Urban Greening: Alternatives to Composting - Urban Farms Organic

Dr. Chaoui. being interviewed on CSI-liveby "youandmedia",
website of the Center for Social Innovation. (photo supplied by UFO)

Urban Farms Organic, Inc. is essentially research and development conducted by Hala Chaoui, PhD who is the Principal and an Agricultural Engineer. The work has focused on an alternative to composting that could solve enormous problems in the disposal of food waste as well as create a fantastic resource for gardening. There's a good UFO blog link for the gist of the material but I wanted to get more clarity about what the product was that was being developed. Also because the Center for Social Innovation interview was streamed live I couldn't find the video link to download it. The story is a bit hard to grasp but worth the read. Technically speaking concepts are moderately complex. On a related note Dr. Chaoui's doctoral thesis was on removing earthworms from vermicast aided by an electric field. She is an innovator in vermicasting. That said here's the Metropolitan Gardening interview with Dr. Chaoui.

“MG:What made you think to create an invention that would speed up the process of composting? 

Hala: The device I'm working doesn't speed up composting, it replaces it with another process, to quickly get liquid fertilizer out of food scraps. The process consists of mechanically aerating food scraps, until they are steeped. Aeration inhibits the growth of odor-causing bacteria, which cause fermentation and attract flies. Steeping organic material releases plant nutrients it. I thought of inventing this while I was studying agricultural engineering. I realized that waste processing and farming, which happen in industrialized facilities or large distant lands, can also happen in the home, in a miniaturized form, given the right appliances. If an appliance automatically transforms food scraps right when they're produced, they never become a nuisance. If you visit municipal waste processing plants you see that by the time it reaches them waste has fermented, and is now odorous and a serious nuisance. This can be avoided by transforming waste just as it is produced. 

Same with growing plants. Plants are currently shipped from industrialized farms to grocery stores where we have to waste precious time shopping for them. Grocery shopping is one of the least intellectually stimulating activities I can think of. Plant production also puts a toll on the environment, when they're grown from fossil-fuel based synthetic fertilizer. Imagine if some of these plants were growing on a special structure in the kitchen. In fact, food scraps can be processed into organic fertilizer, to grow such plants and achieve high yields and give tasteful produce, which organic fertilizer was demonstrated to achieve. I'm now working on an appliance that combines these 3 roles, automatically aerate food scraps, extract liquid fertilizer from them and grow plants from the obtained fertilizer. 

MG: Is this something that could be done in community gardens? 

Hala: A scaled up version, which will be available in a couple of years I hope, would work for community gardens, but this first device is designed for the kitchen counter-top. 

MG: What implications does this have for reducing household waste? 

Hala: It reduces the amount of plant nutrients discarded into the green waste stream, but not the actual volume of waste. That part will be the job of future appliances down the road. The device I am creating allows extracting value, in the form of liquid fertilizer, from food scraps. The device is also designed to grow plants from this fertilizer. 

MG: How far along are you in the development process? 

Hala: I am creating my second functional prototype, an improvement on the first. The next step is having several people test it in their home. 

MG: What do you need to get your invention off the ground? 

Hala: I need to finish collecting inputs from test users, implement those, then get a couple thousands pre-orders through Kickstarter or a similar platform. This will allow me to fund manufacturing. Selling the pre-ordered units will allow me to fund the next batch, etc. Finding an investor would help with some of the costs too. 

MG: What do people say when you tell them you are from "UFO"? 

Hala: The name caught on, and I was introduced a few times as Hala from UFO. That makes me smile, it makes me feel that UFO does exist, and it makes me think of the Jettsons cartoon too. I came up with this when I was looking for a name that describes micro urban farms, in the kitchen area of condos and elsewhere. I also wanted to associate advanced technology with farming or gardening, and a flying saucer sounded like a good symbol of technology. This is where UFO - Urban Farms Organic came from. 

MG: This innovation is definably out of this world - what are some of the Criticisms you have heard and what are your answers to the skeptics? 

Hala: I'm glad you think so. The invention is a combination of known mechanisms, put together in an innovative way. What I heard from potential investors is that a new device requires educating consumers on having new habits. They're wondering if that can be successful, and to answer their concerns I will be conducting usability studies soon. 

MG:Are there any legal hurdles that you are facing developing this process? Is there any need to get this passed through the FDA or some other government agency before you release this to the public? 

Hala: Legally-speaking, I have to get the appliance certified for electric safety. The device does not produce food, so an FDA approval is not necessary. 

MG: I also thought for some reason you were already marketing this and that your first product had already been on the market so I'm wondering who else you are working with...Since you have a web site already and are promoting this process what are your current needs and who do you want to team up with to get this idea to market? 

Hala: I haven't marketed any products yet, I'm hoping to keep developing my mail list through the website, then offer my product for pre-orders once it's market-ready. This is why I am promoting the product before I manufacture it. The people on the mail list would be among those who first pre-order my appliance and this is how I will afford manufacturing. I work form a business incubator where I get to meet experts that could complement my work; industrial designers, marketing experts. I will also consign the product to a manufacturer once it's ready to be manufactured. 

MG: You mentioned KickStarter are your plans to crowd source your needs for this right away? 

Hala: I worked with a local college, using a grant, to develop part of the product. I plan to offer my product on kickstarter or a platform something similar to it soon. In the meanwhile I invite those interested in the product to sign up at www.urbanfarmsorganic.com .