neighbourhood. The garden comprises three separate plots of land with sculptures, landscaping, flowers, herbs and a butterfly enclosure. Since 2014, the garden has won numerous awards from the National Parks Board.
Every six months, several volunteer gardeners from Bukit Batok go to wholesale vegetable and fruit markets to ask stall owners for rotting produce, which will be taken back to their community garden at Block 106 Bukit Batok Central.
The produce is used to make enzyme solutions, which help plants better absorb nutrients. Unlike chemical fertilisers, the enzymes are made from natural and organic materials.
The garden is led by three gardeners who live in the neighbourhood: Ms May Lee, 62; Ms Cheryl Wee, 55; and Mr Tan Swee Ching, 48. In 2015, all three attended a course in Maejo University in Chiang Mai, Thailand, about organic farming.
Always ready to share their knowledge, Mr Tan, Ms Lee and Ms Wee hold ad-hoc sessions for groups interested in learning to make enzyme solutions. So far, they have talked to the likes of those at Yuhua Community Centre, Kim Tian East Residents’ Committee and the Institute of Mental Health.
In December, the trio, along with seven members of their community garden, will go to Cambodia to share their skills with villagers and farmers there.
Greenology; communicating with plants
If plants could talk, what would they say? This is the question Mr Veera Sekaran, 55, is hoping to answer with his company’s newest innovation – a network of sensors that can help humans “communicate” with plants.
The sensors, which are placed into the soil and surrounding ecosystem, react with compounds in the environment to measure variables such as light levels, tilt of the plants and the amount of water in the soil. This information is transmitted wirelessly to a mobile or tablet device, so users can monitor the state of their plants round the clock – 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The technology is not new, he says. But his systems take it one step further, by monitoring other variables, such as the amount of fertiliser in the soil as well as the tilt of the plants. The information is also presented in one user-friendly, integrated platform.
This allows for “predictive maintenance”, which prevents mishaps such as falling trees because the user is alerted the moment a tree begins to tilt dangerously.
His company Greenology, set up in 2008, offers urban greening and farming solutions. Its clients include Shaw Centre, Changi General Hospital and Changi Airport. He is now working with a local company on improving his remote sensor technology. A year ago, he also began refining the sensitivity of the sensors that monitor plant tilt. He is also interested in incorporating advanced digital technology into horticulture, such as the proprietary system he has developed for users to access the sensor data remotely.
G-Cube Cultivator; home cultivation
About the size of a wine fridge, the G-Cube Cultivator is a special machine that allows users to grow crops in the comfort of their home. The temperature, humidity and light inside are programmed to suit different plants, which means non-local varieties of lettuce, spinach and round baby carrots can be grown. It is the first climate-controlled vertical farming equipment that can be used at home in Singapore.
Project G-Cube was started earlier this year by Mr Lester Chan and Mr Kelvin Koh, both 32, two long-time friends and ex-schoolmates at Chinese High and Hwa Chong Junior College. Their social enterprise aims to promote sustainable agriculture in Singapore and encourage urban farming in homes.
The technology for climate-controlled cultivation is not new. It is used in vertical farms, but on a larger scale, and is often operated out of shipping containers or purpose-built warehouses.
Mr Chan came across a small cultivator prototype in China while on a business trip, and decided to bring the product to Singapore through a white-label arrangement, meaning that while that Chinese company makes the product, his company will brand, market and sell it. His aim was to “decentralise urban farming” and “bring down the cost for the consumer“.
Project G-Cube has donated three cultivators to Hwa Chong Institution, which in turn is giving all the crops to Food from the Heart soup kitchen. The company also pledges to donate a cultivator for every 10 that it sells.
Mr Chan says “we hope this is a way for more people to introduce healthier, chemical-free greens into their lives. It’s a big lifestyle change, but one that people can easily achieve without sacrificing much time or money.”
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Source: The Straits Times, 14 October 2017