CIRC4FooD: An urban food production system inspired by the circular economy

The environmental footprint of the current, linear food system is a key challenge that must be faced for a global transition to sustainability. Agricultural practices are drivers of polluting food production, while cities form critical hubs of wasteful food consumption. In this context, urban farming has emerged as a promising practice for shortening supply chains while building urban resilience. The aim of this paper is to present CIRC4FooD, a system for urban food production inspired by the Circular Economy, aiming at reducing the use of resources and environmental impact of food production and consumption in the city. Its circular urban farming approach is comprised of three main elements: rainwater collection installations, composting devices and precision agriculture sensors that collect data and inform the community about the water/fertilizer needs and growth of the vegetables. The CIRC4FooD system is currently being piloted in three scales at the city of Trikala in Greece: private vegetable gardens (small scale), mobile farming beds (medium scale) and urban public space (large scale). The expected results include the optimization of the water harvesting installations and precision agriculture software, as well as the development of an integrated, circular urban farming system widely available to cities and citizens.