SCAUT PRESENTS THE CONCEPT OF UNDERGROUND GREEN FARMING AT THE

SCAUT Presents The Concept of Underground Green Farming at the World Tunneling Congress 2018

April 24, 2018

On Tuesday, April 24th a panel discussion on urban food security and the role of underground space took place in the ITACUS Open Session at the World Tunnelling Congress in Dubai. SCAUT representatives Michael Lierau and Klaus Wachter who were part of the panel presented the SCAUT concept of Underground Green Farming. The intensive discussion and the feedback of the attendants indicate that this concept has a huge potential yet to be explored and exploited.
In a nutshell, the SCAUT concept

Provides food security due to stable 'local' provision of food independent of time and location
Improves food/feed safety as the use of pesticide and fertilizers can be reduced to a minimum and non-genetically modified foods are produced
Significant water and energy savings given an efficient, stable and highly controlled environment
Reduction of carbon footprint (along the entire supply chain as stated in the proposal)
Economic model, to be easily implemented around the globe. The model includes underground space creation and use.

Precondition for developing UGF projects is the proof of concept of a prototype. Hence the development of a scalable UGF prototype in the Hagerbach Test Gallery shall be pushed. In this context, SCAUT is in the process of developing a project with industry partners.

Ahmad Bukhash, Director of Urban Planning in Dubai and part of the ITACUS panel, concluded that Dubai is very much interested in hosting the next UGF prototype. Taking this into account, SCAUT sees great potential to develop UGF projects in countries like UAE, South Korea and beyond.