The Virtues of Vertical Farming

• Tweet

• Tweet

“Vertical farming is a proposed agricultural technique involving large-scale agriculture in urban high-rises or “farmscrapers”. Using recycled resources and greenhouse methods such as hydroponics, these buildings would produce fruit, vegetables, edible mushrooms and algae year-round…” [Source]

A few weeks ago at a local supermarket I picked up a beautifully bright red-orange tomato and marveled at its “hydroponic” label. Although I deduced that the tomato was not organic and, therefore, did not purchase it, I was utterly intrigued as I began to educate myself on the ins and outs of hydroponics. Hydroponics is a method by which plants are grown without soil, but are fed a ‘liquid’ diet of essential nutrients in an inert growth medium. According to Simply HydroPonics and Organics.com, because the plant spends less energy on root extraction of nutrients in the soil and more energy on growth and reproduction, this method of growing plant based food is being adapted for commercial food production around our increasingly populated world.

IMPORTANT STATS:
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) projects that 70% of World’s population will be residing in Urban centers by 2050 and almost 50% increase from the present day. According to the latest UN projections, world population will rise from 6.8 billion today to 9.1 billion by 2050 – a third more mouths to feed than there are today. A large majority of this population growth will concentrate in developing countries. Sub-Saharan Africa’s population is expected to grow the fastest (up 108 percent, 910 million people), and East and South East Asia’s the slowest (up 11 percent, 228 million) [Source: FAO]. Recent NASA research found that from 1995 to 2005, world plant consumption rose from 20 to 25% of all plant production during that time period. This is not a classic opportunity-cost scenario, whereby one option is foregone for the greater benefits of another: the land on Earth is become even more valuable and whether we can provide space for more humans and more agricultural land is near impossible. At the rate that population is increasing and the levels of surplus food they will require, it means that we are heading into an age where “the planet would be very carefully managed, from end to end” says Dr. Marc Imhoff, of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

My personal mission is to become as self-sufficient and environmentally responsible as possible. However, I understand that it is not realistic for urban and suburban dwellers worldwide to become their own backyard, or even kitchen, farmers by the dawning of 2050 and beyond. Furthermore, what of the projected 70% in urban centers? How would the world’s future urban population be sustained?

Fortunately for us, there are those who are holding true to the old African proverb: “For tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today”. Dickenson Despommier, Professor of Environmental Health Sciences and Microbiology at Colombia University, developed the theory of Vertical Farming as a potential method of managing our food production for the urban centers of the future [See first video in this article for his viral video with GOOD].

Advantages of Vertical Farming:

* Year-round crop production; 1 indoor acre is equivalent to 4-6 outdoor acres or more, depending upon the crop (e.g., strawberries: 1 indoor acre = 30 outdoor acres)
* No weather-related crop failures due to droughts, floods, pests
* All VF food is grown organically: no herbicides, pesticides, or fertilizers
* VF virtually eliminates agricultural runoff by recycling black water
* VF returns farmland to nature, restoring ecosystem functions and services
* VF greatly reduces the incidence of many infectious diseases that are acquired at the agricultural interface
* VF converts black and gray water into potable water by collecting the water of
evapotranspiration
* VF adds energy back to the grid via methane generation from composting non-edible
parts of plants and animals
* VF dramatically reduces fossil fuel use (no tractors, plows, shipping.)
* VF converts abandoned urban properties into food production centers
* VF creates sustainable environments for urban centers
* VF creates new employment opportunities
* We cannot go to the moon, Mars, or beyond without first learning to farm indoors on
earth
* VF may prove to be useful for integrating into refugee camps
* VF offers the promise of measurable economic improvement for tropical and subtropical
LDCs. If this should prove to be the case, then VF may be a catalyst in helping to reduce or even reverse the population growth of LDCs as they adopt urban agriculture as a strategy for sustainable food production.
* VF could reduce the incidence of armed conflict over natural resources, such as water
and land for agriculture [Source]

FARMSCRAPERS BECOMING A REALITY:
Using the basic science of hydroponics, Despommier proposed a beneficial system of indoor, multilevel indoor gardens in environmentally sound buildings that would keep food safe from contaminants and disease and provide food for up to 10,000 in 30 stories. Although drawbacks could include cost of building the structures and a limited variety of foods due to the inability of some plants to thrive indoors, “farmscrapers” are becoming a reality. In 2010 the Paignton Zoo in the U.K. established and is currently using vertical farming to grow food and supplements for its animal inhabitants.

Sweco Sustainable Engineering and Design Consulting firm of Sweden reported recently that “the Swedish company Plantagon has signed an agreement with the municipality in Botkyrka, on the outskirts of Stockholm, to cooperate on the establishment of the first vertical greenhouse in Sweden. A comprehensive analysis will be conducted on the conditions for the construction of the unique greenhouse in Botkyrka, and the aim is to start building in 2012”. [Source]

In awe of what human beings can accomplish to continue our survival on this planet, I humbly vow to educate my children to have profound respect for this Earth, to help them excel in math and sciences, and to invest in technologies like vertical farming. I may even go back to that supermarket and buy a few of those tomatoes after-all…