URBAN FARMING

Although Singapore imports over 90 per cent of its food, a group of local farmers hopes to reconnect people with their food through a sustainable urban farming model. Called Citizen Farm, it is situated on the site of a former prison in Queenstown. Opened in June last year, Citizen Farm integrates different indoor and outdoor farming technologies such as hydroponics and aquaculture to grow a range of pesticide-free crops including microgreens, leafy greens, edible flowers and mushrooms. It is an offshoot of Edible Garden City, an urban farming company which champions the grow-your-own-food movement in cities.

The 8,000 sq m farm is headed by Darren Ho, who became interested in agriculture and food systems while he was teaching English at a rural school surrounded by rice farms in Cambodia in 2013. He says: “After I’d taught English for about a week, I asked my tuk-tuk driver to introduce me to his rice farmer friend. I stayed in the paddy fields with him for five days and that was the beginning of my curiosity in food systems and how to fix this food (sustainability) problem.” Later in university in Australia, he even switched from studying finance to agriculture to pursue his passion.

The farm’s produce is available through an eight- or 12week subscription service known as the Citizen Box. The contents of the box varies slightly every week, but includes an assortment of leafy greens such as lettuce, kale and chard, microgreens like micro coriander and micro basil,