Hydroponic bean-sprouts and poo-water: Feeding the city-state of Singapore

As a city-state of the twenty©\first century, Singapore is unusual. There are few nations that are only urban. The challenge of feeding a nation from the pantries of other places seems like a phenomenon of our time but has been the reality of Singapore since its settlement in 1819. Singapore does not have its own agriculture, aside from some hydroponic bean sprouts, grown in high-rises, and relies on dirty water purchased from Malaysia, which it cleans and makes into ¡°new water¡± (locally called poo water). The Port has protected Singapore from scarcity¡ªa logic that relies in part on its structure as a city©\ state. Precisely because of these unique circumstances, Singapore moves discussion around food security from localism to food sovereignty. The paper considers how Singapore critiques and supports current discourse around localism, food security and food sovereignty.