'Moderator in nature': Edible Garden City's Bjorn Low wants to sow green ideas that will outlast him

A plan to lead 'a simple life' has sprouted into a 41-strong social enterprise building edible gardens across Singapore. By Tessa Oh

- By Tessa Oh

With the lease for its Queenstown location expiring at the end of 2025, Edible Garden City wants to revisit its project at Funan Mall. PHOTO: EDIBLE GARDEN CITY

(EDIBLE GARDEN CITY)

When Bjorn Low returned to Singapore from London 13 years ago, he was inspired by the English city's emerging "farm-to-table" scene to start a farming venture that he believed would last just three years.

"I thought I would just have fun, grow some vegetables, lead a simple life," Low, co-founder and chief urban farmer of social enterprise Edible Garden City (EGC), quipped in an interview with The Business Times.

That simple plan blossomed into a journey that continues more than a decade on. Today, EGC is a 41-person operation responsible for building over 280 edible gardens and urban farms across Singapore. Low has also been recognised in the 2025 Sustainability Impact Awards, jointly presented by BT and UOB, as the recipient of one of two Leader of the Year titles.

The turn of events was a "blessing", he said. "I never thought it would (become) this way."

As one of the first urban farming ventures in Singapore, EGC pioneered a sector that now includes community players such as City Sprouts and high-tech farms like Sustenir Agriculture.

Low's early work helped legitimise urban agriculture, with boutique restaurants and hotels first adopting the concept before developers and government agencies followed suit.

But the industry is not without challenges. Recent high-profile closures in Singapore's high-tech farming sector, such as the collapse of Temasek-backed vertical fish farm Apollo Aquaculture, have highlighted the vulnerabilities of capital-intensive, automation-heavy models.

These setbacks have also cast doubt on the feasibility of the government's ambitious "30 by 30" food security goal, with the latest figures suggesting it is off track.