The Problem

According to the United Nations Population Division (2009), the world population will increase
from about 6.9 billion in 2010 to 9.2 billion in 2050 or an addition of about 2.3 billion more people to
feed. This will require 109 hectares of new land will be needed to produce enough food to feed them. By
2050, it is expected that nearly 80% of the earth's population will reside in urban centers. At present,
80% of arable land throughout the world is in use to raise crops. It is a major concern because the
surface of the Earth is limited only to about 13 billion hectares. In 2008, the total agricultural area in the
world was about 4.88 billion hectares (FAOSTAT, 2010).
What is Vertical Farming?

Vertical farming is the practice of cultivating food within a skyscraper greenhouse or on vertically
inclined surfaces, as a component of urban agriculture.

Vertical farming can be defined generically as a system of commercial agriculture whereby

plants, animals, fungi and other life forms are cultivated for food, fuel, fiber or other products or services
by artificially stacking them vertically above each other. The concept foresees the cultivation of fruits,
vegetables, medicinal, fuel producing plants and other plant products in the cities
(www.verticalfarms.com.au) and their sales directly within the towns, thereby reducing the
transportation costs and efficient utilization of land and water resources. Vertical farming is a step ahead
technology from greenhouses as it involves harnessing of resources in vertical arrays and can feed the
demands of the food supply with the resources of mega cities.

The major factors of the course and evolution of research for agriculture are the improvement in
the field of science and technology and global urbanization.

Farming indoors is not a new concept, as greenhouse-based agriculture has been practicing for
some time. Various commercially viable crops like tomatoes, cucumbers, strawberries, peppers, herbs
and spices are in the supermarkets worldwide and still increasing in amounts over the last 15 years.
Most of these operations are small compared to factory farms, but unlike their outdoor counterparts,
these facilities can produce crops year-round.

The concept of Vertical Farming is from Professor Dickson Despommier. The farm uses
conventional farming methods such as hydroponics and aeroponics to produce more yields faster.
Growing food indoors is already becoming commonplace. Three techniques drip irrigation, aeroponics,
and hydroponicshave been used successfully around the world. In drip irrigation, plants root in troughs
of lightweight, inert material, such as vermiculite that can be used for years, and small tubes running
from plant to plant drip nutrient-laden water precisely at each stems base, reducing the enormous
amount of water wasted in traditional irrigation. In 1982, K. T. Hubick developed aeroponics, and later
improved by NASA scientists, plants dangle in the air that is infused with water vapor and nutrients,
eliminating the need for soil, too.

Agronomist William F. Gericke had been credited with developing modern hydroponics in 1929.
Plants held in place, so their roots lie in soil-fewer troughs and water with dissolved nutrients being
circulated over them. During World War II, more than three million six hundred thousand kilos of
vegetables were produced on South Pacific islands for Allied forces by hydroponic greenhouses.

Today, hydroponic greenhouses provide proof of principles for indoor farming: crops can be
produced year-round, droughts and floods that often destroy hydroponic greenhouses good harvests are
avoided. Hydroponic greenhouses yields are magnified because of great growing and ripening conditions
and human pathogens are reduced. Hydroponics allows selecting where to locate the business, without
concern for outdoor environmental conditions such as soil, precipitation or temperature profiles. Indoor
farming can take place anywhere that is adequate for water and energy supply. Large scale hydroponic
facilities can be found in Netherlands, Denmark, New Zealand and U.K. Eurofresh Farms in the Arizona
desert is one leading example which produces large quantities of high-quality pepper, cucumber, and
tomatoes all year round.

Vertical farming is another technological breakthrough in manipulating nature for humans to

survive in an ecologically sustainable fashion. Drip-irrigation, aeroponics, and hydroponics are man-
infused technologies that follow the science of photosynthesis which is a process used by plants to
convert light energy from the Sun into chemical energy to fuel the organism activities. The proponents of
vertical farming believe that the solution to the impending population and food security problems is
through 'artificial photosynthesis.'

Most of these operations sit in semi-rural areas where the price of land is reasonably low. The
transportation of food adds cost. It also consumes fossil fuels that emit carbon dioxide. The long hours
of transporting of food from rural to urban areas will result to significant food spoilage.

Construction of greenhouse farming into taller structures within city limits can solve these
problems. Despommier envisions a 30- storey edifice that covers an entire city block. At this scale,
vertical farms offer the promise of a truly sustainable urban life. City and municipality wastewater will be
recycled as irrigation water. The remaining solid waste will be incinerated to produce steam that spins
turbines to generate electricity for the farm. With the current technology, various kinds of edible plants
can be grown indoors.

The three types of vertical farming:

1. Phrase vertical farming was used by Gilbert Ellis Bailey in his book Vertical Farming in 1915. He had
introduced the concept of underground vertical farming, presently followed in Netherlands.

2. In the second category, Vertical farming is done in open air or mixed-use skyscrapers for climate
control and consumption. This is a sustainable type of agriculture for personal or community use.

A modified form of this concept involves cultivation of crops in the periphery of skyscrapers to provide
them an ambient amount of light.

3. The third category includes cultivation of plant and animals in the buildings in the closed system for
large scale cultivation. These systems are under trials at various locations in Singapore, Canada and
London. A vertical farm of 9300 square meters, with 30 stories should provide around 15,000 people
with 2000 kcal of nutrition per day.
Why has Vertical Farming?

Demographers predict the Earth will host 9.5 billion people by 2050. Every human being requires a
minimum of 1,500 calories per day; the people will have to cultivate another 2.1 billion acres, if farming
continues to be practiced as it is today. That much new, arable earth just does not exist (Despommier,
2009).

Agriculture also uses 70 percent of the worlds freshwater for irrigation, making it undrinkable as a result
of contamination with herbicides pesticides and fertilizers. If current trends continue, safe drinking water
will be impossible to come by in certain densely populated regions. Farming involves vast quantities of
fossil fuels resulting greenhouse gas emissions.

Some agronomists believe that the answer lies in even more rigorous industrial agriculture, carried out
by an ever declining number of highly mechanized farming consortia that grow crops having higher
yields. Even if these solutions were to be implemented, it is a short-term remedy because of the quick
change in climate continues to rearrange the agricultural landscape, foiling even the most sophisticated
strategies.

In connection with, if we continue mass deforestation just to make new farmland, global warming will
hasten at a tragic rate, and large volumes of agricultural runoff could form aquatic dead zones to
change most estuaries and even parts of the oceans into barren wastelands.

Furthermore, the prevailing practice of using human feces as a fertilizer because commercial fertilizers
are too expensive promotes the spread of parasitic worm infections that afflict 2.5 billion people

Apparently, profound change is needed. Grow crops indoors under rigorously controlled conditions is
one strategic plan to solve the problem of the spread of diseases.

Plants grown in high-rise buildings erected on vacant city lots and in multistory rooftop greenhouses
could produce food the whole year using less water, reduce waste, less risk of contagious diseases. There
is no need for fossil-fueled machinery and transporting from rural farms. Vertical farming could reform
how we feed ourselves and the increasing population. Our meals would taste better, too; locally grown
would become the norm.
Enhancing indoor urban farming through vertical farms in urban centers is likely the solution to the
swelling human population.

Advantages of Vertical Farming

Vertical farming in urban environments has sprung out of a need to find alternatives to common practice
in industrial agriculture. The way in which industrial agriculture is being conducted today has a
widespread negative impact on the environment as well as being economically inefficient in some ways.

Vertical Farming is a promising concept that combines environmental considerations with sound
economics. It puts the spotlight on the negative aspects of modern agriculture and provides a solution in
accord with future global societal structures. However, as with any novelty, improvements can be made,
a lot of which comes with technological developments of a concept in development.

Modern day agriculture is a major contributor to the broad range of environmental problems the world
is facing at present. Agricultural run-off, ecosystem degradation and loss, use of fossil fuel, food wastage,
artificial irrigation and use of the world s freshwater supply are but a few in a long list of issues that
needs to be addressed if current agricultural practice is to be made genuinely sustainable in the future.

Producing crops in multi-story buildings is an idea that originates as far back as half a century ago. In
1966, Othmar Ruthner presented "Apparatus for the Artificial Cultivation of Plants", the first detailed
description of how to use a three-dimensional space for the cultivation of plants independently of
season and climate (Ruthner, 1966). In 1970, Riethus and Bau conducted a vegetable production trial for
4 years in a 13 m high greenhouse (Riethus & Bau, 1970). Recently the concept has been reintroduced
and developed further in the light of an ongoing debate on climate change and current environmental
crisis. In 2009, the idea of vertical farming was introduced by Professor Dickson Despommier.

Despommier takes indoor farming a step further and relocates it to the urban environment. By utilizing
skyscrapers, buildings, and other structures within our cities, the ambition is to alleviate or even solve a
lot of the adverse effects that current agricultural practice has on the environment (Despommier, 2009).
In 2010, his book entitled "The Vertical Farm: Feeding the world in the 21st century" was released.
Currently, constructions have begun, and vertical farms are being built in Sweden, Singapore, Japan,
Korea, and U.S.A.

Advantages:
Minimum Input Maximum Output

Vertical Farming is a radical approach to producing high quantities of nutritious and quality fresh food
without relying on favorable weather, high water usage, and fertility of the soil.

The smart technology offers many advantages:

1. RELIABLE HARVESTS

Vertical Farm Systems growing cycles are consistent and dependable. Entirely enclosed, and climate
controlled, completely removing external environment factors such as disease, pest or predator attacks.
It also means that it is not dependent on fertile arable land and established in any climatic region
globally irrespective of normal daylight hours and extremes in temperature. It allows commercial
growers to commit confidently to delivery schedules and supply contracts because there is no seasonal
crops and no crop losses

2. MINIMUM OVERHEADS

Production overheads in installations are commercially competitive and predictable. In some cases, the
profitability of over 30% has been demonstrated even after deducting full amortization of capital
equipment over a ten year- period.

Minimum overheads and grow costs maintained through:

LOW ENERGY USAGE

The use of high efficiency LED lighting technology ensures minimum power usage for maximum plant
growth. Computer management of photosynthetic wavelengths in harmony with the phase of crop
growth further minimizes energy use while providing optimized crop yields. Significantly reduced energy
usage for climate control is the direct result of not requiring sunlight inside the growing area that
enables the use of high thermal efficiency buildings.

LOW LABOUR COSTS

Vertical Farm Systems fully automated growing systems with automatic SMS text messaging for any
faults. Manual labor only requires on-site for planting, harvesting and packaging of crops.

LOW WATER USAGE

Being an entirely closed growing system with controlled transpiration losses, Vertical Farm Systems use
only around 10% of the water required for traditional open field farming. Water from transpiration
harvested and re-used and spent nutrient water is also processed for re-use.

REDUCED WASHING & PROCESSING

Vertical Farm Systems growing environments fitted with effective bio-security procedures to eliminate
pest and disease attacks. Total eradication of the need for foliar sprays in cropping systems results in
produce that does not require holding times or expensive and product damaging washing or post-
harvest processing.

REDUCED TRANSPORT COSTS

Strategic positioning of facilities close to the distribution hubs reduces the time to reach consumers and
also reduces the cost of cold storage and transport.
3. INCREASED GROWING AREA

For the same floor area, Vertical Farm Systems multi-level design provides nearly eight times more than
a single level greenhouse systems. This compact design enables cost-effective farming installations in
industrial estates, central warehouses and other low cost and typically under-utilized environments not
previously associated with high-quality high-margin agricultural activities.

4. MAXIMUM CROP YIELD

Vertical Farm Systems can reliably provide more crop cycles per year. Crop cycles are also faster due to
the systems controlled temperature, humidity, daylight hours optimization and the use of biologic
biologically active organic plant nutrients. The systems can produce grade market produce of several
crops within just 21 days.

5. WIDE RANGE OF CROPS

Vertical Farm Systems has a broad range of crops that grow in the system. The growth controlled by a
comprehensive computer database that manages and maintains the optimum growing conditions for
each particular crop variety.

Examples of Suitable crops include:

Baby Spinach

Baby Rocket

Looseleaf Lettuce
Endives

Tatsoi

Basil

6. FULLY INTEGRATED TECHNOLOGY

Vertical Farm Systems monitors and controls the levels of air, water, and nutrition to provide plants with
excellent growing conditions from germination through to harvest with a fully integrated computer
management system.

OPTIMUM AIR QUALITY

Temperature and humidity levels are carefully observed and preserved in an excellent range. In
warehouse installations, the addition of CO is optional that further increases crop growth and yield
rates.

OPTIMUM NUTRIENT AND MINERAL QUALITY

Vertical Farm Systems use specially formulated, biologically active nutrients in all the crop cycles. Levels
of nutrition available to the plants are continuously managed and adjusted to optimum levels about the
growth stage of each plant. Throughout a crop cycle, 77 organic minerals and enzymes are provided to
ensure healthy plant growth and promote maximum uptake of minerals necessary for maximum
nutrition and flavor of the end product.

OPTIMUM WATER QUALITY

All fresh water is sterilized removing fluoride and heavy metal contaminants before entering the system
of Vertical Farm System installations

OPTIMUM LIGHT QUALITY

High-intensity low-energy LED lighting specially developed and is used for maximum growth rates, high
reliability, and cost-effective operation.

The duration and intensity of the particular parts of the light spectrum that plants use during different
stages of their growth carefully programmed into the management computer system. This ground-
breaking technology has dramatic effects on plant growth rates and yields.

PROS:

Year-round crops. No winter and no need to wait for the right growing season.

No weather issues. No crop failures due to droughts, floods, pests, etc.

Organic by default. No herbicides, pesticides, or fertilizers are needed.

Water-cycle neutral. No agriculture runoff. Black and gray water are recycled.

Smaller footprint. Less land is used. Existing horizontal farmland can be returned to its natural
ecosystem.

Potential electrical generation. Methane from composting non-edible waste can be converted into
electricity.

Reduced fossil fuel use. No diesel-burning tractors. Less shipping due to farm's proximity to urban
centers.

New sustainable environments. An urban center can be self-reliant of captive to massive traditional
farming infrastructure.
Provides plants for traditionally difficult environments. For instance, vertical farms in the Artic, in space,
in the moon.

CONS:

Expensive. The technology to do this is expensive and may not scale properly. Urban properties are
expensive. Wages would be high.

Requires a lot of electricity. There's not much sunlight you can reliably capture with a vertical farm. So
you'll have to rely on artificial sunlight.

Some technology isn't ready. Lighting, recycling and power generation, etc. are not prime-time ready yet.
Especially LEDs.

Growing the food is only one part of the equation. The other part is processing the food. So, not only
moving the farm into the city, but you'd have to move the processing plants into the city as well to keep
the shipping down for truly local food. It presents its sets of problems such as scaling down existing
processing infrastructure to go vertical, recycling waste products and waste water from processing
plants, and dealing with the inevitable pollution issues.

Despommier (2009) argued that these hurdles could stifle the spread of urban farms, but all can be
solved through:

-Reclaim enough abandoned city lots and open rooftops as sites for indoor agriculture.

-Convert municipal wastewater into usable irrigation water.

-Supply inexpensive energy to circulate water and air.

-Convince city planners, investors, developers, scientists and engineers to build prototype farms where
practical issues could be resolved.
SOURCE:

Agritecture. (n.d.). Want to join the food revolution? Build yourself a flatpack urban farm.
Retrieved from htttp:// www. http://agritecture.com/

The Arguments in Favor of Vertical Farms. (n.d.). Retrieved from

http://www.cropsreview.com /vertical-farms.html

The vertical farm. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.inspirationgreen.com/vertical-farms

Brennan, M., & Gralnick, J. (2015, June 24). Vertical farming: The next big thing for foodand
tech. Retrieved from http://www.cnbc.com/2015/06/24/vertical-farming-the-next-big-
thing-for-food-and-tech.html