{"id":20535,"date":"2018-07-02T08:03:34","date_gmt":"2018-07-02T12:03:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/company\/stories\/technology-helps-grow-better-produce-bowery-farming\/"},"modified":"2022-03-04T22:22:08","modified_gmt":"2022-03-05T03:22:08","slug":"technology-helps-grow-better-produce-bowery-farming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/company\/stories\/technology-helps-grow-better-produce-bowery-farming\/","title":{"rendered":"Technology Helps Grow Better Produce at Bowery Farming"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Agriculture is one of the oldest industries in the world, and it touches everyone on the planet in one way or another. It\u2019s also at the epicenter of many of the environmental and health problems we face today, to name a few. Today\u2019s farmers are tasked with feeding a rapidly expanding population in a sustainable way using a limited amount of arable land. With a desire to make a broader impact and to work on something that he was personally passionate about, Irving Fain founded Bowery Farming<\/a> in 2014, a hypdroponic urban farm.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, June 12, 2018, Bloomberg Television\u2019s Scarlet Fu discussed Bowery Farming, innovation in agriculture and entrepreneurialism with Fain at Bloomberg\u2019s Global Headquarters in New York City.<\/p>\n

Technology is becoming a more integral part of agriculture, as farmers use drones and satellites to monitor crops, along with gene editing techniques and semiautonomous tractors. Innovation isn\u2019t just happening in the fields, however. Farms are popping up in urban areas, and that lettuce you just ate may very well have been grown in that once empty warehouse down the street and harvested just a few days earlier.<\/p>\n

A quick look at the stats exemplifies why there\u2019s innovation in agriculture \u2013 at a time when water scarcity impacts every continent, 70% of the world\u2019s water supply goes to the agricultural system. In the U.S. alone, Americans consume about 700 million pounds of pesticides a year, and internationally, that number is closer to 5 billion pounds a year. There\u2019s also 30% less arable farmland than there was 40 years ago. \u201cIt’s having a real negative impact on the way we’re growing food and the environment around us \u2013 something has to change,\u201d said Fain.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n