The term is fairly self-explanatory utilising vertical stacking of crops; however, it comes with enormous potential. With urban sprawl becoming a common pattern across the world, more and more land is getting chewed up by these ever-expanding concrete jungles.
We have already cleared a space the size of South America for crops and currently the Earth’s population is growing by 1 percent every year. The agricultural industry must change if we want to continue our life on this planet.
Thankfully, there are solutions.
Vertical farming being one of them. This process can reduce the need of water by up to 95% compared to traditional farming by recycling the water within a closed loop system. This technique can produce crop yields of up to 240 times more than standard farming due to crops grown year-round.
Currently the global food mile emissions are responsible for 3 billion tonnes of Carbon dioxide per year.
Naturally through vertical farming in urban areas, this significantly shrinks the distance the food requires to travel.
The setup can be completed virtually anywhere, which entails a ginormous reduction in
emissions. As the plants live within a controlled environment, pests can no longer thrive within it, reducing the need for harmful pesticides.
Alongside the flexibility of integrating these farms anywhere, from skyscrapers, shipping
containers, to greenhouses, it can mean a city struggling with space has a solution to feed
their growing population.
It's not always fool proof
The structures still require a lot of maintenance to ensure its success as it relies on artificial constraints such as temperature, light and humidity. This leads to large energy costs as well as the expenses to build.
Additionally, not every crop can be grown this way, so vertical farming cannot be the only
solution. So, although we are still some distance from implementing the farms entirely, with
time and research, Vertical farming will be our future.