Is urban food farming a priority?

Daisy Tam Dick-sze, associate head and associate professor at Hong Kong Baptist University's Department of Humanities and Creative Writing, agreed. "Singapore recognizes the importance of food security much earlier than Hong Kong. Singapore regards food security as a category of national security. It takes a proactive approach. Hong Kong is rather complacent."

Tam said policy changes to land, funding, and education are needed to foster a productive agricultural technology sector. Taking rooftop farming as an example, Tam said, "It depends on whether the government can persuade developers to allow rooftop farming on their buildings. Or the government may revise legislation requiring developers to provide spaces for rooftop farming."

Sustenir Group CEO Jack Moy agreed. "Our limitations would be the availability of building space, and the high costs of building a technologically advanced agriculture farm. As indoor vertical farming is a nascent industry, funding is critical to help businesses start, and more importantly, to scale, for the needs of a dense urban population.

"While the industry is ramping up, there also needs to be strong consumer education on the benefits of vertical farming."