Viva Brighton Issue #64 June 2018

FEATURE
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A harvest from the sea
Offshore farming
Remember Waterworld? A
terrible film of the 1990s, but
its premise about a future in
which the polar ice-caps have
melted and covered most of
the land no longer seems so
far-fetched.
Scientists are predicting a
rise in sea levels of up to two
metres by the next century.
Coupled with a doubling
of the world’s population, it
seems that we’re heading for
an acute shortage of space to
grow enough food.
Unless, that is, Leilah
Clarke’s invention of a ‘floating
farm’ takes off.
Using the simple principles
of condensation, the University
of Sussex Product Design student has created
environmentally friendly sea rafts with a self-watering
system for plants.
Leilah, who initially began studying Engineering
before switching to Product Design, said: “It was one
of those ideas that evolved over time.
“I moved to the coast from Brixton five years ago, and
I was thinking about how you could set up a raft to
live on out at sea. The first thing I thought about was
how you would produce food – apart from what you
could catch in the sea.”
Inspired by a project in Italy called Nemo’s Garden,
in which plants are grown in domes ten metres under
the water, Leilah designed a doughnut-shaped fibreglass
raft fitted with a clear acrylic dome.
When set afloat on the sea, water vapour rises
through the middle of the raft and condenses as fresh
water on the inside of the dome. The water then
trickles down the sides to hydrate crops growing in
containers around the sides.
Because of the natural desalination
process, there’s no need
for pumps or filtration systems.
This also means that as
the weather gets hotter, more
water evaporates, therefore
reducing the risk of the plants
dehydrating.
And to prevent the raft
from tipping over in stormy
weather and choppy seas, it’s
designed in two sections – an
inner and an outer ring – to
give it stability.
Using small prototypes,
Leilah, a keen gardener, has
already experimented with
different crops.
“At the moment chard is a
good one to grow because you can harvest off it quite
a lot,” she says. “Also spinach and leafy greens, things
you can harvest over time. And now I’m looking at
radishes because they are really quick. You could grow
up to 400 radishes in a month.”
Like windfarms, her floating farms could be set up
out at sea on a large scale. “All the materials that I
have chosen won’t bleach or leak into the sea and
cause any harm,” she says. “And because it’s mostly
fibreglass it’s easy to fix.”
They could also be used as towing gardens for
ocean-going vessels to provide freshly grown food for
passengers. And, with some adaptations, set afloat on
fresh water rivers and lakes.
The next stage for Leilah, who graduates this summer,
is to find a company to invest in the product.
“I really think this could be the future for farming,”
she says. “It gives new meaning to the term, seasonal
crops.” Jacqui Bealing
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