Sowing the impossible
In a high-ceilinged warehouse about a kilometre away from Singapore’s airport, what is set to become the island’s largest indoor vegetable farm is quietly ramping up its production.
With imposing metal pipes snaking along the corridors, the 8,000-square-metre space could be easily mistaken for a heavy industry facility – if not for the purple hue that illuminates the interior, where 16 stacked layers of benches stand ready to receive seedlings via a conveyor belt.
From seeding the microgreens, herbs and salad vegetables to allocating them to optimal climate zones for growth, nearly everything on the farm – built and owned by Dutch agritech firm Growy – is automated, an exemplar of land-scarce Singapore’s vision of a highly efficient food production landscape.
At full capacity, the farm will be able to produce up to 500 tonnes of leafy greens annually. This could support Singapore’s target of meeting 30 per cent of its nutritional needs locally by 2030, which is in need of a massive boost.
Five years since the ambitious “30 by 30” goal was announced, the food self-production figure has stayed below 10 per cent. This is despite farming ventures sprouting up in the dozens, many supported by government grants. Output has slid for vegetables and seafood – two key food types – while some high-profile farms have closed shop.
Left: Growy's 15-metre indoor farm is located in a logistics hub. Right: Growy staff inspecting a new harvest of microgreens.
Top: Growy's 15-metre indoor farm is located in a logistics hub. Bottom: Growy staff inspecting a new harvest of microgreens.
Left: An indoor farming set-up by local grower Sustenir sits next to fruit and vegetable shelves at a downtown Fairprice supermarket. Right: Locally farmed fish on display at the Jurong Fishery Port. Most products at the wholesale centre are imported sea catch.
Top: An indoor farming set-up by local grower Sustenir sits next to fruit and vegetable shelves at a downtown Fairprice supermarket. Bottom: Locally farmed fish on display at the Jurong Fishery Port. Most products at the wholesale centre are imported sea catch.
Through over a dozen interviews with local farmers and experts, Eco-Business found that profitability and morale are both in short supply when it comes to scaling output. The Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted plans, but growers also point to structural barriers the country has to remove before any production goal can be achieved.
Many are figuring out new ways to stand out in a crowded market, while some want the government to play a bigger role as buyer, provider and guardian against foreign competition.
Sowing the impossible?
A technology-led food security drive fronted by the Singapore government has met steep hurdles. Established players and start-ups alike are failing to turn a profit in a mosaicked farming landscape, while buying local still hasn't appealed to mainstream consumers. The odds are stacked against the city-state: Is it time to review its “30 by 30” food production goal?
By Liang Lei and Gabrielle See
Visuals and graphics by Liang Lei and Philip Amiote
Eco-Business | 2 June 2024
Covid-19, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and export curbs of key food commodities such as Indonesian palm oil and Indian rice in recent years have made food security a worldwide concern.
While Singapore has weathered these impacts better than many countries, food price inflation has been weighing heavily on poorer communities in the city-state. The crises called into question Singapore’s heavy reliance on imports, as globally diversified as they may be. Local production, without the need for lengthy transport and storage, could also mean less carbon emissions.
But realising the vision of becoming more self-reliant for food remains a huge challenge. Land prices in the city-state are infamously high, while neither water nor electricity is subsidised – to the detriment of power-hungry indoor farms as power prices climbed through the roof in recent years.
Word among the agriculture community is that few establishments have been able to reach business profitability.
“Farmers are really struggling,” said Veera Sekaran, professor in practice at the National University of Singapore, pointing to weak market penetration even for old-timers in the scene. Veera had founded VertiVegies, which is involved in local research, and also runs Greenology, a local horticulture consultancy.
“Many of my friends are telling me, ‘I regret, I regret, I regret’,” Veera added, on the sentiments of the industry.
There is an increasing focus now on getting the basics right first. Dr Koh Poh Koon, senior minister of state for sustainability and the environment, told local Chinese daily Lianhe Zaobao last month that it was more important to lay good foundations for the industry than just to focus on reaching production goals. There could be a review of the “30 by 30” target in the coming years, Koh said.
This special report teases the nuances in Singapore's food challenge, from its current growing pains to where it is heading. We examine the city-state's innovation-led agricultural policy, its attempt to set up farming hubs, and the latest efforts to find a breakthrough formula for food self-sufficiency.
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