You blink and everybody beats you to the punch; WorldChanging, the Gristmill blog and BoingBoing already have posts about the interesting concept
of vertical farming.
These were the renowned Hanging Gardens of Babylon, as described by the Greek historians Diodorus and Callisthenes, and the earliest example
of vertical farming — at least according to Dan Caiger - Smith.
There is real logic in combining this kind
of vertical farming, that not only provides us with food but also with water and electricity, into our cities and our architecture.
A low - tech version
of vertical farming.
Adam Stein once wrote dismissively
of vertical farming: «the notion of spending «hundreds of millions» of dollars to build weird, poorly sited temples of food production in areas much better suited to dense, green residential and retail space...
One study has calculated that if present trends continue, 1.8 billion people will be living in absolute water scarcity by 2025, while a full two thirds of the human population will face water stress.With agriculture currently accounting for some 72 % of human water use it seems likely that such steps to reduce water consumption will become a desirable provision
of vertical farming in the future.
The modern idea
of vertical farming uses techniques similar to glass houses, where natural sunlight can be augmented with artificial lighting.
Whereas the majority
of vertical farming concepts and projects featured in Gizmag over the years have either been huge dedicated structures or add - ons to existing buildings, the Windowfarms system downsizes and personalizes veggie growing by placing an indoor farm in the window.
Windowfarms let you garden - appropriately enough - in your windows Whereas the majority
of vertical farming concepts and projects featured in Gizmag over the years have either been huge dedicated structures or add - ons to existing buildings, the Windowfarms system downsizes and personalizes veggie growing by placing an indoor farm in the window.
He looks at one of the success stories
of vertical farming, the Valcent Verticrop system.
Eventually, I believe, the cost
of vertical farming will plummet (Ray Kurzweil says the 2020's will be the decade of the vertical agriculture revolution) such that we all can inexpensively eat hydroponically - grown vegetables free of arsenic.
Leading and advancing the sustainable growth and development
of the vertical farming movement.
To be up to date about what's going on in the world
of vertical farming, please visit the AVF events - page, subscribe to the newsletter (right bottom of the AVF - website) and follow the AVF through our media (Facebook / LinkedIn / Twitter / Instagram / Youtube).
The benefits
of vertical farming include better - tasting, fresher produce that is locally sourced.
Dickson Despommier, microbiologist and ecologist, and emeritus professor of microbiology and public health at Columbia University, is known as the «father»
of vertical farming.
From the spacing of rows
of vertical farms to the fact that many reach upward of 30 feet in the air, there are inherent dangers.
STEAM projects — such as redesigning a city or building a model
of a vertical farm — allow for scientific inquiry, mathematical application, artistic exploration, and hands - on discovery.
From that study you can calculate that a set
of vertical farms 25 blocks square could feed the entire population of Canada.
A few even have phone apps through which they can adjust the functioning
of the vertical farm remotely.
You need the price of food to increase 100 fold over today's prices, and you need the productivity
of vertical farms to increase 100 fold over traditional farms.
I think Philip and Hank are taking themselves and the concept
of vertical farms a little too seriously.
For a long time this TreeHugger was dismissive
of vertical farms, agreeing with Adam Stein who wrote that «Using urban real estate in this manner is incredibly wasteful: bad for the economy and bad for the environment.
Proponents
of vertical farms note that it saves a lot of fuel now spent on tractors and transport.
Duncan Graham - Rowe of the Guardian looks at the issue
of vertical farms and finds that it grows on him.
The Solar Panel Most
of the vertical farm's energy is supplied by the pellet power system (see over).
Gordon's vision of the role
of vertical farms in the city is powerful and persuasive.
The bacteria in the bioquilt
of the vertical farm break down the nutrients and purify the water so that it can be returned to the fish tank, providing a balanced diet of protein and green vegetables on an incredibly small footprint.
Everybody loved showing images
of vertical farms, but even Dickson Despommier had some trouble really justifying their existence.
Gordon Graff drew one of the most iconic images
of a vertical farm five years ago, the tall green tower overlooking Toronto.
That's not very efficient, and if it came to having massive food shortages in the future, I think that phasing in a more vegetarian diet could help solve that problem - along with many other problems related to the consumption of meat - with more ease than trying to build enough
of these vertical farms to feed all these billions of people and the dozens of billions of animals they would eat.
Not exact matches
In the U.S., the University
of Arizona, University
of California, Davis, and the University
of Michigan are among the few institutions that offer courses in
vertical farming.
Other companies, like Michigan - based Green Spirit
Farms and California - based Urban Produce, also sell to consumers using
vertical farming methods, though The New Yorker reported in January that AeroFarms had twice the funding
of any other indoor
farming company — even before its recent $ 34 million round.
Those looking for a readily available example
of an up - and - running
vertical farm is Sky Greens in Singapore, which has existed for five years and is a supplier to the largest supermarket chain in Singapore.
Roshe Wong, business development manager at Sky Greens, told us about how they have overcome the challenges in the smart
farming opportunity space and on what the future
of urban
vertical farming looks like to him.
This
vertical farming is a spatially efficient option for urban food production, which can be made smart by the use
of information technology to time and target inputs.
How will the grocery prices
of everyday staples be affected by growth in automated
vertical farms, aquaponics, in vitro meats, and artificial animal products?
Katie Kalvoda's interest was piqued when the 40 - year - old money manager for a group
of ultra-wealthy families heard about a startup urban
farm that grows produce in
vertical greenhouses.
Niya was also the CEO
of Comcrop a
vertical farming startup operating in Singapore.
We Fund Businesses in all
verticals of the cannabis industry: Dispensaries,
farms, oil extractors, security, fencing businesses, and beyond.
The report estimated there were 15 commercial - scale
vertical farms and rooftop greenhouses in North America at the time
of publication.
One
of the biggest complaints among
vertical farm critics is that the operations use too much energy and the costs are prohibitive.
He has told to various media outlets that
vertical farming is a pipedream and a fantasy that requires «impossibly extravagant quantities
of energy for artificial lighting.»
Kubena says the company has extensive knowledge
of the entire process from the
farm to the store and its
vertical integration make it possible for Espresso Americano to offer customers the best possible cup
of coffee.
«If you Google
vertical farming, you see artist renderings
of superstructures that look like they are 200 years in the future.
At Rodale Institute, Ross is responsible for field maintenance including planting and seeding, maintaining the
farm equipment necessary to work the fields, and expanding the livestock operations, particularly the
vertical integration
of the poultry and hog operations into crop rotations.
Over the years, we've worked with a major Midwest supermarket chain, a large player in the frozen aisle
of grocery stores nationwide and disruptive upstarts such as AeroFarms, a
vertical farm company based in Newark, N.J. Throughout those engagements, we conducted extensive shopper research — both quantitative as well as in - depth ethnographic «shop along» interviews.
Debney has growth plans for just about each
of the five pillars, including upgrades to berries infrastructure, the avocado
vertical integration, a $ 65 million expansion
of its biggest mushroom
farm in South Australia and existing growth projects in China and Morocco.
A group
of 30 motivated individuals are facilitated to design a thriving local society around
vertical farming.
Astarta's high level
of vertical integration in industrial cattle
farming, own forage supply, as well as accumulated experience
of industrial livestock -LSB-...]
BY COLIN MIXSON An international design firm has crafted plans for the residential supertowers
of tomorrow — complete with
vertical farms, flying robo - taxi docks, and talking restaurants — and they've pegged Pier 2 off The Battery as the ideal site
of their visionary development.