Vertical Farming: Flawed or the Future?

With current agricultural practices inflicting irreparable harm to the planet, with over a third of our arable land lost due to agriculture, we must find more sustainable agricultural practices.⁴ Vertical farming is regarded by some as the future of agriculture- the solution to food production for future generations.

Vertical farming involves growing plants indoors, with spaces such as shipping containers and abandoned mine shafts being transformed into vertical farms.³ Vertical farming uses LED lighting, light, water, and humidity control instead of natural sunlight and rain to grow plants. A delicate balance of these parameters must be maintained; otherwise, an entire crop might be lost. Plants are stacked in vertical layers, allowing farmers to produce a substantial yield on a small amount of land.⁴

By growing crops in such a controlled environment, the need for pesticides is drastically reduced or even eliminated. This reduces the risks posed by chemical pesticides.⁴ Additionally, unlike conventional produce, which can travel thousands of miles to reach grocery stores, fresh produce grown in vertical farms typically only travels a few miles to reach consumers.¹ By reducing the distance traveled, the product’s carbon footprint is reduced as well. Furthermore, vertical farming is considered a highly efficient and sustainable method of producing food. Nordic Harvest, Europe’s biggest vertical farm, says it uses 250 times less water than a traditional farm, yet can supply 1,000 tonnes of food a year.³ 

 Furthermore, vertical farming can also help increase food production. The world’s population is projected to exceed 9 billion by 2050, with a majority of these people expected to live in urban areas.¹ Creating more vertical farms near these growing urban populations would help meet growing food demands in a sustainable way by reducing the carbon footprint of distribution and reducing water usage and runoff.¹  Vertical farms also tend to produce more than traditional farms, with Nordic Harvest’s crops able to be harvested 15 times a year versus twice a year in a conventional farm.³ 

However, vertical farming isn’t perfect. While it reduces land use and the carbon footprint from distributing produce, producing food itself leaves a huge carbon footprint. The energy needed for light in vertical farms is mostly generated using fossil fuels rather than natural sunlight in traditional farms. According to Johanna Oosterwyk, field-grown lettuce trucked for 1,000 produces a quarter pound of carbon dioxide, while the fossil fuels used to produce one pound of lettuce yield 8 pounds of CO2. Renewable energy isn’t a realistic option to produce this light- it would take more than nine acres of solar panels to light one acre of crops in a vertical farm.² 

Additionally, cost poses a big problem for vertical farming. The power needed for LED lights, software, and sophisticated growing systems is expensive, unlike the sun and rain used in traditional farms. Furthermore, the urban real estate needed for building farms is expensive as well. According to Duke University, an average square meter of city land in Melbourne, Australia costs almost $3500.³ 

Vertical farming, while promising, is not a complete solution. While some plants, like leafy greens, herbs, and microgreens, have proven to thrive and be cost-effective in vertical farms, some plants simply won’t grow well in such a configuration.² There will always be a need for other growing methods, but vertical farming can still help provide healthy, fresh produce to food deserts and cities with low food production. The global vertical farming market is growing and is expected to leap from $5.5 billion in 2020 to around $20 billion in 2025.³ Hopefully, in the future, a combination of multiple farming techniques will feed the growing human population sustainably and cost-effectively. 

References

1. Federman, S. (2018, August 14). Vertical farming for the future. USDA. https://www.usda.gov/media/blog/2018/08/14/vertical-farming-future
2. Oosterwyk, J. (2022, August). Six Hard Truths about Vertical Farming. Grow: Wisconsin’s Magazine For The Life Sciences; University of Wisconsin Madison. https://grow.cals.wisc.edu/departments/front-list/six-hard-truths-about-vertical-farming
3. Owen-Burge, C. (2022, May 24). Vertical farming – Is this the future of agriculture? Climate Champions. https://climatechampions.unfccc.int/vertical-farming-is-this-the-future-of-agriculture/
4. What is vertical farming? Everything you should know about this innovation. (2023, January 9). Eden Green Technology. https://www.edengreen.com/blog-collection/what-is-vertical-farming