Ever since the industrial revolution, human technology has advanced exponentially, with one invention paving the way to a hundred more. The scientific advancements that followed resulted in a major overhaul to the quality of life for the global population, in contrast to the late medieval ages, or the Renaissance period of history. Health, comfort and safety reached a point that was previously unknowable and continues to do so due to modern scientific discoveries as well. However, it also resulted in a cataclysm that was foreseen by few and spoken out for by even fewer – overpopulation. This in turn, created several other problems which perpetually threaten our lives even to this day, and an imminent danger that looms in the dark, is that of food shortages.
Urbanization, pollution and general human occupancy has led to soil erosion, soil infertility and an overall scarcity of arable landdue to a lack of resources, malpractice and the large-scale industrialization of agriculture and thus an inability to cultivate crops and several undesirable harvests1,2. In brief, the entire food industry finds itself at the brink of disaster, in its efforts to secure the sustenance needs of the ever-increasing global population. Vertical farming (VF) is a method that seeks to eliminate the need for the many resources and most importantly, large areas of fertile land.
VF works by growing crops and plants under controlled conditions, where resources required for plant growth are efficiently distributed through artificial methods and hydroponic systems that are usually automated. This reduces the need for farming resources such as irrigation water in contrast to more conventional farming methods and is vastly advantageous due to the significantly smaller patch of land that VF requires. Furthermore, the convenience of these VFs is well illustrated by their modularity, and even transportability, as is present in Container Farms and Home/Office-Integrated VFs.
Surprisingly, VF is not a novel method, and its history dates as far back to 600 BC, as seen in the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, and it resurges today, with major technological advancements in our time of need. The principal component in modern VFs is the closed-loop hydroponics system, which is a carefully balanced infrastructure that provides the plant with all necessary nutrients, aeration, temperature and growing medium that not only seeks efficient management of resources and chemicals, but also to simulate nature itself, to promote better growth and better harvests. This works in tandem with a highly sensitive monitoring system that irrigates the plant as necessary and controls the automation of the farm. It also additionally quells several problems with natural growth of plants, such as nutrient uptake imbalances, toxin intakes and plant disease due to several environmental factors such as climate change, ensuring successful plant growth even further.
Several economic advantages also compound onto the scientific benefits, in terms of lower cost of resources, maximum yield per square meter of area due to layered growth, and the ability to implement farms in largely urbanized areas. One study in 2018 reported the yield per square meter of vertically farmed lettuce to be about 80 times more than open-field agriculture, and over 12 times more than greenhouses4. This is also additionally beneficial as it allows for cultivation in harsh environments with little or no fertile soil, or in lands with an unfavorable climate, however, possibly the greatest advantage of VFs is the ability to cultivate all crops year round, due to its controlled conditions which are disconnected from the natural climate, weather and seasons. This not only ensures sustainable food production and food security but also allows for several job opportunities which conventional farms may usually not, such as technologists, analysts, chemists, maintenance workers, marketing and even retail staff, while also helping to promote local industries all year5.
The modern times have also seen a drastic increase in health and environmentally conscious consumers, which has skyrocketed demands for clean and healthy food with minimal environmental impact, and thus VFs are deemed suitable to meet this end, as they are capable of improving food safety by maximizing crop traceability and eliminating the need for pesticides and herbicides6. It is therefore regretful, that the common social acceptance of VFs is generally negative, especially among urban residents who reject the implementation of high-tech VFs due to the incorrect perception that soilless crops are unnatural and unhealthy7. This issue highlights the necessity of making scientific information on VFs accessible to the general population to ensure they are correctly informed on the implementation of VFs, and the major global food crisis that creates a need to do so.
With the world slowly transitioning towards renewable energy resources such as nuclear and solar energy, it is inevitable that VFs will become a sustainable addition to the agricultural industry, improving food security and food safety, especially among the urban population, when even today, vertical farming can already reduce food transport requirements, water use, and eutrophication. It is therefore of crucial importance, that the necessary scientific, economic and socio-political steps are taken to successfully implement VFs not as an alternative, but compounding to already existing agricultural methods, to support and sustain the needs of the world.
References –
- Khan, N.; Ray, R.L.; Sargani, G.R.; Ihtisham, M.; Khayyam, M.; Ismail, S. Current Progress and Future Prospects of Agriculture Technology: Gateway to Sustainable Agriculture. Sustainability 2021, 13, 4883. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13094883
- Zhou, J.; Reynolds, D.; Websdale, D.; Le Cornu, T.; Gonzalez-Navarro, O.; Lister, C.; Orford, S.; Laycock, S.; Finlayson, G.; Stitt, T. CropQuant: An automated and scalable field phenotyping platform for crop monitoring and trait measurements to facilitate breeding and digital agriculture. BioRxiv 2017, 161547.
- Butturini, M.; Marcelis, L.F.M. Vertical farming in Europe. In Plant Factory; Elsevier: Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 2020; pp. 77–91.
- Kikuchi, Y.; Kanematsu, Y.; Yoshikawa, N.; Okubo, T.; Takagaki, M. Environmental and resource use analysis of plant factories with energy technology options: A case study in Japan. J. Clean. Prod. 2018, 186, 703–717.
- Kozai, T.; Niu, G. Role of the plant factory with artificial lighting (PFAL) in urban areas. In Plant Factory; Elsevier: Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 2020; pp. 7–34.
- Benke, K.; Tomkins, B. Future food-production systems: Vertical farming and controlled-environment agriculture. Sustain. Sci. Pract. Policy 2017, 13, 13–26.
- Specht, K.; Weith, T.; Swoboda, K.; Siebert, R. Socially acceptable urban agriculture businesses. Agron. Sustain. Dev. 2016, 36, 17.