Vertical farming

Vertical farming is the practice of growing crops in vertically and horizontally stacked layers.[1] It often incorporates controlled-environment agriculture, which aims to optimize plant growth, and soilless farming techniques such as hydroponics, aquaponics, and aeroponics.[1] Some common choices of structures to house vertical farming systems include buildings, shipping containers, underground tunnels, and abandoned mine shafts.

The modern concept of vertical farming was proposed in 1999 by Dickson Despommier, professor of Public and Environmental Health at Columbia University.[2] Despommier and his students came up with a design of a skyscraper farm that could feed 50,000 people.[3] Although the design has not yet been built, it successfully popularized the idea of vertical farming.[3] Current applications of vertical farming coupled with other state-of-the-art technologies, such as specialized LED lights, have resulted in over 10 times the crop yield as would be received through traditional farming methods.

Types

The term "vertical farming" was coined by Gilbert Ellis Bailey in 1915 in his book Vertical Farming. His use of the term differs from the current meaning—he wrote about farming with a special interest in soil origin, its nutrient content and the view of plant life as "vertical" life forms, specifically relating to their underground root structures.[10] Modern usage of the term "vertical farming" usually refers to growing plants in layers, whether in a multistorey skyscraper, used warehouse, or shipping container.

Mixed-use skyscrapers

Mixed-use skyscrapers were proposed and built by architect Ken Yeang. Yeang proposes that instead of hermetically sealed mass-produced agriculture, plant life should be cultivated within open air, mixed-use skyscrapers for climate control and consumption. This version of vertical farming is based upon personal or community use rather than the wholesale production and distribution that aspires to feed an entire city.[11]

Despommier's skyscrapers

Ecologist Dickson Despommier

Technology

Lighting can be natural or via LEDs. As of 2018 commercial LEDs were about 28% efficient, which keeps the cost of produce high and prevents vertical farms from competing in regions where cheap vegetables are abundant.[21] Energy costs can be reduced because full-spectrum white light is not required. Instead, red and blue or purple light can be generated with less electricity.

History

One of the earliest drawings of a tall building that cultivates food was published in Life Magazine in 2009.[22] The reproduced drawings feature vertically stacked homesteads set amidst a farming landscape. This proposal can be seen in Rem Koolhaas's Delirious New York. Koolhaas wrote that this theorem is 'The Skyscraper as Utopian device for the production of unlimited numbers of virgin sites on a metropolitan location'.[23]

Hydroponicum

Early architectural proposals that contribute to VF include Le Corbusier's Immeubles-Villas (1922) and SITE's Highrise of Homes (1972).[24] SITE's Highrise of Homes is a near revival of the 1909 Life Magazine Theorem.[25] Built examples of tower hydroponicums are documented in The Glass House by John Hix.

Advantages

Many of VF's potential benefits are obtained from scaling up hydroponic or aeroponic growing methods.[41]

A 2018 study estimated that the value of four ecosystem services provided by existing vegetation in urban areas was on the order of $33 billion annually. The study's quantitative framework projected annual food production of 100–180 million tonnes, energy savings ranging from 14 to 15 billion kilowatt-hours, nitrogen sequestration between 100,000 and 170,000 tonnes and stormwater runoff reductions between 45 and 57 billion cubic metres annually. Food production, nitrogen fixation, energy savings, pollination, climate regulation, soil formation and biological pest control could be worth as much as $80–160 billion annually.[42]

Reduced need for farmland

It is estimated that by the year 2048, the world's population will increase by 3 billion people and close to 80% will live in urban areas.[43] Vertical farms have the potential to reduce or eliminate the need to create additional farmland.[43]

Problems

Economics

Vertical farms require substantial start-up funding and some start-up companies have not been able to achieve a profit before going bankrupt.[63] Opponents question the potential profitability of vertical farming.[64] Its economic and environmental benefits rest partly on the concept of minimizing food miles, the distance that food travels from farm to consumer. However, a recent analysis suggests that transportation is only a minor contributor to the economic and environmental costs of supplying food to urban populations. The analysis concluded that "food miles are, at best, a marketing fad".[65] Thus the facility would have to lower costs or charge higher prices to justify remaining in a city.

Similarly, if power needs are met by fossil fuels, the environmental effect may be a net loss;[66] even building low-carbon capacity to power the farms may not make as much sense as simply leaving traditional farms in place, while burning less coal.

Technologies and devices

Vertical farming relies on the use of various physical methods to become effective. Combining these technologies and devices in an integrated whole is necessary to make Vertical Farming a reality. Various methods are proposed and under research. The most common technologies suggested are:[80]

Greenhouses
The Folkewall and other vertical growing architectures[81]
Aeroponics
Agricultural robot
Aquaponics
Composting
Controlled-environment agriculture
Flower pots

Vertical farming around the world

Developers and local governments in many cities have expressed interest in establishing vertical farms, for example in Incheon (South Korea), Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates), Dongtan (China),[82] New York City, Portland, Oregon, Los Angeles, Las Vegas,[83] Seattle, Surrey, B.C., Toronto, Paris, Bangalore, Dubai, Shanghai and Beijing.[84] There have been several different means of implementing vertical farming systems into communities such as: Canada (London),[85] UK (Paignton),[86] Israel,[87]

External links

References

Jeff Birkby. Vertical Farming ATTRA Sustainable Agriculture Program, January 2016, retrieved 28 October 2019^
Dickson Despommier www.mailman.columbia.edu, retrieved 2019-11-04^
Arnie Cooper. Going Up? Vertical Farming in High-Rises Raises Hopes Pacific Standard, 14 June 2017, retrieved 2019-11-04

Vertical farm

Dickson Despommier is a professor of environmental health sciences and microbiology. He reopened the topic of VF in 1999 with graduate students in a medical ecology class. He speculated that a 30-floor farm on one city block could provide food for 50,000 people including vegetables, fruit, eggs and meat, explaining that hydroponic crops could be grown on upper floors; while the lower floors would be suited for chickens and fish that eat plant waste.

Although many of Despommier's suggestions have been challenged from an environmental science and engineering point of view, Despommier successfully popularized his assertion that food production can be transformed. Critics claimed that the additional energy needed for artificial lighting, heating and other operations would outweigh the benefit of the building's close proximity to the areas of consumption.[29][30]

Despommier originally challenged his class to feed the entire population of Manhattan (about 2,000,000 people) using only 13 acre of rooftop gardens. The class calculated that rooftop gardening methods could feed only 2% of the population. Unsatisfied with the results, Despommier made an off-the-cuff suggestion of growing plants indoors, vertically. By 2001 the first outline of a vertical farm was introduced. In an interview Despommier described how vertical farms would function:

"Each floor will have its own watering and nutrient monitoring systems. There will be sensors for every single plant that tracks how much and what kinds of nutrients the plant has absorbed. You'll even have systems to monitor plant diseases by employing DNA chip technologies that detect the presence of plant pathogens by simply sampling the air and using snippets from various viral and bacterial infections. It's very easy to do.

Moreover, a gas chromatograph will tell us when to pick the plant by analyzing which flavenoids the produce contains. These flavonoids are what gives the food the flavors you're so fond of, particularly for more aromatic produce like tomatoes and peppers. These are all right-off-the-shelf technologies. The ability to construct a vertical farm exists now. We don't have to make anything new.[31]"

Architectural designs were independently produced by designers Chris Jacobs, Andrew Kranis and Gordon Graff.[32][33]

Mass media attention began with an article written in New York magazine, followed by others,[34][35][36] as well as radio and television features.

In 2011, the Plant in Chicago was building an anaerobic digester into the building. This will allow the farm to operate off the energy grid. Moreover, the anaerobic digester will be recycling waste from nearby businesses that would otherwise go into landfills.[37]

As of 2014, Vertical Fresh Farms was operating in Buffalo, New York, specializing in salad greens, herbs and sprouts.[38] In March the world's then largest vertical farm opened in Scranton, Pennsylvania, built by Green Spirit Farms (GSF). The firm is housed in a single-storey building covering 3.25 hectares, with racks stacked six high to house 17 million plants. The farm was to grow 14 lettuce crops per year, as well as spinach, kale, tomatoes, peppers, basil and strawberries. Water is scavenged from the farm's atmosphere with a dehumidifier.[21]

The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) operates an 18-storey project that produces genetically modified plants that make proteins useful in vaccines.[21]

Plenty has designed a new AI-controlled modular grow system for multiple crops; they are opening a farm in Chesterfield, Virginia that will grow more than 4 e6lb of strawberries each year. The farm uses 97% less land and 97% less water than traditional farming.[39]

In August 2025, United States-based vertical farm company '80 Acres Farms' merged with Soil Organics. The company operates seven vertical farms in the United States with an estimated hydroponic produce production up to 20 million pounds per year.[40]

Types

Mixed-use skyscrapers

Despommier's skyscrapers

Technology

History

Hydroponicum

Advantages

Reduced need for farmland

Problems

Economics

Technologies and devices

Vertical farming around the world

See also

External links

References

Stackable shipping containers

In abandoned mine shafts

Vertical farm

Increased crop production

Weather disruption

Conservation

Resource scarcity

Mass extinction

Human health

Poverty and culture

Urban growth

Energy sustainability

Energy use

Pollution