How do you convince lettuce that it is an orchid? And why would you? Laurens Trebes introduces full spectrum farming.

As a young man, Trebes sailed the globe. More or less washing ashore in Venezuela, he starts a career and a family in a fantastically floral environment. Much like the leaves and seeds of the plants surrounding him, Trebes travels and settles all around the world. As a somewhat nomadic entrepreneur, he is overwhelmed by the beauty of xenogamy. And eventually convinced of its necessity.The lesson learned is ancient indeed. Dinosaurs went extinct not because of meteores or volcanos, but because of a lack of food. Humanity is heading towards the same fate. But there is one big difference. We know, we care. And therefore we can survive. And we will. How? By farming vertically in stead of horizontally. In tree towers. Farmscrapers, if you will.That’s where those orchids come in handy. They really don’t need any soil as they hang from trees and collect water evaporating from rivers below. So we can just as easily grow lettuce in industrial mist, right? His test rabbit professor doctor Fluffy begged to disagree. Nature requires a full spectrum of nutrients. Water alone doesn’t do the trick. Sunlight alone doesn’t do the trick. Trebes tapped into his Venezualian background once again and came up with a biological mixture of Amazon orchids. Mister Fluffy chewed away satisfied. How’s that for emperical data?Bringing nutrition back in our food, by bringing nature back in our cities. With full spectrum farming, the only way is up.