Vertical farming

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Vertical farming is a conceptual form of agriculture done in urban high-rises. In these high-rises (variously called "farmscrapers,"^[1]) food such as fruit, vegetables, fish, and livestock can be raised by using greenhouse growing methods and recycled resources year-round, allowing cities of the future to become self-sufficient.

Recent research into the concept has been primarily the brainchild of Dickson Despommier, a professor of environmental health sciences and microbiology at Columbia University in New York City, New York. Designs by Andrew Kranis, Columbia University; Gordon Graff, University of Waterloo; Chris Jacobs^[2]^[3] (Creative Director of United Future) of Los Angeles, California; and SOA Architects in Paris, France (Augustine Rosenstiehl and Pierre Sartoux), have brought the Vertical Farm concepts into the world spotlight, starting with an article written by Lisa Chamberlin that featured Dickson's Vertical Farm concept (and designs and illustrations by Chris Jacobs) in New York Magazine. Since 2007, there have been numerous articles featuring the vertical farm in the popular press and in professional architectural journals, including US News and World Report, Popular Science and Maxim, as well as radio and television interviews with Dr. Despommier on the subject.

The potential advantages of vertical farming are many. First, there would be no weather related crop failures. Second, continuous production of food (i.e., no seasons) would be the norm. Vertical farming could greatly reduce or even prevent further deforestation, desertification, and other consequences of encroachment for agricultural land use if employed on large scale. By producing food indoors within population centers, fossil fuel use would be greatly reduced (no plowing, planting, harvesting by farm machinery), and reduction of food miles means less pollution is generated transporting produce from the vertical farm to the market. The controlled environment of a multi-story greenhouse will obviate the need for pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers. Employing a combination of hydroponic, aeroponic, and other related growing strategies will allow most crops to be produced in large quantities indoors. As currently envisioned, the vertical farm would also be designed to make use of energy generated from wind power, solar power, and incineration of raw sewage and the inedible portion of harvested crops. Instead of producing agricultural runoff (currently the world's most serious source of pollution), the vertical farm aspires to become truly self-sustaining. In that regard, the water of evapo-transpiration can also be harvested and re-used in crop production, or exported from the farm as a source of drinking water. Today, over 70% of the liquid fresh water on Earth is used for horizontal soil-based agriculture, and once used it is not usable for anything else due to the common use of agrochemicals and pesticides. Vertical farms will require significantly less water, and as mentioned, will have the option of re-cycling it.

Professor Despommier argues that the technology to construct vertical farms currently exists. He also believes that the system can be profitable and effective, a claim evidenced by some preliminary research posted on the project's website. Developers and local governments in the following cities have expressed serious interest in establishing a vertical farm: Incheon, Korea; Las Vegas, Nevada; Dong Tan, China; Abu Dhabi, UAE; Dubai, UAE; Nashville, Tennessee.