As recently as 1970, nearly one in 10 Singaporeans was engaged in farming or fishing. Now most of the island is urbanized. The vast majority of apartment complexes in Singapore are public housing, which allows the government to designate their rooftops as agricultural spaces in the public interest. (Photo courtesy of Comcrop) From what was once Singapore’s largest prison complex — the Queenstown Remand Prison, housing about 1,000 inmates at its peak — an 8,000 square meter urban farm, Edible Garden City (EGC), now bursts with colorful vegetables and fragrant herbs. Co-founded by local resident Bjorn Low in 2012, EGC is one of Singapore’s first urban farming initiatives and is located inside the former prison compound. It is one of several efforts in the city-state to strengthen the island’s food security at a grassroots level. “Our goal was and is to encourage more locals to grow their own food and thus help strengthen the city’s food resilience,” says Sarah Rodriguez, EGC’s head of marketing.