[Article] Urban Farming in Malaysia

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Urban Farming in Malaysia

Urban farming is becoming more popular in the agricultural field nowadays, plenty of groups and entrepreneurs started venturing into it in the agriculture market to seek more potential. What is so special about urban farming till it gains greater interest from the community over the year, let us learn about it!

Urban farming is defined as farming activities that mainly occur in a community located in a city or highly populated urban areas. It involves farming activities such as the production, processing, marketing, and delivery of farming products from farms to the hand of consumers. Urban farms are able to create better food security for the community whereas it focuses on improving food access, food transportation and food quality. On other hand, urban farms have become one of the solutions to solve food accessibility issues and the challenges of long and complex supply chain structures in serving fresh food production to high populated consumers. Thus, urban farms play a crucial role in maintaining food security globally, it is important to utilise spaces in which land spaces are more limited over the year. Second, it is important to let consumers have easier access to fresh food by reducing the intermediaries and reducing nutrient deterioration and food damage during transportation. Besides that, it is important because urban farms require less use of industrial chemicals and more practicing organic farming, the food production is safer to be eaten. Last but not least, it is important because urban farms are more toward technological innovations compared to traditional farming, which reduces farmers' burden and increases productivity in food production.

There are different types of urban farms that you can usually see in Malaysia.

Backyard gardens
Street landscaping
Greenhouses
Rooftop gardens
Green walls
Hydroponic
Aquaponics

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Excited to know more about urban farm culture in Malaysia?

Let me introduce these 10 notable urban farms in Malaysia with their own unique specialties.

1. Cultiveat

Image source from Cultiveat/Facebook

Size

1 acre of land

Location

20, Jalan PJS 11/18, Bandar Sunway, 47500 Subang Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia.

Cultiveat was established by Mr.John-Hans Oei in 2019. It is practicing sustainable precision farming on its farm. The farm is built with indoor protection to protect their vegetable crops from pests, which make their vegetables free from pesticides. A few advanced technologies have been used in this precise farm such as the auto watering system, sensors and automated roof panels. The technologies automatically regulate the light, humidity, temperature and water levels in the farm, which is able to help vegetables grow better in control. As for the production, Cultiveat plants its seedlings in a pot called cartridge. The specially designed cartridge enables seedlings to hold the exact amount of nutrients needed for optimal growth and it can biodegrade within 3 years. The fresh vegetables in the cartridge will be delivered to you as live plants.

Find it more at

Official Website : Cultiveat

Facebook : Cultiveat

Instagram : Cultiveat

2. Vegetable Co.

Image source from Vegetable Co./Facebook

Size

320 square feet of land

Location

Parking lot along roadside in Kuala Lumpur

Vegetable Co. set up its farm in a 320 square foot old shipping container. It has limited space for farming, but this small farm is full of modern technologies. The inside view of the shipping container has hydroponic systems that are stacked vertically and there are some greens coiling around the wall-mounted trellises. The farmers are practicing modern indoor farming techniques to grow pesticide-free vegetables, they effectively use the Internet of Things (IoT) and automation in vegetable production. For instance, the FutureFarmsOS system in farms is able to control all the variables of plant growth during production which allows vegetables to grow in optimal quality. Meanwhile, Vegetables Co. also utilised renewable energy to cover partial power supply in farms. This modern farm can definitely say that it is one of the best tech-based indoor farms in Malaysia.

Find it more at

Official Website : The Vegetable Co.

Facebook : The Vegetable Co.

Instagram : thevegetable.co

3. Kebun-Kebun Bangsar (Veggie Farm)

Image source from Kebun-Kebun Bangsar/Facebook

Size

2.5 acres of land

Location

Lorong Bukit Pantai, Bangsar, 59100 Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Kebun-Kebun Bangsar is founded by Mr. Ng Sek Sen, who is a landscape architect. This place gives you a beautiful view of the KL skyline because it sits on a hill in a residential area. Many nearby residents come here for a calm relaxation from the hustle and bustle. It is an urban community farm that plants plenty of crops and rears free-range animals. Besides walking in the garden, you are also allowed to interact and feed the animals there. The harvested crops in the farm will be donated to soup kitchens and the underprivileged in the city. There are also various family-friendly programmes often held here for the community such as the sustainable farmer market for selling the fresh produce in the garden and the weekly workshops. Almost everything in Kebun-Kebun Bangsar is taken care of by the volunteers, you can join them as a volunteer if you are looking to help with the garden.

Find it more at

Facebook : Kebun-Kebun Bangsar

Instagram : kebunkebunbangsar

4. E-Farm

Image source from E-Farm/Facebook & website

Size

1,000 square feet

Location

2, Jalan Damai Rasa 1, The Corner @ Alam Damai, 56000 Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

E-Farm is an aquaponics commercial farm that was established by Sean Lee and Eddie Soong. This big-scale aquaponics farm before is just a basic DIY aquaponic system that works as the founders’ hobby. They turn their hobby into commercial use after they feel motivated to produce chemical-free crops for the community around them. The greenhouse of E-Farm has 120 vertical towers in its aquaponics system, each tower will hold 90 plants, the whole farm is growing over 11,000 crops including leafy greens, hardy vegetables and herbs. The crops are grown in clay balls and cocopeat medium which help to maintain cleanliness and prevent crops diseases. There are also about 1,000 clean and chemical-free red tilapia that can be produced in its aquaponics system. Furthermore, the founders had developed an e-grocery to sell all their fresh products, you can just simply order from the e-grocery and wait for their delivery. Besides getting fresh produce via online order, you can also have a visit to the farm to harvest some fresh vegetables directly.

Find it more at

Official Website : E-Farm

Facebook : E-Farm

Instagram : efarm._

5. Babylon Vertical Farm

Image source from Babylon Vertical Farm/Facebook

Location

H-P-1, Level PH, 12, Jalan PJU 5/1 Encorp Strand Garden Offices, Kota Damansara, 47810 Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia.

Babylon Vertical Farm uses an indoor hydroponics farming method to grow leafy greens on its farm. It was founded in 2016 by Stuart Thomas and this farm is a social enterprise accelerator under the Malaysian Global Innovation and Creativity Centre (MaGIC). Babylon Vertical Farm runs a B2B farm, it mainly produces pest-free vegetables and herbs to supply to its business clients such as restaurants and supermarkets. It also grows microgreens for sales, the microgreens gain a great demand from the high-end restaurant. The founder and his team could see the potential in the microgreens business. Therefore, they feel the desire to increase the microgreens production, which is from 1,000 kg a month to 2,00-3,000 kg a month. Now, they have proved that they gain more business profit with the microgreens production. Besides fresh production, Babylon Vertical Farm also provides consulting and farm building services to the public who are interested in urban farming.

Find it more at

Official Website : Babylon Vertical Farms

Facebook : BVFMalaysia

Instagram : bvfmicrogreens

6. Boomgrow Farm

Image source from BoomGrow/Facebook & e27

Size

40 feet of land

Location

Unit 1-2, Level 1, Office Block, Pusat Kreatif Kanak-Kanak Tuanku Bainun, 48 Jalan Tun Mohd Fuad, Taman Tun Dr Ismail, 60000 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

BoomGrow Farm is a tech-driven indoor urban farm that was built in repurposed shipping containers by efforts of the founders, Jay, K Muralidesan and Shan Palani. It has 2 farms and each is located in Kuala Lumpur and Langkawi. These 5G showcase farms enable IoT to grow clean greens in a controlled and precise farming environment. The farmers there rely on machine learning and data analytics to tailor each input such as the temperature, humidity and light level to the respective plant to produce greens that have a tastier flavor. Moreover, the greens are grown with zero pesticides, herbicides or any preserving chemicals and nitrate accumulation in plant tissues wasn't an issue for their production. You can find a variety of types of greens on the farm, among them will have lettuces, kale, swiss chard, basil, and mints. Besides demand from the community around, BoomGrow also caters its greens to hotels and restaurants.

Find it more at

Official Website : BoomGrow Farms

Facebook : BoomGrow

Instagram : boomgrow

7. Sunway XFarms

Image source from Sunway XFarm/Facebook

Size

50,000 square feet of land

Location

Duplex, Jalan PJS 11/26, Bandar Sunway, 47500 Subang Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia.

Sunway XFarms was launched by Sunway Group in the heart of Sunway City KL. It has an outdoor hydroponic greenhouse, an indoor vertical farm and two aquaponic farms. The farm is using IoT to have efficient plant management to grow pesticide and herbicide-free crops such as Asian greens, herbs and microgreens. Every crop from the farm is safe to eat because it has obtained MyGap and MyFood certification for urban farming, which means the farm is following strict farming procedures to produce organic crops. Sunway XFarms has launched a Grower (Growing and Owning) model to allow anyone who wants to grow their own fresh produce but lacks the space and time to manage it. The farmers there will help you to manage your small farm plot from the planting until the harvesting process, you can simply have vegetable supplies weekly by subscribing to the model. Furthermore, Sunway XFarms also working with the Agriculture and Food Industries Ministry put effort into conducting workshops and selling various farming kits and systems to the public.

Find it more at

Official Website : Sunway XFarms

Facebook : Sunway XFarms

Instagram : sunway farms

8. Vegetory

Image source from Vegetory/Facebook

Location

No 28, Jalan Suria Puchong 4, pusat perniagaan suria puchong, Puchong Gateway, 47110 Puchong, Selangor

Vegetory uses the Plant Factory Indoor Farming (PFIF) concept to grow leafy greens in the city, it was founded in 2016 by Roy Liew and Celleste Kok. This plant factory grows leafy greens hydroponically in a controlled indoor environment. One of its famous in-store farms' outlets is in Bangsar Shopping Centre, you can notice that the in-store farm has a laboratory-like interior with LED light. They built a modular farm system in grocery stores to allow customers to walk in to pick the produce themselves freshly there. Besides providing a transparent purchasing process, customers are also able to enjoy the harvest process. Vegetory mainly produces lettuces such as mizuna, crisphead, red oak and romaine, there is also kale and rocket salad grown in the plant factory. Salad lovers definitely will love to bring some greens from here to their bowl. Moreover, Mori Kohi, a farm-to-table cafe opened by Vegetory, serves Western-style Japanese dishes that use fresh greens from the plant factory as the ingredients. You can taste the delicious and nutritious meal with the freshest vegetable supply at the cafe.

Find it more at

Official Website : vegetory

Facebook : Vegetory

Instagram : vegetory

9. Farmy Vertical Farms

Image source from Farmy Vertical Farms/Facebook & website

Size

1200 square feet of land

Location

Lot S33, Encorp Strand Mall, Jalan PJU 5/22, Kota Damansara, 47810 Petaling Jaya, Selangor.

Farmy Vertical Farm was founded by Shoma Tsubota. It is an urban farm that was built in a shopping mall. The exterior of the farm is surrounded by a wall and it has a window to let the public view the indoor farming process. It has an 18 feet height vertical farm with 5 growing racks, each rack containing 7 layers of growing spaces for the vegetables. The vegetables are grown in an indoor hydroponics system with customised LED growth lights as the light source for the plant, thus the farmers are able to eliminate the risks such as unpredictable weather, pests problems and plant diseases during the farming process. They are also using an auto-dosing system with IoT and sensors to efficiently manage the irrigation system, it controls the electrical conductivity and ph level of fertiliser water always at an ideal level in the farm. With the effort of the farmers there and the technologies, this farm can produce about 1.5 tonnes of leafy vegetables every month. The examples of fresh greens produced by Farmy Vertical Farm include kale, basil, mustard, wasabi salad, bok choy and microgreens, and all of them are pesticide and herbicide-free to eat.

Find it more at

Official Website : Farmy : Vertical Farm Malaysia

Facebook : Farmy

Instagram : farmy.my

10. Agroz

Image source from Agroz/Facebook, digitalnewsasia & soyacincau

Size

10,000 square feet

Location

Mines 2 Outdoor Car Park South KL, Jalan Mines 2, Mines Wellness City, 43300 Seri Kembangan, Selangor.

Agroz runs various commercial indoor vertical farms in high populated urban spaces. It has a motive "Farm to Fork in minutes" in which each farm will be placed within 30 minutes to reach consumers. Currently, Agroz has successfully run 3 different sizes of smart indoor vertical farms in Selangor. It owns a small farm in Seri Kembangan where the greens are growing in modified shipping containers. There is a 3,000 square feet warehouse farm in Sungai Buloh and a 90,000 square feet commercial indoor farm in Shah Alam. These smart farms are using future technologies to grow the greens such as IoT, AI, machine learning, data analytics and blockchain. We can know that Agroz is practicing sustainable and modern precision agriculture through its smart indoor vertical farms. Gerard Lim, the founder and CEO of Agroz Group said that Agroz ambitiously aims to scale up the smart indoor vertical farm to 10,000 square feet of space to produce 3 tonnes of fresh vegetables monthly to serve consumers nearby. As for the distribution of fresh produce, Agroz is sold directly to consumers through subscription programmes and it is also supplied to grocers, restaurants and the hospitality industry around the farm area.

Find it more at

Official Website : Agroz Group

Facebook : Agroz Group

Instagram : agrozgroup

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