Innovative urban farming techniques tested in collaboration with restaurant

In collaboration with the Stockholm restaurant Urban Deli, IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute and KTH Food are launching a project to promote circular food production in urban environments. The project explores innovative technologies that can transform urban residual flows into food-producing resources.

Three small-scale farming sites have been set up at Urban Deli, KTH Royal Institute of Technology and IVL to test different technologies and methods that can promote sustainable urban farming, including how LED lighting can be optimized to save energy and how nutrients and substrates from other urban waste streams can be used.

"This collaboration is an exciting step in understanding and developing circular food systems. Through our joint farming sites, we can test technologies such as nutrient recycling from urban residual flows and create a model for long-term smart and sustainable food production in cities across Europe", says Michael Martin, researcher and project manager at IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute.

Improving diversity in urban farming

The project entails a series of experiments including both short and long production cycles with crops such as lettuce, beans and tomatoes. The aim is also to broaden the range of crops that can be grown commercially in urban environments, such as mushrooms, berries, plant-based proteins and other plants. To ensure the products are safe for consumption, samples of water and biomass will be tested for potential contaminants.

"We're proud to be able to contribute to this research and to share knowledge about sustainable farming with our visitors. Our vision is to inspire more actors to invest in circular food systems, and we like to be involved in testing things", says Håkan Sjöström, site manager at Urban Deli.

The project is part of the EU project FOCUSE, where researchers from IVL and KTH study how urban farming can become more resource-efficient and environmentally friendly, by finding synergies with other flows that exist in cities.

"One challenge with current urban farming systems is that they are often heavily dependent on material and energy sourced from outside the area. Therefore, the overall goal of FOCUSE is to see how urban farming can become more resource efficient by finding these synergies with other flows,’ says Michael Martin.

By bringing research closer to the public and making the results of the farming projects available, Urban Deli, KTH Food and IVL hope to inspire and create greater awareness of the food system of the future. At Urban Deli in Hagastaden, a greenhouse is available for the public to visit.

Read more about FOCUSE External link, opens in new window..

For more information, contact:
Michael Martin, michael.martin@ivl.se tel. +46 (0)10-788 66 81
Natalie de Brun Skantz, natalie.debrun.skantz@ivl.se, tel. +46 (0)10-788 65 06