Vertical Farming, a better way to grow

The Modern traditional farming industry is one of the most corrosive and disruptive industries that supports our modern way of life. It is from our current farming methods and practices that we loose tones and tones of topsoil each year. It is through these that we poison our water ways and create dead zones throughout the oceans with the run off of pesticides and fertilizers. We use so much water in our current practices of managing our farms that it makes residential and industrial uses pail in comparison. It is thanks to our way of production our food that we use a huge amount of fossil fuels to run our machines that plant our crops. We also use fossil fuels to transport said food millions of miles away so that we can have food that is not in season in our local grocery stores. The production of pesticides and fertilizers are also petroleum based generally, and their production requires the burning of fossil fuels, depleting our supply and releasing greenhouse gases. We are in the midst of a crises, as our population expands at an ever more rapid rate, and our production of food has plateaued with our modern advanced practices (Brown). Overall our farming industry is a mess for the environment, and soon it will be a mess for the consumer as food prices rise due to the rise in price of pesticides, fertilizers, water, and transportation. Luckily, there is a new process to help curb the detrimental effects of our food industry, and that is to implement into our cities the strategy of vertical farming.

This idea came to pass in 1999 by a professor Dickson Despommier, a professor of environmental health sciences and microbiology at Columbia University in New York City. He had originally tried to see with a grad student if he could feed all of Manhattan's 500,00 with urban farming, specifically with roof top gardening. He discovered that even with extensive roof top gardens, only 2% of the population would be fed. Not accepting this, he and his grad students went to work building the concept of vertical farming, finding that with a 30 story building he would be able to feed that number of people.

Now, vertical farming isn't simply stacking up farms one on top of the other. There have been numerous designs and the all incorporate several systems that make this building green and sustainable. It involves several process that would also help the areas around it by using rainwater and water from waste water treatment plants near by to turn treated black water into grey water. Also, it would most likely be powered by solar and wind energy (as many designs show), and for peak times, crop fodder can be burned as fuel with treated sludge from waste water treatment plants, or methane could be harvested to fuel the building. Finally, oxygen could be released into the surrounding areas of the buildings, increasing air quality. We already have the components to build these facilities, as shown in the video below. Another process that will probably be used is Hydroponics, which will use water filled with nutrients instead of soil to grow the plants. All we seem to need to do is put it on its side and stack it up!

This vertical farming will inevitably be the future of the way we produce most of our food as the food markets will fall. It is a greener way to grow our crops as pesticides and fertilizers won't be needed since the products will be grown in a tightly controlled environment. Products will be able to be grown year round because of the technologies used, and since these vertical farms can be build right in the cities, transportation costs and the use of fossil fuels to move our food to us will be close to nothing! This process is indeed the future, but unfortunately, we haven't reached the tipping point yet where it is needed, resulting in the lack of the buildings currently. Luckily, due to its recent explosion in media, and the dedication of certain groups, some projects are moving forward, such as in eco cities that are being built like Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates), and Dongtan (China). Hopefully when these become widespread, we will be able to allocate the farmland back to wilderness area, strengthening the environment, and saving rainforest's!

Below is a video that explains the concept of vertical farming, its pros and cons, along with other urbanite problems and solutions. The part of vertical farming is the second to last section and begins around 20 minutes in.

Works Cited

Brown, Lester. Plan B 4.0. New York City: W W Norton & Company, 2009.Brown