WEATHERING THE ‘PERFECT STORM’
Addressing the Agriculture, Energy, Water, Climate Change Nexus
12-13 August 2019, Canberra
Marc Noyce
Chief Executive Officer
Biofilta Pty Ltd
Marc has over 20 years of experience in the water industry and is the Chief Executive Officer of Biofilta Pty Ltd, a Melbourne based water sensitive urban design and urban food product supply company.
With a mission to “turn our cities into water catchments and urban farms”, Marc is passionate about combining engineering and horticultural skills to solve urban sustainability challenges.
Marc grew up on a working market farm and likes to encourage everyone to grow their own food in a sustainable manner.
Climate Resilient Food Growing Systems – Tuvalu
The purpose of the presentation is to inform the audience of advances in soil based urban farming that is scalable from household to community scale food production. Biofilta was selected from a global search of 280 applications across 74 Countries in 2017 by LAUNCH FOOD funded by DFAT and USAid. All products are made in Australia and the new Foodcube system is made from recycled food grade plastic that was destined for landfill. Biofilta has demonstrated that the sealed food growing system works in Tuvalu where water availability, space constraints and robust technology are issues facing many similar communities. DFAT has now issued a contract to implement larger scaled community gardens using the Foodcube to create a circular economy, close nutrient loops and showcase to the world how appropriate the technology is for urban agriculture. Statistics of other gardens being grown in urban car parks will be presented to showcase how much space it takes to grow the yearly recommended amount of vegetables for an adult according to the World Health Organisation. Biofilta is a small, private business based in Melbourne looking to expand and partner with organisations across the world to deploy urban agriculture and assist small holders to create an income and raise nutrition levels within the community.