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Home Farming

Pesticides. Genetic-modification. Mistreated animals. It could just about kill anyone’s appetite to hear about all the horrible news about food production. Fortunately, the emerging food revolution ^[4] focuses on both health and re-establishing the connection ^[5] between people and the food they eat (making it harder to abuse our food sources). Designers are both leading and answering this shift in interest. Philips Design ^[6] has begun an investigation called ‘Food Probe’ that looks at current social trends and how this may affect the way that people will eat in the future — and how this will manifest in design. Their investigation includes three parts: a self-contained farm for the kitchen, a nutrition farm and a high-tech cooking device.

Diagnostic Kitchen

‘Home Farming’ is arguably the most interesting part of this investigation, in part because it seems the least foreign, with a less-techy version ^[7] already in existence. The unit is a self-contained and self-reliant food growing unit that combines hydroponics and aquaculture, otherwise known as aquaponics. Its cabinet-like shape contains room for ‘shelves’ for planting vegetable and herbs, and a bottom level for fish, making this tech-gardening device ready to fit snugly ^[8] into any home and a possible replacement for its backyard version.

Aquaponics is the combination of aquaculture (fish farming) and hydroponics (soilless plant culture). In aquaponics, the nutrient-rich water that results from raising fish provides a source of natural fertilizer for the growing plants. As the plants consume the nutrients, they help to purify the water that the fish live in. A natural microbial process keeps both the fish and plants healthy and helps sustain an environment in which they both can thrive. Essentially, aquaponics is organic gardening, but without the dirt. – Aquaponics.com

While I admit that I understand little about the inner-workings of the nutrition monitor and high-tech cooking device ^[9], the idea that we could gain personalized insight into our nutritional needs is a promising prospect for achieving a healthier society, especially considering that the cooking device would be able to re-mix foods into different consistencies that could mimic a completely different type of food.

Philips Design ^[6] has recognized that the re-structuring the way we grow and consume food over the next 15-20 years is a serious one, and with their Food Probe, have presented us with a three-pronged approach to food systems of the future.

+ Philips Design ^[6]

Via designboom ^[10] and dezeen ^[9]