Mr Cheng, 30, a co-founder of a creative consultancy, says: “Most of the time, we don’t know where our fresh produce is imported from and if it is free from pesticides or chemical fertilisers. I became interested in having more control of what I put on my plate by growing my own food.”
Mr Cheng is one of many people here who have signed up for urban farming courses to learn how to grow their own food.
Besides running courses on various urban farming topics, including aquaponics, hydroponics and mushroom growing, Citizen Farm will also be running an agriculture course here later this year.
Mr Darren Ho, 28, head of Citizen Farm, says: “We want to build a pool of people who are passionate about urban agriculture and farming and let this talent pool be the bedrock of the agriculture industry in Singapore.”
The Plant Story, an urban gardening lifestyle company founded in 2009 by Ms Cath Lim, 43, a certified horticulturist, started offering urban farming workshops two years ago when “Many customers, mostly working adults and families with young children, came to us wanting to grow their own food”.
Gardens With Purpose, an urban organic gardening company founded in 2010 by Ms Joanne Ng, 54, leads trips to Chiang Mai in Thailand for participants to learn more about organic farming.
Says Ms Ng: “A lot of gardeners here wanted to see how organic farming was done hundreds of years ago, using mainly fermenting and composting. They also like Thailand and the food there. So I decided to combine the two.”
This is an autogenerated summary from a published source: Singapore: More sign up for lessons to grow own food in urban setting
