HDNet's 'Dan Rather Reports' Examines the Future of Farming - Is it Up in the Air?

HDNet's 'Dan Rather Reports' Examines the Future of Farming - Is it Up in the Air?

Special, on-location round table features discussion on vertical and hydroponic farms - Tuesday, August 11 at 8:00 p.m. on HDNet

DALLAS, Aug. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Tomorrow's "Dan Rather Reports" presents a special round table discussion, shot on-location on a barge in the Hudson River, just outside New York City. What is so special about this barge? It's a self-sustaining farm, where everything is grown without soil.

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Some say these "hydroponic" farms are the wave of the future, the answer to the growing demand for locally grown fruits and vegetables in a world that is dominated by huge corporate farms. The hydroponic farm on the Hudson doesn't use pesticides or herbicides. And even though it's about the size of many New York apartments, the barge grows thousands of pounds of fresh food every year.

Rather is joined in this roundtable discussion by Dr. Dickson Despommier, a professor at Columbia University. He is a microbiologist and ecologist who is the founder of Vertical Farm Technologies. Also joining the discussion is Jennifer Nelkin, an environmentalist and director and managing partner of "Gotham Greens" (which will be New York's first commercial scale rooftop farm that doesn't use soil), and Benjamin Linsley, who is a senior partner and managing director of Bright Farm Systems, a company that focuses on integrating agriculture with urban living and education.

Despommier's Vertical Farm Technologies believes that crops can be grown indoors - on the top of hi-rise buildings in major urban areas - hydroponically, or without soil.

"Hydroponics really means 'water working,'" Nelkin explains. "So, as opposed to being in soil, [the plants] can be in either a water culture or an aggregate hydroponic system, so you have less disease incidence and much more control over the nutrients that the plants are receiving, so you can have a big effect on the growth of the plant."

The broadcast also looks at urban farms on rooftops, which are taking root, literally, all over the country. These farms use good old fashioned dirt to grow vegetables in inner city areas that have a shortage of fresh foods.

"Soil is king in a way, because teaching someone how something germinates, grows, and all that, to me, soil is integral to that," said Lisa Goode, co-owner of Goode Green, an enterprise that she began with her husband Chris, that designs and installs green rooftops (along with soil and grass) on homes, hotels and businesses. "So, hydroponics it's more about volume."

"Dan Rather Reports: Up on the Farm" premieres on HDNet, Tuesday, August 11 at 8:00 p.m. ET with a re-air 11:00 p.m. ET to accommodate West Coast Prime Time.

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Profile: International Entertainment