Green Technology:Vertical Farming
What is Vertical Farming?
Vertical farming is exactly what it sounds like: farming on vertical surfaces rather than traditional, horizontal agriculture. By using vertically stacked layers, farmers can produce much more food on the same amount of land (or even less). Often these layers are integrated into buildings such as skyscrapers, housed in warehouses or shipping containers, greenhouses (like ours), or placed in spaces that would otherwise be unfit for farming. Yet vertical farming is much more than just stacking plants and hoping for the best. The practice requires artificial temperature, light, water, and humidity control. If a delicate balance is not maintained, it's possible to lose an entire crop the way a traditional farm might in the event of a drought or flood.
The History of Vertical Farming
It's easy to think of vertical farming as a new concept, especially considering the high-tech vertical farming companies emerging today. But the ideas behind the practice go back millennia. The first example of vertical farming known today is that of the Babylonian Hanging Gardens around 2,500years ago. Even hydroponic farming is not entirely new. Around a thousand years ago, the Aztecs developed a version of thispractice, called chinampas, bygrowing their plants on rafts floating above rivers and lakes. A more technologically advanced form of vertical farming popped up in the 1600s. French and Dutch farmers developed ways to grow warmer-climatefruits against stone walls that retained heat, creating their own microclimates.
What is Vertical Farming?
Vertical farming is exactly what it sounds like: farming on vertical surfaces rather than traditional, horizontal agriculture. By using vertically stacked layers, farmers can produce much more food on the same amount of land (or even less). Often these layers are integrated into buildings such as skyscrapers, housed in warehouses or shipping containers, greenhouses (like ours), or placed in spaces that would otherwise be unfit for farming. Yet vertical farming is much more than just stacking plants and hoping for the best. The practice requires artificial temperature, light, water, and humidity control. If a delicate balance is not maintained, it's possible to lose an entire crop the way a traditional farm might in the event of a drought or flood.Vertical farming has many benefits, with this model providing maximum output with minimal environmental impact and far less space required. With resources at a premium, it will become increasingly difficult to maintain food production using traditional methods.
Utilize Less Water & Space
With vertical farming techniques; farmers can use 98 percent less water and 99 percent less land. They can produce crop yields of 240 times that of traditional farms through year-round rolling or perpetual harvest. All of our produce is powered by the sun rather than LED lights, so these crops are not reliant on fossil fuels or other less ideal energy sources. By 2050, around 80 percent of the world's population will live in urban areas. This population structure will mean a higher demand for food in the areas where land is the hardest to come by. In these large urban centers, vertical farming offers a way to meet this increased demand for food without the need for vast fields.