Stories

BLUEACRES: THE TRUE MEANING OF URBAN FARMING

The true meaning of urban farming is more than just being in the city. The whole idea of urban farming is lowering the carbon footprint, less travel, and less storage.
– Boon Hian, founder of BlueAcres.

Sustainable Food Sources in Cities

When the pandemic exploded across the world, borders were shut worldwide to prevent and minimise its spread. For countries like Singapore, there were immediate concerns raised as our food supplies were mainly imported. While exploring some of these concerns, we learned about the presence of urban farms in Singapore. We decided to explore the stories of the people behind these urban farms.

BlueAcres

BlueAcres is an aquaponic farm situated in Tampines. What is impressive is that it resides in an industrial building and can yield an excellent harvest for a healthy supply.

Running solely on an energy-saving LED system, and recycled water, they have built an ecosystem that goes through the complete growth and harvest cycle. Not only that, by manipulating the lighting conditions, they can bring out the best features of the different plant species without the use of soil and chemicals.

Concurrently, Boon Hian designed, and set up the two-level rack system by hand to be operated successfully with minimal human intervention. In fact, only two people are required to manage their current plot, which is very impressive, to say the least.

They shared that once their IoT systems are fully implemented, they expect to be even more efficient. With their current configuration, they even managed to have a small “R&D” section. This R&D section is where they run experiments to improve their techniques and learn more about the potential of other types of seeds and plants.

Aquaponic Farming

So why an aquaponic farm?

“It is a symbiotic relationship between these two: the animals and crops.” Boon Hian explains as he showed us how the system works while giving us a tour of the farm.

The concept of an aquaponic farm is interesting because it maximises food yield with the harvesting of both fish and plants, effectively providing two types of food sources. These farms play a significant role in connecting people and bringing them closer to their food source.

Boon Hian explained that the venture into urban farming is not only exciting but also meaningful to them. With this implementation, they can reduce the carbon footprint and create a sustainable and environmentally friendly food source. His dream is to one day operate the first commercially large scale multi-food farm.

Image Source from BlueAcres

You can visit their website for more information to support them and find out how you can purchase their products.

Outlet Information:
📍 1 Tampines North Drive 3, #02-01, BHCC Space, Singapore 528499

Website: http://www.blueacres.sg/
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/blueacres.sg

Explore more SG Local Food Stories Here.


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