How a Hong Kong farm responded to climate change by growing greens sustainably indoors with the help of smart interior design – and without soil

Ray Lok saw climate change as an issue after Typhoon Mangkhut wrecked his farm, so he moved his aquaponics operation indoors. But space was a problem

Through efficient interior design paired with AI, Full Nature Farms is now thriving, and grows cheap, eco-friendly vegetables for various Hong Kong restaurants

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Smart interior design has enabled Full Nature Farms to thrive indoors growing crops sustainably for Hong Kong restaurants. Photo: Full Nature Farms

Christopher DeWolf

Published: 1:45pm, 27 Oct 2022

When Typhoon Mangkhut slammed into Hong Kong in September 2018, Ray Lok knew he would need to start over.

At the time, he ran a 25,000 sq ft (2,320-square-metre) greenhouse in the city’s New Territories that supplied local restaurants and hotels with salad greens and other vegetables. It used a type of farming technique called aquaponics, in which water enriched by living fish (eating and producing waste) is fed hydroponically to plants in a closed-loop system.

But the typhoon – Hong Kong’s most intense storm since records began in 1946, with gusts that reached 250km/h (160 miles per hour) – cut power to the greenhouse, killing the fish. The roof was blown away, and fallen trees blocked the only road leading to the farm.

“It was too expensive to repair,” says Lok. It dawned on him that, with climate change, these kinds of severe weather events would only become more common.

Ray Lok of Full Nature Farms in Hong Kong. Photo: Ray Lok

His farm had already been struggling for years to adapt to warming temperatures, with ever-hotter summers making it difficult to grow greens that needed cool nights to thrive.