'Lazy farmer' wins 2015 INDEX: Award for vertical farming system

Singapore

THURSDAY night's win of the 2015 prestigious design prize INDEX: Award by local farmer Sky Urban Solutions was the fruit of an unlikely desire: how to be a "lazy farmer" after retirement, says founder and CEO Jack Ng.

"Around 5-7 years ago, I was thinking 'when I retire, can I be a lazy farmer?' So I thought to use my know-how and experience to design this system," said Mr Ng. "Farmers' vegetables are very cheap, so you can't produce at high cost. If you produce in urban areas, the cost is very high. So you need to think of something that can reduce, reuse and recycle energy to produce food."