Description
Creating open-source urban-focused agriculture solutions that support the environment while feeding our communities.
RootedLABs, working alongside the GreenPill Ottawa Chapter, is dedicated to tackling the urgent issues of food insecurity and climate change, advocating for innovative and inclusive solutions that unite technology and communities, break down resource barriers, and promote open-source principles to enhance global agriculture.
The problem:
The world’s population has more than doubled over the past 50 years. This alone has caused immense stress on the natural environment and as a result, we are experiencing soil degradation, depletions of groundwater, pollution, ocean acidification, accelerated rates of extinction, global warming, droughts, diseases, high concentrations of CO 2 and mass deforestation. In a time of increasing population growth, climate change and environmental degradation, we need agricultural systems that come with a more balanced portfolio of sustainability benefits.
A path forward:
Urban agriculture has been defined as “reconnecting with the community through food, jobs and economic development” and is a sustainable solution.
The project would be entirely open-sourced, and start a workforce who could move on and create their own advanced agricultural businesses in other cities globally.
RootedLABs is a decentralized network empowering future city farmers and urban agriculture by leveraging emerging technologies, using open-source philosophies and creating a global network of hubs (LABs) to help share resources, tools and tech to feed local communities. We establish accessible smart city farms worldwide (first location in Ottawa, Canada), fostering collaboration between academia, the tech industry, and local communities to address global agricultural challenges and support sustainable environmental practices.
Our focus on open-source tooling and blockchain technology allows us to facilitate connectivity between local and global agricultural needs. Leveraging decentralized physical infrastructure networks, IoT, and emerging technologies like AI and robotics, we collect data, create open datasets, code and documentation, and provide testing grounds for cutting-edge projects.
Through educational programs and partnerships with nonprofits, schools, and governments, we promote inclusivity and sustainability while continuously innovating to address evolving technological and environmental demands.
Long-term our goal is to create a global co-op (DAO) of urban farm hubs (LABs) to create a more sustainable and accessible agricultural future for the planet. By open-sourcing all data, engineering specs, and other resources we can provide climate-saving solutions, that also feed local communities.
*we had to recreate our builder page as our previous one was on PGN
Since GG19 we have:
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Hired an engineer to help build out our open-source engineering specs for our urban farm (shipping container) - these can be used by anyone wanting to open a RootedLABs in their local community, or simply want to start a farm of their own. (samples below)
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secured a partnership with AreaXO in Ottawa, an innovative agri-tech non-profit that is donating space to us for our shipping container
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in talks with https://distributive.network/ to partner up and have them sponsor our first shipping container
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were accepted into the AgriNEXT accelerator by Foresight Canada for Canadian AgriTech Companies (https://foresightcac.com/agrinext-venture-application)
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issued on-chain credentials to our founding contributors, helping set up the groundwork for our future decentralized network/DAO plans
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participating in OperationWebTree and along with GreenPill Ottawa, have purchased 160 White Pines as part of a global reforestation campaign in partnership with Silvi
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gave a presentation to Nimiq on AgriTech, RootedLABs and how we're blending AI x Crypto to tackle climate change, food insecurity and the need for more youth to enter agriculture. Looking to potentially partner with them in some way.
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wrote a paper 'Future Global Food Demand and Population at Risk of Hunger
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CD3ZA_n4GIwgxGvuJTQ5dh76HWK8Uf8fZXrnHxW5BLg/edit?usp=sharing -
Published The OttawaLABs outline + phases (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IgpzybwzB8wW0pi-lboIhmwK8rqNc0E6DMuWEsnuR80/edit?usp=sharing)
You can find out more about what we are up to, or read our docs here:
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Our Ottawa LABs engineering specs - (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1cVIISyPKNagTBjjO19he_xj3Xo-zjR7M6PSwgWZYoLE/edit)
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A link to a presentation we gave to Nimiq a couple of weeks ago on RootedLABs and DePIN networks - (https://www.canva.com/design/DAF8I4kz370/Kr666wfHN_BTHr9VkfSW0g/view?utm_content=DAF8I4kz370&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link&utm_source=editor)
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wrote a paper 'Future Global Food Demand and Population at Risk of Hunger
Written by Amanda Gloor - RootedLABs'
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CD3ZA_n4GIwgxGvuJTQ5dh76HWK8Uf8fZXrnHxW5BLg/edit?usp=sharing -
Published The OttawaLABs outline + phases - (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IgpzybwzB8wW0pi-lboIhmwK8rqNc0E6DMuWEsnuR80/edit?usp=sharing)
We are a project being incubated by GreenPill Ottawa