Is this the future of farming…
There is no doubt the food security is becoming a huge crisis worldwide as the population continues to grow uncontrollably. With rising droughts, floods and storms a steady year round yield of crops is vital to the human race surviving and advancing. In 2015, 1.58 billion hectares were used for cropland (https://ourworldindata.org/land-use). This land was once natural habitat land containing many different ecosystems. These ecosystems can be destroyed by agriculture, leveling the land for fields destroys the natural landscapes like trees and hedges where animals would reside. Chemical pesticides can pollute the land around it. Pesticides are used to keep insects and other small creatures away from the crops and kills or harms the insects. Moreover, runoff can bring the dangerous chemicals into water systems which can be harmful to the area around it and cause chronic and acute effects in humans. How can we stop this and what is the solution?
The solution is vertical farming. Vertical farming is the practice of growing and producing crops on ‘shelves’ in warehouses or shipping containers instead of in a greenhouse or a field. It allows more crops to be grown in a smaller plot of land by using the height of the building. One container that is 8 inches by 40 inches contains the amount of crops that would be equivalent to a 1.8 acre farm and can produce 500 heads of lettuce in just one week year round, which is significantly higher than in a ‘normal’ crop field (https://www.pesticidereform.org/pesticides-human-health/#:~:text=Pesticides%20can%20cause%20short%2Dterm,%2C%20dizziness%2C%20diarrhea%20and%20death. ).
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Crops need three things to grow, water, light and a medium to grow in. Vertical farming provides all of these at the optimum levels for growth. 2015 saw the opening of the AeroFarms new vertical farm in New Jersey which grows crops such as kale, watercress and salad leaves. This farm has reduced water use by 95% the process of misting the roots. A patented nozzle is aimed at a cloth material which the roots will grow into, this irrigates the crop with minimum water loss (https://www.dripworks.com/blog/innovative-growing-solutions-vertical-gardens). Heading towards the future this water convention will be very important in gaining sustainability. Light is needed for crops to go through photosynthesis and grow. Within a sheltered building natural light can be spread out badly for growth. LEDs are used to provide artificial light to the crops, studies have shown that crops grown from LEDs grow just as well as those natural sunlight. Prices of red and blue LEDs (which are the colours needed to grow crops) have been dropping despite the brightness increases. This allows this small companies to access the necessities to grow a indoor farm. In addition, Cosmo Plant Co in Japan has developed a red LED-based growth process that only uses 60% of electricity than fluorescent lighting (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032109000471?casa_token=Ioumy8TEVYYAAAAA:awX8JPAGkYJiuYKO7LcDeUEW8Awc-UOt4OCC66y7bxTEsBf3x_lPyTbHVcXVWTtOg4N86RJ-qzo ).
So, the main pros of vertical farming are….
- Stable year round yield
A part of vertical farming is being inside a warehouse and having control over the environmental conditions such as temperature, humidity and water supply. A controllable environment provides stable and optimum conditions for growth year round all a stable year round yield. It also save the crops from any damage caused by natural disasters or any harmful weather (such as floods, snow or drought)
2. Reduced travel miles
Growing more crops in the country of the intended consumers will reduce travel miles. Reducing travel miles will massively reduce the carbon footprint and will help reduce global warming.
3. Reduction in water use
95% reduction in water loss helps towards water security in the area and provides food even in droughts.
4. No Pesticides use
Having a contained environment doesn’t allow for insects or creatures to enter making pesticides redundant, helping towards the heath of the population in the area as well as the environment.
