Feeding time at the zoo
Kevin Frediani
Curator of plants and gardens
Paignton Zoo Environmental Park
Overview• Paignton Zoo• Exploring the potential of plants in zoos
– Food, Sustainable horticulture & Education• Zoo food solution
– High Density Vertical Growing• What next?
Paignton Zoo
More than an ark…
How should zoos do business?
• Sustainably – without compromising future choices!
• Ethically – doing the right thing!• Congruently – demonstrate good practice!• Educationally – explain good practice!• Efficiently – minimise waste!• Effectively – make a difference!• Urgently – before its too late!
Exploring the potential
Integrated zoo horticulture
See Frediani. K. (2009) Ethics of plant use in zoos. IZY89
Challenge of realising plant use.
Sustainability and zoos?
Architects – Durable, flexible & adaptable (more than one life)
Environmentalists – Part of a system not apart, where biological systems remain diverse and productive over time
Visitors – social, economic and environmental (ideal v’s pragmatic)
Shared concept…
“Sustainability is the capacity to endure”
Radical thought - Grow zoo food!
• All animals require it– Herbivores– Carnivores
• Immersion habitats• Welfare and enrichment
• Land conflict in zoos– Welfare– Amenity– Immersion– Retail / function (support of visitor experience)– Food (at the bottom – can argue to support local SFP)
The site
The ‘no land’ project site!
Vertical farming as a solution!
• Reduce pressure on wild spaces
• Recycle waste to fuel growth• Remediate black water• Use brown field, underutilised
sites• Year round production without
concern for weather / climate• No need for herbicides• Help make cities sustainable
The Vertical Farm: Dickson Despommier 2010
VertiCrop at Paignton Zoo
• Minimal land available for crop production
• Limited resources• Need to improve food
security• Need to reduce food bills • Need for specialist crops• Need to influence nutrition• Opportunity to show case
sustainable technology
What is VertiCrop™?
Conveyor system
Vertical verses traditional
Optimising capacity without increasing floor space
Increased yield per unit area
Delivered first Crop…after 5 weeks
Beyond the zoo - Vertical agriculture?
Putting HDVG in perspective
• Where have land and optimised resources (Water, temp and light) – grow stable crops
• Where have land but one or more limited recourse – specialised crop and / or protected cultivation
• Where have no land and optimised resources – grow hydroponically
• Where have no land and one or more limited resource – grow vertically (warehouse or HDVG)
Summary / conclusion
• Sustainable food is essential– 6 BILLION – 9 BILLION BY 2050
• Cannot bury head in sand!– Depletion of water, soil, oil – people & wildlife don’t know our artificial
political boundaries• Need to invest – research & development• Need to educate – sustainable futures –
durable, flexible, adaptable etc….
The future now at Paignton Zoo
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