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Biofilta has just returned from our third trip to Tuvalu, located 1,000km north of Fiji to discuss the success of our urban food growing trials and to work with key stakeholders to discuss broader community #urbanag opportunities. Recently, our Foreign Minister visited the site of our trials to see how local food is being grown in small spaces at the University of South Pacific using the Foodwall systems provided through #AustralianAid. These units have been growing food for 9 months now and have not needed any additional water as the rainfall keeps topping up the reservoirs in each tub that lasts for weeks between rain events. Hundreds of families and now benefiting from more available green vegetables being grown using local materials above the salinated ground in our systems. This trip, we also looked at broader urban farming opportunities with our new Foodcube #wickingbed product, made in Australia from recycled food grade plastic. This system has great potential to address the issues of food security caused by climate change and has the ability to accept compost made from local organic sources to help close the nutrient loop and improve nutrition. This program is supported by the Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.   Picture this. It’s a beautiful summer day, it’s 3:30pm on a Friday afternoon and you’ve ditched the desk to pick the first harvest of tomatoes that have sprung up in your office garden. The pizza oven is firing, and you and your colleagues are making pizzas out of the ingredients that you’ve grown only metres away. Doesn’t sound like a bad way to finish the week, does it?
 Funafuti, located 1,000km north of Fiji looks fantastic and you would be forgiven to think you could grow whatever you wanted. The reality is growing food at home here is actually harder than it looks.
For the people of Funafuti ( one of the larger islands in Tuvalu ) growing food at home is almost impossible due to sea water rising through the coral scree in high tides, salinating any crop planted in the “ground”. The average elevation is only 1.83m above mean sea level.  Following our recent Williams Landing MOS project, Biofilta’s latest stormwater project is nearing completion in Doncaster, Melbourne. This is our largest above ground bioretention planter to date and the numbers are huge: 850m2 planter treating an urban catchment around 50ha in size.
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February 2019
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