In a recent meeting someone raised the question where "rural" is in the term Rural Advisory Services.What is a rural area and what is not? The first and maybe obvious thing to do is to set rural up against urban: Outside the city is rural. But: This boundary is not - and probably was never - very clear. The growing cities eat up farm land and rural villages preserving sometimes some of the rural aspects, even whole farms. And villages farer out are mostly inhabited by city dweller that are seeking the green countryside but working in the inner city. The whole thing is called metropolitan area. In this area more and more like to grow their own food: family gardens and community farms are on the rise, urban farming is the new slogan.

And this is only the beginning according to some visionaries. How about producing crops and vegetables in large quantities right in the city centre? That's easily done if you build a skyscraper-greenhouse. Its called 'vertical farming' and the concept was brought up by Dickson Despommiers.
The concept postulates the construction of multistory greenhouses placed in a way to catch the most sun light. Mirrors could reflect the light even to inner parts of the building. The farm can produce organically by processing its own compost. The lower and inner parts of the building where the sun does not reach provide space for storage, packaging the harvest or even for first processing steps. It reuses its own waste water and can produce engergy with its excess plant material that is turned into methane.

Science fiction? Maybe. But not entirely new. One of the original Seven World Wonders of the Ancient World were the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.

Find more information at The Vertical Farm Project