You don't need soil or even outdoor space to grow food. This video takes us to The Science Barge, a boat on the Hudson River in ... Midtown Manhattan!
They are growing acres worth of food in a small space using revolutionary methods. Water is circulated through several times, meaning they use 5-10 times less water than conventional gardening. They use fertilizer from fish waste, since they are also raising fish. They compost the vegetable scraps, generating worms, and feed the worms to the fish... who in turn fertilize the crops!
It is just awe inspiring to see this lush organic food paradise thriving within a mile or two of the Empire State Building.
Talk about vertical gardening --they are growing food that would take 5-10 times more space if it were outdoors!
Benjamin Linsley of NY Sunworks says that if all the flat rooftops (5,000 hectars) in New York were used for gardening, using these technologies, it could feed 15 million people.
This is an important component of cities becoming more self reliant and growing at least some of their food locally, on the roof.