Vertical Farming

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Vertical Farming

Vertical Farming, as its name implies, is where crops are hydroponically grown in skyscrapers so as to use less farmland. There are pros and cons to doing this:

Pros:
Less farmland is needed to produce an equivalent amount of crops (allowing more land to return to nature)

Water and nutrients can be used with more precision

An optimal indoor climate can produce crops year-round instead of in seasons

Cons:
Buildings are expensive, especially in urban areas

Grow-lights would be needed and would require lots of energy. Using renewable resources would likely negate the benefits as they would need to spread horizontally to harvest the energy.

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There is a possibility that PV cells could light the plants since plants only use certain wavelengths of light, and PVs capture more wavelengths. Fossil/bio fuels are an attractive option because the CO2 produced would help plant growth.

I think the idea is exciting, I look forward to seeing where it will go.

Very exciting. Thank you for posting this.

Have you seen this link (TED talk)?

https://www.ted.com/talks/caleb_harper_this_computer_will_grow_your_food_in_the_future

Not 100% vertical farming, but it touches on it.