# data[].attributes.body
Our group, consisting of Maxine (602), Htoo Myat (603), Martin (603), Whelan (602) and Lixon (602) had a fruitful visit to Sky Greens where we learnt lots on the current scene of farming in Singapore, new alternative forms of farming, vertical farming and how Sky Greens operates in particular.

# data[].attributes.body
Sky Greens was founded to find an innovate green urban solution that ensures food resiliency in land scarce city states like Singapore. The Inventor and Founder of Sky Greens, Mr Jack Ng, have actualised the solution through high-rise vertical farming systems to achieve higher yields per unit area of land and minimal land, water and energy resources.

Sky Greens Mission:

To constantly provide improved agricultural solutions with minimal impact on land, water and energy resources through invention and innovation

To help cities secure food supply security and food safety targets

To promote and enable seamless integration of low carbon footprint agriculture into urban living

- Martin

References
Sky Greens https://www.skygreens.com/about-skygreens/

# data[].attributes.body
Sky Greens current produce includes:

- Sky Mini Mao Bai
- Sky Mini Cai Xin
- Sky Mini Xiao Bai Cai

These vegetables are grown as they are staples for an Asian diet and are easier to grow compared to other vegetables. These vegetables are then harvested and packed to be transported straight to the supermarket on refrigerated trucks. As Sky Greens grows, more farms for other vegetables would be made.

- Whelan

References:
1. Sky Greens Vegetables https://www.skygreens.com/skygreens-vegetables/

# data[].attributes.body
This is where the used dirt is collected. Chicken manure, soy bean waste and other green waste is added to the dirt and allowed to rest for 2-3 days. The chicken manure is processed by a company to prevent flies from gathering.

This lets Sky Greens rely minimally on outside assistance to produce its own compost. We are intrigued by their use of soy bean waste, since it's not something we expected will value-add a lot to compost. But Sky Greens' successful manure formula proves otherwise, and we're happy to have learnt a new use for soy bean waste!
- Maxine

# data[].attributes.body
At first, we thought Sky Greens was a farm solely specialising in its patented vertical farm technology. But we saw this rainwater catchment, and had a different perspective.

This is where rainwater is collected to be used in both watering the vegetables and moving the water wheel. The water after powering the waterwheel and watering the plant is then collected back at the rainwater catchment to be purified and reused again. Hyacinths in it purify the water, the fish in it eat mosquitoes, and the waste produced nourish the plants.

The Sky Greens guide shared that this catchment alone supported most of their annual water needs.  We were surprised by this very efficient usage of water. It was a timely lesson, that good farming isn't always about the newest of technology or the most cutting-edge of inventions, but rather can just be about responsible management of resources too.
- Maxine

# data[].attributes.body
Here is the waterwheel. It uses the collected rainwater to move the plants a full circuit in 16 hours. The collected rainwater is also used to water the plants by filling the entire shelf that the seed trays are placed on. The waterwheel can be speed up to allow for harvesting of the produce. The entire process takes less manpower than the traditional farm.
- Lixon

# data[].attributes.headline
A variant vertical farm floating on water 

# data[].attributes.subject
A variant vertical farm floating on water 

# data[].attributes.body
Martin investigated the floating vertical farms while on the guided tour in Sky Greens!

For this floating vertical farm, the rainwater is collected below the farm to be used. Like the other rainwater catchments, it has fish in them whose waste fertilizes the plants. But unlike the others, this farm uses the normally-unusable area over the water. This saves even more space!

This is something we think has a lot of promise for Sky Greens. Although combining water catchment and agriculture seems unconventional, this is something that can be done in partnership with central catchment areas and reservoirs for example. If space can be allocated for SkyGreen's A-shaped frames to be set up, it can more readily expand its business into the city.
- Htoo Myat

# data[].attributes.headline
Rows and rows of greenhouses housing the vertical farms

# data[].attributes.subject
Rows and rows of greenhouses housing the vertical farms

# data[].attributes.body
Thanks to the invention of this waterwheel powered rotating shelves, the total area used by the entire farm is much less than the average farm producing the same amount of produce, achieving ten times more yield than the average output of 90 tones per ha per year.

This would be very useful in countries with scarce land area like Singapore. However, there is a drawback: if the rotations are not dilligently monitored, there will be unequal exposure of the plants to sunlight. This can harm the crops that are underexposed. So Sky Greens has to pay attention to the rotation rates and patterns to have consistently healthy crops. Another disadvantage is the vegetables near the center of the greenhouses experience less sunlight compared to the greenhouse along the edges. To compensate for this, Sky Greens allow the vegetables grown in these shelves to grow for 2 or 3 more days.
- Martin

# data[].attributes.headline
Other variants to vertical farming not in Sky Greens

# data[].attributes.subject
Other variants to vertical farming not in Sky Greens

# data[].attributes.body
1. Sustenir Agriculture employs vertical farming which uses artificial lights to grow the crops in an indoor environment.
2. ZipGrow Towers are metal frames which has a slot down the entire pipe for the plants to grow out of. These pipes are attached to an existing wall outside.
3. Green Spirit Farms has invented a rotary farm, The rotary farms have vegetables planted in the inside of the ring which holds their troughs and a light is fixed in the center of the ring providing constant light to all the vegetables. The rotary farms could be placed on shelves to conserve land area.
4. Comcrop Singapore has vertical farms similar to Sky Greens with the exception of the waterwheel to rotate the water pipes which the vegetables are planted in. Instead the water pipes are stacked so plants on the lower sections are not blocked from the sunlight. Like Sky Greens water is pumped through the pipe, filtered by the roots of plants and fed into the fish tanks where fish excrete waste which are nutrients for the plants as the water is pumped back into the pipes.

- Whelan

References:
1. Sustenir Agriculture http://www.susteniragriculture.com/about
2. ZipGrow Towers http://www.zipgrow.com/technology/
3. Green Spirit Farms http://seedstock.com/2013/06/10/vertical-farming-venture-achieves-sustainability-and-success-in-new-buffalo-michigan/
4.Comcrops Singapore http://comcrop.com/#about

# data[].attributes.headline
8 benefits of Sky Greens compared to a traditional farm

# data[].attributes.subject
8 benefits of Sky Greens compared to a traditional farm

# data[].attributes.body
Sky Greens isn't just a different type of farm: it's simply better than many traditional farms out there.

1. 10 times more yield than the average output of 90 tonnes per hectare per year.

2. Uses 95% less water, due to no water runoff as the water is used to power the waterwheel and recycled into the catchment area.

3. Because of natural lighting, reduced electrical cost compared to other traditional and vertical farms which use artificial lights.

4. 75% less labour compared to traditional farms for the same output; the shelves are lowered for easier placement of seed troughs and harvesting.

5. 75% less input compared to traditional farms to due to calculation of plant requirements and no water runoff.

6. The unique rotating-shelf greenhouses used in Sky Green protect the vegetables from any severe weather that could damage them. This is an advantage that traditional farms that plant in open areas cannot enjoy.

7. It is easier to manage pests in SkyGreens, because the separated individual shelves in the same greenhouse make it hard for pests to move from one shelf to another.

8.  Sky Greens' A-shaped frames allow for flexible use of space for vegetable growing. Not only can space be saved for growing the same amount of produce as a traditional farm, changing crop types is easier for Sky Greens, by simply changing soil, nutrient and lighting compositions per shelf. In traditional farming, to repurpose the same plot of land for different crops requires time-consuming processes like crop-rotation strategies.

Certainly, Sky Greens has many definitive advantages over traditional farms. We think Sky Greens is in a position to promote urban farming in Singapore, and its expansion is a slow but very possible outcome in the future.
- Htoo Myat

References:
1. Sky Greens Technology https://www.skygreens.com/technology/
2. Vertical Farming http://www.verticalfarm.com/?page_id=36