https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/features/lingohack/ep-180711
The story…
Rooftop garden market
Learn language related to…
Agriculture
Need-to-know language
freshest – superlative of ‘fresh’, meaning ‘obtained as recently as possible’
going green – set phrase meaning ’embracing environment conservation’
pesticides – substances used to kill organisms that are harmful to plants
harvested – collected from nature for human consumption
horticulture – garden cultivation
Answer this…
How does the supermarket make sure it produces sustainable fruit and vegetables?
Transcript
For the freshest, most local produce, look to the skies. This Brussels supermarket literally going green, with its own rooftop garden. The urban farm is producing a range of fruit and veg without the use of pesticides, while cutting distribution costs to zero.
Marie Delvaux, sustainability manager
So the products are harvested in the morning at eight o’clock. And an hour later they are in the store. So clients appreciate the freshness of the product. They even tell us that they can keep the products a day or two longer in their fridge. So it’s a very short chain.
The farm uses filtered rainwater, solar panels and heat recirculated from the store’s cooling systems to produce the most sustainable salads and strawberries possible.
But high-rise horticulture does bring its own challenges. The team of gardeners has had to work within tight weight restrictions, while biodiversity on the rooftops isn’t the same as in the fields.
Nicolas Tytgat, agricultural engineer
There is a danger we could get overwhelmed by pests or diseases, as we can’t rely on the surrounding nature to help. But we’ve tried to create an island of nature to do permaculture, but in a completely urban way.
If the project really gets off the ground, the supermarket chain says other stores could soon see their own rooftop revolution.
Did you get it?
How does the supermarket make sure it produces sustainable fruit and vegetables?
It uses filtered rainwater, solar panels and heat recirculated from the store’s cooling systems.
Did you know?
Tech companies around the world are developing robots to pick strawberries. Producers say they need the robots because they can’t find enough human workers to do the job.