Cloudy with a chance of unaffected produce: Urban farms stay resilient against weather

SINGAPORE: There is a higher chance of rainfall in Singapore during the year-end, but some commercial farms here are not fretting. 
La Nina, the phenomenon that brings wetter weather over Southeast Asia, is now more likely than before to emerge at the end of the year, according to the latest update from the World Meteorological Organization. 
This means there is a higher possibility of rainfall during the inter-monsoon months of October and November. However, at some farms, operations do not depend on the weather, allowing them to produce consistently throughout the year. In fact, more rainfall may even be good news for them, in contrast with traditional farmers.
At GroGrace – a proof-of-concept indoor farm by Urban Farming Partners which helps cities build food resilience – for instance, every aspect of growing crops is controlled.
“You can control the temperature, you can control the humidity, you can control the CO2 (carbon dioxide) level, you can control the light intensity, the light hours, or nutrient level,” the firm’s CEO Grace Lim told CNA.
“That’s why we’re being shielded from external weather conditions.”
It is a similar story at ComCrop, which uses greenhouse technology that allows its farm to withstand extreme weather conditions. Its produce is grown in outdoor greenhouses on a rooftop.
On sunnier days, the greenhouses are covered with shade cloths, while on cloudier days, weather monitors automatically trigger the cloths to roll back and let in more light.
Its crops were unaffected despite heavy downpours and strong winds during the recent Sumatran squalls.
“When we were building these greenhouses, we had already taken into account the weather in Singapore, including the monsoon winds and also the crosswinds from being higher up on the building,” said ComCrop’s head of education and community outreach Darren Tan.
While both farms said that the durability of their produce – which include basil, peppermint and boston lettuce – may come at the cost of higher electricity, they make savings elsewhere.
GroGrace is more than 80 per cent more water-efficient than traditional open field farming, said Ms Lim. On top of such water savings, the farm harvests rainwater to grow crops, then recycles the water. 
“Our water goes through a continuous recycling process, out through the filtration system and back into the farm,” she explained.
“So, the only water that we top up is the water that is being absorbed by the plants, as well as the water that is drained off during harvesting.”
At ComCrop, solar panels go some way in offsetting increased energy costs from using LED lights on cloudier days.
“Typically for monsoon seasons …  because of the continued periods of cloudy or rainy days, the lighting in the greenhouses would be affected, and that would slow down the growth of the plants,” said Mr Tan.
“But … we also have supplementary lighting, which we can then switch on to ensure that the plants continue to grow at the same rate as before.”
The LED lighting can push up the farm’s electricity bills by as much as 20 per cent, but the higher power cost is offset by their rainwater harvesting system, which helps save 60 per cent on water bills during wetter months, said Mr Tan.
While commercial farms can depend on technology and infrastructure – including shelters that are expensive to construct – to stay resilient against the weather, small-scale farms he helps may not have such means, said urban farming consultant Christopher Leow.
“For many of the other small-scale (or) micro farms… farms in schools and hospitals… often, there is no luxury to build these structures, or it’s not possible to do so… their crops are fully exposed to the environment,” he said.
“The only thing that we can do is plan the crops … according to the weather.”
This would also be the case for small-scale farmers across Southeast Asia, he noted, adding that they need more support and knowledge in sustaining their livelihoods.
Ms Lim said that with climate change, water scarcity, the rapid destruction of biodiversity, and degradation of topsoil, there is a need to find new and innovative ways to grow food. Indoor farming, where many factors are controlled, can be such a solution to sustain continued harvest, she added.  
“This is really important, because we have seen the devastating effects of climate change. Climate change has the potential to destroy an entire harvest, and that will leave communities without food for weeks (or) months,” she said.