Written by: Julio Beltran, Laura Markley, Gaired Jordan, Joseph Wasswa & Shiru Wang

Are you charmed by the recent community garden that’s taken over the abandoned lot down the street or shocked that the new apartment complex downtown has hydroponic tomatoes growing on its roof? Community gardens and hydroponic systems are both forms of urban agriculture that may help greenify cities and provide locally-grown produce to city dwellers. Making cities more sustainable with urban agriculture has a multitude of benefits, but may have implications for energy consumption, water usage, and the food supply chain. EMPOWER students discussed urban agriculture’s role in the food system, which contributes to 15% of the total US energy demand. Students participated in a debate where they had to argue that their assigned urban agriculture systems, water supplies, and energy sources were the best choice for a model city.

Dr. Lut Raskin furthered the discussion by sharing her research on converting organic waste streams into sustainable resources with novel anaerobic bioprocesses in her AEESP distinguished lecture on November 9, 2018. In attendance were students from Syracuse University, Cornell University, as well as other colleges. Dr. Raskin discussed harnessing the power of microbial communities to treat water, recovering resources from waste streams, and modeling engineering systems after the stomach of a cow. She also furthered the conversation of research expectations and how obtaining results you hadn’t hoped for can still further the field.

These discussions provided a holistic perspective of urban agriculture and waste streams from a cradle to grave perspective.