Discover the Future of Farming

Vertical Farming: A Summary

• Vertical farming is the practice of growing crops in vertically stacked layers, often using controlled-environment agriculture and soilless farming techniques such as hydroponics, aquaponics, and aeroponics.
• The modern concept of vertical farming was proposed in 1999 by Dickson Despommier, professor of Public and Environmental Health at Columbia University.
• Advantages of vertical farming include increased crop yield per unit area of land, ability to cultivate a larger variety of crops at once, resistance to weather disruptions, and conservation of local flora and fauna.
• Vertical farming faces economic challenges with large start-up costs compared to traditional farms and large energy demands due to the use of supplementary light like LEDs.
• Hydroponics is the predominant growing system used in vertical farming, which refers to the technique of growing plants without dirt.
• Aquaponics takes hydroponics one step further by integrating the production of terrestrial plants with the production of aquatic organisms in a closed-loop system.
• Aeroponics does not require any liquid or solid medium to grow plants and uses up to 90% less water than the most efficient conventional hydroponic systems.
• Controlled-environment agriculture (CEA) is the modification of the natural environment to increase crop yield or extend the growing season and is often used in conjunction with soilless farming techniques.
• Vertical farming can be housed in buildings, shipping containers, tunnels, and abandoned mine shafts.
• Developers and local governments in multiple cities have expressed interest in establishing a vertical farm, and around US$1.8 billion were invested into startups operating in the sector between 2014 and November 2020.
• Vertical farming is environmentally responsible by lowering emissions and reducing needed water and is predicted to be an answer to the potential food shortage as the population increases.
• Vertical farming allows for nearly immediate farm-to-store transport, which would reduce distribution costs and shorten produce travel time.Vertical Farming: Advantages, Challenges, and Potential Solutions

Advantages:

• Vertical farming can provide fresh produce year-round, even in arctic and sub-arctic areas where traditional farming is impossible.
• Container-based farms are less susceptible to disruption than long supply chains necessary to deliver traditionally grown produce to remote communities.
• Vertical farming reduces the amount of farmland, thus saving many natural resources.
• Producing food indoors reduces or eliminates conventional plowing, planting, and harvesting by farm machinery, protecting soil, and reducing emissions.
• Vertical farming causes nominal harm to wildlife because of its limited space usage.

Challenges:

• Vertical farms must overcome the financial challenge of large startup costs, which can exceed $100 million for a 60-hectare vertical farm.
• In order for vertical farms to be successful financially, high-value crops must be grown since traditional farms provide low-value crops like wheat at cheaper costs than vertical farms.
• Supplemental light would be required during the growing season, which can make indoor farming prohibitively expensive.
• Heating and cooling costs of vertical farms can be high, and if not addressed, vertical farms may be an unsustainable alternative to traditional agriculture.
• For every acre of crops grown via vertical farming, 5.4 acres of solar panels would be required to supply the energy via solar power.

Potential Solutions:

• Vertical farms can reduce costs by using second-hand, 40-foot shipping containers.
• Developers can focus on growing high-value crops.
• Vertical farms can use renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power.
• Research can be conducted to find ways to reduce heating and cooling costs.
• Vertical farms can use energy-efficient LED lighting to reduce energy consumption.