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Why don't grocery stores grow vegetables on their roof?
Posted on 10/4/14 at 8:07 am
Posted on 10/4/14 at 8:07 am
Seriously. Why don't grocery stores do this? Obviously, they have a lot of underutilized sq. footage available. They could set up automation/sprinklers to handle a lot of daily/mundane tasks (hydroponic) . It seems like it would take minimal labor -- I would think the labor would cost less than the fuel required to ship produce. Cooling costs (for inside) would likely be lowered. You could get fresher, higher quality and cheaper vegetables.
Home depot maintains their garden area with specialized gardeners who are responsible for watering, fertilizing, etc. Tomatoes, squash, cucumbers...these are all really easy to grow. This seems like a slam dunk. Why don't more do it? Is there a weight/support issue with these roofs? It seems like hydroponic systems wouldn't weigh that much.
LINK
Here is what these guys do (they PAY rent for the roof space and the architecture/building required to prepare and support the roof!):
Home depot maintains their garden area with specialized gardeners who are responsible for watering, fertilizing, etc. Tomatoes, squash, cucumbers...these are all really easy to grow. This seems like a slam dunk. Why don't more do it? Is there a weight/support issue with these roofs? It seems like hydroponic systems wouldn't weigh that much.
LINK
Here is what these guys do (they PAY rent for the roof space and the architecture/building required to prepare and support the roof!):
quote:
"We come in on the rooftop as a tenant of the building. We rent the rooftop space. We pay for the upgrade, the insurance costs, the fixed costs for planning and development and the soft costs of architects, etc. We take all of that on. We outsource the equipment. We don't invent technologies. We're taking existing proven technologies and applying them to this rooftop. Then we make our money off the sale of the produce. The technology is controlled-environment greenhouses, year-around systems keeping constant temperatures and controlling the environment there. No pesticides, no herbicides, all integrative pest management systems and composting and trying to use paper and food waste from the building as the nutrient stream for our plants."
A typical project covers about 20,000 square feet -- about half an acre -- and fairly efficient, says Agoada. "Our growing techniques use somewhere between 5% and 10% of the water that they're using to grow lettuce out in Salinas Valley," in California's Central Valley, considered the nation's breadbasket. Given that around 80% of water use in the state goes toward agriculture -- and about a fifth of the state's total energy use goes to move and treat water -- such efforts could create significant water-efficiency and greenhouse gas benefits, should the Sky Vegetables model catch on.
Posted on 10/4/14 at 8:16 am to a want
If another company wanted to rent the space to do this, I don't know why they wouldn't allow it. It's not their own business model, though, and may not want to take on the additional cost & liability while changing their business model to do so. On that note, I wonder what new regulations apply to growing food for sale from a large corporation.
Posted on 10/4/14 at 8:20 am to a want
Land is less expensive than upgrading a roof to handle activities you describe in most cases. Remember most "green" buildings have skylights to allow in more ambient light.
Posted on 10/4/14 at 8:23 am to a want
quote:
Why don't grocery stores grow vegetables on their roof?
Probably most of them don't have roofs that can withstand the weight.
That's kinda like asking why don't construction companies grow trees. Or why don't shoe stores have an army of minor children working for $1 day making the shoes in the back closet.
Heck - why not put a ranch on the roof of a grocery store?
Or a bunch of solar cells (which must be great if they need government subsidies to sell!)
hippies.
This post was edited on 10/4/14 at 8:25 am
Posted on 10/4/14 at 8:23 am to a want
Apparently you don't know much about either farming or the grocery business. How many days worth of a vegetable do you think the area of a supermarket roof would supply?
Posted on 10/4/14 at 8:25 am to Gray Tiger
quote:
How many days worth of a vegetable do you think the area of a supermarket roof would supply?
Yeah no lie. There is a farmer's market here that is sorta like a grocery store that grows its own produce, but they need much more space than a fricking roof to do it on.
Posted on 10/4/14 at 8:25 am to a want
quote:
Why don't grocery stores grow vegetables on their roof?
Posted on 10/4/14 at 8:27 am to C
quote:
land is less expensive than upgrading a roof to handle activities you describe in most cases.
I guess it depends where the land is.... but you still have to pay to set up some sort of system either way whether it's hydroponic or traditional. For example, you still have to plow the soil on a traditional farm.
Maybe they could take this into account going forward in building new supermarkets to save retrofitting costs
Posted on 10/4/14 at 8:30 am to a want
And this is political because you want to pass laws mandating it?
Posted on 10/4/14 at 8:31 am to Gray Tiger
quote:
How many days worth of a vegetable do you think the area of a supermarket roof would supply?
You can grow 50 tons of tomatoes on 1/2 acre per season. That's a lot of tomatoes.
Posted on 10/4/14 at 8:39 am to C
quote:This. Those roofs aren't designed to support that kind of weight. Same reason many don't put solar on their roofs. The structural upgrades make it cost prohibitive.
Land is less expensive than upgrading a roof to handle activities you describe in most cases.
quote:True as well.
Remember most "green" buildings have skylights to allow in more ambient light.
Posted on 10/4/14 at 8:52 am to a want
quote:
You can grow 50 tons of tomatoes on 1/2 acre per season. That's a lot of tomatoes.
That seems implausible even in the most perfect, controlled environment.
Posted on 10/4/14 at 9:00 am to SpidermanTUba
quote:
Probably most of them don't have roofs that can withstand the weight
I think we may have found your niche, Tuba.
Go hire yourself out to these stores to stand on their roofs. If the roofs can hold up under THAT kind of stress, these stores ought to be able to grow veritable farms up there.
Posted on 10/4/14 at 9:01 am to Helo
quote:
That seems implausible even in the most perfect, controlled environment.
Hydroponics.
You can get 2 - 2.5 X more plants per acre. And actually, the yield according to this paper is 150 tons per 1/2 acre - using greenhouse hydroponics. That's pretty damn impressive.
Posted on 10/4/14 at 9:11 am to a want
Not sure why I am even bothering commenting on this stupid thread but you never mentioned Hydroponics. Grocery store or other commercial building roofs are not designed for that type of of weight. Building with green roofs are designed that way from the ground up with a considerable cost increase but even those are not designed for full scale gardening.
Why not just convert the top 10 floors of all skyscrapers in NY into hydroponic gardens to feed all the tenants in the buildings. Seems super logical.
Why not just convert the top 10 floors of all skyscrapers in NY into hydroponic gardens to feed all the tenants in the buildings. Seems super logical.
Posted on 10/4/14 at 9:37 am to Helo
quote:
Not sure why I am even bothering commenting on this stupid thread but you never mentioned Hydroponics
hmmm....
From OP
quote:
...to handle a lot of daily/mundane tasks (hydroponic)
quote:
...Is there a weight/support issue with these roofs? It seems like hydroponic systems wouldn't weigh that much.
and from link:
quote:
The vision is both simple and elegant: green rooftops, not just as gardens, but as urban agriculture hubs for herbs and edible greens, utilizing off-the-shelf hydroponics and aquaponics equipment in greenhouses to grow food to sell for profit within the community.
Yeah, I'm pretty sure hydroponics was covered in OP.
Posted on 10/4/14 at 9:37 am to a want
Reminds me of a line from that old movie, "Nightshift":
"Why don't we take LIVE tuna fish, and FEED 'em mayonnaise!?! Oh this is great. Call Starkist!"
"Why don't we take LIVE tuna fish, and FEED 'em mayonnaise!?! Oh this is great. Call Starkist!"
Posted on 10/4/14 at 9:43 am to Helo
quote:
Why not just convert the top 10 floors of all skyscrapers in NY into hydroponic gardens to feed all the tenants in the buildings.
It makes too much sense to work
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