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Vertical farming is the practice of growing crops in vertically and horizontally stacked layers.

It often incorporates controlled-environment agriculture, which aims to optimize plant growth, and soilless farming techniques such as hydroponics, aquaponics, and aeroponics. Some common choices of structures to house vertical farming systems include buildings, shipping containers, underground tunnels, and abandoned mine shafts. The modern concept of vertical farming was proposed in 1999 by Dickson Despommier, professor of Public and Environmental Health at Columbia University. Despommier and his students came up with a design of a skyscraper farm that could feed 50,000 people. Although the design has not yet been built, it successfully popularized the idea of vertical farming. Current applications of vertical farming coupled with other state-of-the-art technologies, such as specialized LED lights, have resulted in over 10 times the crop yield as would be received through traditional farming methods. The main advantage of utilizing vertical farming technologies is the increased crop yield that comes with a smaller unit area of land requirement. The increased ability to cultivate a larger variety of crops at once because crops do not share the same plots of land while growing is another sought-after advantage. Additionally, crops are resistant to weather disruptions because of their placement indoors, meaning fewer crops lost to extreme or unexpected weather occurrences. Lastly, because of its limited land usage, vertical farming is less disruptive to the native plants and animals, leading to further conservation of the local flora and fauna. Vertical farming technologies face economic challenges with large start-up costs compared to traditional farms. Vertical farms also face large energy demands due to the use of supplementary light like LEDs. Moreover, if non low-carbon electricity is used to meet these energy demands, vertical farms could produce more pollution than traditional farms or greenhouses. An approach to ensure better energy-related environmental performance is to use agrivoltaic-powered vertical farming in an agrotunnel or similar CEA. In this way crops can be grown beneath outdoor agrivoltaics and the solar electricity they provide can be used to power the vertical farming.

The term "vertical farming" was coined by Gilbert Ellis Bailey in 1915 in his book Vertical Farming. Modern usage of the term "vertical farming" usually refers to growing plants in layers, whether in a multistorey skyscraper, used warehouse, or shipping container.

Ecologist Dickson Despommier argues that vertical farming is legitimate for environmental reasons. Vertical farming would remove some of the parasitic risks associated with farming.

Vertical farming in abandoned mine shafts is termed "deep farming", and is proposed to take advantage of consistent underground temperatures and locations near or in urban areas.

Images of the vertical farms at the School of Gardeners in Langenlois, Austria, and the glass tower at the Vienna International Horticulture Exhibition (1964) show that vertical farms existed. The technological precedents that make vertical farming possible can be traced back to horticultural history through the development of greenhouse and hydroponic technology.

The farm uses 97% less land and 97% less water than traditional farming. The company operates seven vertical farms in the United States with an estimated hydroponic produce production up to 20 million pounds per year.

Unlike traditional farming in non-tropical areas, indoor farming can produce crops year-round.

Vertical farming would thus reduce the amount of farmland, thus saving many natural resources.

Bruce Bugbee claimed that the power demands of vertical farming would be uncompetitive with traditional farms using only natural light.

There have been several different means of implementing vertical farming systems into communities such as: Canada (London), UK (Paignton), Israel, Singapore, USA (Chicago), Germany (Munich), UK (London), Japan, and UK (Lincolnshire). The project showcased vertical farming and provided a physical base to research sustainable urban food production. Vertical farming has been developed in Lebanon with the support of local organisations Basmeh and Zeitooneh, using international development funding from CAFOD in the UK.

Quick Facts

• Current applications of vertical farming coupled with other state-of-the-art technologies, such as specialized LED lights, have resulted in over 10 times the crop yield as would be received through traditional farming methods.
• The modern concept of vertical farming was proposed in 1999 by Dickson Despommier, professor of Public and Environmental Health at Columbia University.
• Vertical farming technologies face economic challenges with large start-up costs compared to traditional farms.
• Some common choices of structures to house vertical farming systems include buildings, shipping containers, underground tunnels, and abandoned mine shafts.
• Moreover, if non low-carbon electricity is used to meet these energy demands, vertical farms could produce more pollution than traditional farms or greenhouses.

Source material: Wikipedia - "Vertical farming". Adapted and summarized for DiscoverScroll. Original contributors are credited through the linked Wikipedia article. Read original on Wikipedia. CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes were made from the original.