Vertical farming can be considered as an extension of indoor farming that evolved in the 1700s with the advent of greenhouses, with the primary objective of harnessing the off-season crop cultivation potential during unfavourable seasons. Vertical farming facilitates year-round cultivation in multi-storied structures using artificial illumination.

Original Source

Urban agriculture requires local water to replace 'hydrologic externalities' associated with food produced outside of the local area, with an accompanying shift of the water footprint (WF) for agricultural production from rural to urban areas. Water requirements of urban agriculture have been difficult to estimate due to the heterogeneity of shading from trees and buildings within urban areas.

The Harvest of Hope initiative is a vegetable box scheme in Cape Town, South Africa, set up as a social enterprise by a local NGO. By promoting ecological urban farming, Abalimi Bezekhaya (meaning ‘Farmers of Home’ in Xhosa) improves income and household food security, and empowers disadvantaged households by building their confidence and capacities in farming. Building a sense of place and strengthening community ties, neither so common in South Africa’s urban areas, are keys for success of this approach.

The role of urban agriculture in global food security is a topic of increasing discussion. Existing research on urban and peri-urban agriculture consists largely of case studies that frequently use disparate definitions of urban and peri-urban agriculture depending on the local context and study objectives. This lack of consistency makes quantification of the extent of this practice at the global scale difficult.

Despite the increasing acceptance of traditional medicines in peri-urban areas in South Africa, this rich indigenous knowledge is not adequately documented. Therefore, an ethnobotanical study was undertaken to document medicinal plants grown and maintained in per-urban domestic gardens in the Capricorn District, Limpopo Province. Semi-structured interviews, observation and guided walks with 62 participants were employed to obtain ethnobotanical data on medicinal plants grown and maintained in peri-urban domestic gardens.