Agriculture and cities are concepts that don't usually go hand in hand. UpFarming was born to combine them and bring agricultural practices back into the heart of urban communities, with the aim of strengthening them and creating moments of sharing around the garden and the table. It all started with the installation of vertical gardens in urban contexts as a means to an end: transforming the food system, from cultivation to consumption, not forgetting transport.
One of the non-profit organisation's main projects is the installation of an aeroponic tower at Torres Novas Prison. This innovative project involves inmates and prison guards tending vertical gardens (which don't require soil). The fruit is used to supplement the inmates' diet and to make baskets that are delivered to needy families in the community. Margarida Villas-Boas, co-founder of Upfarming and manager of this project, talks about the experience from minute 7'57''.
Listen to this podcast here (in Portuguese).
