Vertical Farming: disrupting agriculture

How does it work?

Vertical farms are a type of Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) and they can be simply perceived as a stack of greenhouses on top of each other. For the same amount of ground space used, the plant yield is multiplied by the number of floors of the vertical farm: the higher the vertical farm, the more produce it yields.

In hydroponics (method used also by Agricola Moderna, the start-up near Milan) vertical farms plants are grown on a neutral and inert substrate (e.g. sand, clay, and rock material), regularly irrigated by a liquid fortified with minerals and nutrients that are necessary to sustain plant growth.

Succesful examples:

• Following the 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis, 5% of the farming in Japan was destroyed or unusable due to saltwater and nuclear contamination. Vertical farming model, which grows food in a controlled, safe indoor environment, clean from contaminated water or soil, was proposed as a solution and thanks to the Japanese government widespread support, as of 2018, there are several hundred commercial vertical farms operating throughout the country

• South Korea started with an experimental seed bank complex based in Suwan and then expanded to provide agricultural training so that people could replicate the model themselves. This has resulted in a strong industry that has spread throughout the country.

“Vertical Farming is considered the agriculture of hte future. this is because innovation is used for quality and, above all, sustainability. Sustainability is part of the added value of vertical farms and it lies in making the use of resources efficient: we use 95% less water and 98% less soil, increasing productivity per m² by 100 times. The use of resources takes place with attention to waste and pollution: the water is filtered and reused, and by not using pesticides or pesticides we do not pollute water sources and soil. In addition, there is the impact of producing at km0 to be considered: less transport and waste related to logistics.” (Alessandro Pistillo)

Challenges

Vertical farming faces several kinds of challenges.

First, the question of training and indoor farming skills is very important. Commercial vertical farms operate like any other business, and there are numerous reasons why businesses fail. They require constant oversight of all aspects of the growing environment, as well as employing skilled and experienced staff, who can identify and correct problems in the growing system. Schools of agriculture should offer specialized degrees in urban farming, which could not only train city dwellers to work in urban farms, but also stimulate them to work in them, further driving growth in the sector.

Commercial viability is definitely a challenge for vertical farms. There is however great hope that it can become sustainable at a large scale. Some have suggested that the energy cost of running a vertical farm makes it difficult to realize a profit. However, as the price of electricity and LED lights become cheaper, the profitability of vertical farms will undoubtedly increase. Diversifying the crop selection could further contribute to the success of vertical farms, since most today focus on highly productive leafy green vegetables.

Next, opposition from city dwellers and politicians to urban agriculture remains common. Many assume that due to the dense, crowded, contaminated environment of cities, these are not appropriate spaces for vegetable growth. Nevertheless, as the industry matures, indoor farming gains visibility, and the advantages of vertical farming become obvious, it will get easier to get approval for their construction from city planners and other stakeholders, so that vertical farms will gain a lasting place in urban centers.

Last, vertical farms remain relatively expensive to build, maintain, and endure. These are abundant in places such as Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, and the US, where people have high purchasing power. However, the challenge now resides in spreading vertical farming to poorer populations. In places like India, Africa, South East Asia, Latin America, urban agriculture has been growing. But vertical farming, as it requires more expensive technology, has been lagging. Expanding it to larger shares of the population, large commercial growers must step in, as well as international organizations in order to encourage it and make it more accessible. It is only a matter of time for poorer people to demand what the middle class already has access to, at the right market price, and at that point, vertical farming will emerge in cheaper forms.

[...]

Buildings today are functionless columns of steel, glass, and concrete which endlessly consume resources such as electricity for air conditioning and heating.

Architects should develop buildings that integrate vertical farming systems and that are made of alternative materials such as wood timber (i.e., laminated wood). An example is the Sunqiao Urban Agriculture District, a 1,000-hectare master plan designed by Sasaki Architects in Shanghai. This could lead to a hyper-localized mode of consumption in which citizens buy and consume produce from their own buildings. Further, buildings could be equipped with a circular economy infrastructure. For example, they could have water harvesting systems that capture and store rainwater, contributing to the decrease of clean water usage and waste. Further, solar panels could integrate buildings, especially in regions of the world where solar light is constant and abundant throughout the year.