Northwest A&F University Team

Northwest A&F University Team
Fall into sustainable urban agriculture

Making healthy choices feel effortless
Facing the challenges of adequate food supply and lifestyle changes in the post Covid-19 world, our team uses 'fall into' as the core design concept to create a comfortable habitat for people that provides both high-quality food and a fully immersive experience. In the park, people will fall into the urban green buildings that are full of oxygen and vitality, fall into ‘healthy’ products and services produced by advanced agricultural technology, and fall into an interactive community where modern agriculture is integrated into people's daily life. Our team has also integrated the concept of ‘urban forest’ into the design, adopting a new way of indoor planting and building a system where commercial activities and viewing experiences take place.

Healthy people and planet
We focus on a concept of ‘health’ that considers aspects of production, environment, lifestyle and social relations. For the production aspect, we use intelligent agricultural technology – the SAAS (Software-as-a-Service) services – to achieve ‘precision agriculture’, so that food quality and yield are ensured. To improve the environment, we not only recycle organic waste and wastewater from the production process to reduce environmental pollution, but also control inputs throughout the production process to decrease soil and water pollution caused by excessive fertiliser application. To encourage a healthier lifestyle, we offer a vertical farming and planting experience that brings people closer to the natural production process. We advocate the concept of 'fresh food direct from production sites' to reshape people's perception of a healthy diet. In the social sphere, the park functions as a centre for research, communication and exhibitions on agricultural science and technology. It also acts as an agricultural product quality inspection centre for food produced both in the park and by farmers, in order to improve food security and enhance the competitiveness of farmers’ products. In this way, we will not only ensure the security and quality of food but also integrate sustainable production and consumption into people’s lives.

Farmers as stakeholders
Since food in China is mainly produced by smallholder farmers and farmers account for a large proportion of the rural poor, we bring farmers in peri-urban areas into our model to create the ‘park+farmer’ mode. Farmers who cooperate with the park will produce standardised food under our quality control, which includes training and quality testing. The high demand for quality food in urban centres can be better met by producing food in an agricultural building and on farms. In the process, farmers will be empowered, and poverty will thus be alleviated. We can also improve the local economy by increasing farmers' income and by promoting agricultural development in the region.

Harmonious relationship
We have designed a ‘future agriculture’ complex to provide a replicable example for the development of urban agriculture. We incorporate an environment-friendly production system into the food production process, which includes a fertiliser irrigation system, soil testing and formula-fertilisation technology. Interaction between people and nature is promoted through crop planting, fruit-picking activities and horticultural therapy. We also adopt a resource recycling system in which wastes are collected and processed into nutrients for production, thus achieving sustainable circularity and reducing the degradation burden on nature. In the process, low-carbon production and a low-carbon lifestyle will be formed, and a ‘green’ mode of urban development promoted. This will enable the emergence of a more harmonious relationship between nature and humankind.
Let's create an expectation of agriculture flourishing in cities and let’s have high-quality food and life! Will you join us in making this happen?