Eating locally -- in Las Vegas?

Glitzy lights, extravagant hotels, hookers, dice games…and a farm? The infamous buffets of Sin City may soon be able to advertise their food as wholesomely local. A 30-story farm is in the works for Las Vegas – an agricultural skyscraper designed to include over 100 different crops, from miniature banana trees to strawberries.

Nevada officials believe the vertical farm could produce enough food for 72,000 people a year – and $25 million in agricultural products, most going to local casinos. They also expect it to be a popular tourist attraction, and believe it may help change the image of Las Vegas as a place of excess and waste.

I’ll be a monkey’s uncle if Vegas changes its image (purposely or otherwise), but the planned vertical farm will offer a testing ground for increasingly important urban agricultural methods. The $200 million project is hoped to be completed by 2010.

Source: Next Energy News