UBC’s Food Services harvested leafy greens from a compact indoor growing pod at the UBC Orchard Commons dining hall, with researchers using the system to study year-round food production in built spaces.
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UBC researchers and students harvested leafy greens earlier this week from a compact indoor growing pod at the UBC Orchard Commons dining hall, then served the produce through campus dining.
The pod is being used as a full-scale research prototype and “living laboratory” to examine how food production can be integrated into buildings and city infrastructure while supporting year-round growing in remote communities.
Project lead Anubhav Pratap-Singh, an associate professor in the faculty of land and food systems, said in a press release that the system is “not simply a greenhouse,” but “a smart, digitally connected food production system” that can be used to study nutritional and sensory quality of produce and consumer response.
Following this week’s first-ever harvest event, researchers plan to explore how these systems could be integrated into buildings and community spaces such as universities, community centres or hospitals, while also studying nutritional quality and public perceptions.
They will also compare produce grown in the pod with similar items available in grocery stores, including examining growing conditions and perceptions of food produced within residential buildings or community infrastructure.
Pratap-Singh said the project is aimed at answering: “why should cities only consume food? Why can’t cities and rural communities actually grow their own food?”
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