Erica Wilson & Janayra Santiago Fellowship Report 2023
My project included visiting two vertical farms in Iceland and in Taiwan. The first location that I visited was Fridheimar (Friðheimar) in Selfoss, Iceland. This was a greenhouse that utilized vertical farming
techniques to produce three different varieties of tomatoes. What was unique about this greenhouse was that
within the greenhouse was a restaurant, in which one could enjoy a delicious meal made from the tomatoes
that were cultivated in the greenhouse itself. During my visit at Fridheimar, I toured the greenhouse and
restaurant areas and learned how they were using vertical farming techniques to grow their tomatoes. The
11,000 square meters of electrically lit greenhouses that housed the tomato plants produced about 700 tons of tomatoes year round, which is about 40% of Iceland’s tomato market. Iceland has a vast amount of green
electricity generated by hydro-electric and geothermal power stations, which helped to power the lights that are used in the greenhouses. The greenhouses also had about 1,200 bumble bees that they imported from
Holland, which helped to pollinate the tomato plants.
The second vertical farm that I visited was Metro Fresh in Taipei, Taiwan. The unique thing about Metro
Fresh was that it was located inside of their local subway station. Metro Fresh was located in the B1 level of
the Nanjing Fuxing MRT Station and had a store that sold meals with the vegetables that were grown there to
daily commuters on the floor above. Metro Fresh can produce about 1500 kg of agricultural produce each year using its hydroponic system and automated technology systems, which enable growers to monitor the
environment in real-time. When I visited, I was able to see the greenhouse that occupied the corner of the MRT station and in it various types of vegetables growing. I was able to see that they were producing red and green leaf lettuce, basil, and other vegetables that I wasn’t able to identify. The Metro Fresh store also had a mini greenhouse that was growing some more vegetables for customers to view, which was located right next to the salads and sandwiches that they offered for customers to purchase.
Beads crafted from dried banana leaves at Project UpLift in The Philippines
Above and to the right: 10 Watt solar powered lanterns at Liter of Light in The Philippines
Black Fly larvae at Circa Biotech in Abu Dhabi.
The short-term effects of the experience on my teaching practice are to try to incorporate more real-world applications in my daily lessons. Seeing vertical farming occur in such small amounts of land is so interesting and unique to many people who are unfamiliar with non-traditional farming techniques. Exposing
these types of ideas to my students and allowing them to explore and find other unique things out there in the world would be something that I hope to bring into my teaching practice this coming school year. A long-term effect of my experience on my teaching practice would be to have students actually compare how vertical
farming techniques are better for the environment than traditional farming. This is something that will need to be well researched and thought out so that students can get enough background knowledge on how vertical farming works compared to traditional farming.
