The Campaign

60% of the world already lives in cities. Cities must be more self-sufficient. Large scale farming can only take place on rooftops. But we need everybody to farm, to connect back to nature. So the solution is Fertile Windows. Any window with sunlight is a farm. Vertical farming is the best solution in a space starved cities. Hydroponic is also the best way given the need to be nimble and portable. But the real goal is to get urban farming data. The sensor will upload into a cloud and we can all access it.

Creative Execution

We are using all existing technology but putting them in unexpected ways. The tube will follow nature's bamboo design. The hydroponic chamber is humid and keeps water evaporation low. The current sensor is used in fish tanks to monitor water quality as well as nitrates, a key component in plant fertilizer. Lastly, we have to design a system to upload all data where everyone can access it. Ideally, it should be linked to google maps so we can see what grows best where. No one is doing this. I need to find people to collaborate on this.

We still need to make the prototype smaller. No more than 80 cm long by 14cm diameter if possible. We need to build in the solar panel into the tube itself. Build the app enabled connected urban farming system. You know what yours and other fertile windows are growing. Our combined experience is creating a urban farming home One Kind House in Singapore as well as Social Farms, which is a pure hydroponic farm in Jalan Penjara Singapore.

Fertile Windows is a prototype Solar powered hydronic unit. Fertile Windows can hold up to 6 plants. A small pump brings water up to the top where it trickles down onto the roots of the plant. We have hacked a sensor to monitor nutrient level, PH and temperature. So the idea is to create a global map of urban farming data across all the cities in the world, so we know what grows best in which city, block and season. No one is doing this in the world. This is needed to turn concrete jungles fertile.