Student Proves We Can Grow Millions of Pounds of Food By Planting it on Top of Trash

This student’s plan to tackle food insecurity may sound unappetizing, but it’s actually pretty ingenious. Joy Youwakim, an economics student at the University of Texas, has proven that we can safely grow produce on top of inactive landfills.

Using a 200-foot patch of land in a closed landfill southeast of Austin, Youwakim worked with her fellow students to grow 20 pounds of various crops, such as radishes, eggplant, bell peppers, cucumbers, and cantaloupe. All of the produce was then tested and declared safe by the Food Safety Net Services.

If Youwakim expanded her efforts to include all 390 acres of the landfill, she would be able to grow enough food for over 8,000 families. There were more than 6,000 inactive landfills in 2012, which roughly amounts to over 2 million acres of unused land. If implemented nationwide, Youwakim’s experiment could spell the end for food insecurity.

https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/student-proves-we-can-grow-millions-of-pounds-of-food-by-planting-it-on-top-of-trash/

That is pretty fucking amazing! What a clever girl.