Vertical Farming- Viable solution?

[Kiwi 1691]

A new idea being thrown around is vertical farming.

The concept of indoor farming is not new, since hothouse production of tomatoes, a wide variety of herbs, and other produce has been in vogue for some time. What is new is the urgent need to scale up this technology to accommodate another 3 billion people. An entirely new approach to indoor farming must be invented, employing cutting edge technologies. The Vertical Farm must be efficient (cheap to construct and safe to operate). Vertical farms, many stories high, will be situated in the heart of the world's urban centers. If successfully implemented, they offer the promise of urban renewal, sustainable production of a safe and varied food supply (year-round crop production), and the eventual repair of ecosystems that have been sacrificed for horizontal farming.

The Vertical Farm Project - Agriculture for the 21st Century and Beyond | www.verticalfarm.com

Viable future for agriculture?

[Midas]

Yes, I think it's a brilliant concept, and one which has a huge potential for our ever-growing cities. I know it's got a great many positives to it, but on the negative side, I have a feeling that it'll turn out to be far more expensive to produce crops on a large scale using this method that many people think. That alone might well rule it out for use in any but the wealthiest of places, probably not the idea behind the original concept.

[Tantal]

I think it depends on where you try to build one of those. For the cost of that thing, you could probably buy 1,000 acres of prime Texas farm land, so I don't see it taking off here.

[British]

I can't see it working large scale. But for smaller communities who perhaps want to be more self sufficient...

[Barry]

It would be excellent for growing mushrooms.

[DC]

I don't see it working in the current design of cities, you simply can't produce enough food for a large population. However several of these dotted around a city could provide food to its own district exclusively.

[Charlie Pratt]

Vertical farming in urban centres works! Check out this system at Paington Zoo in the UK: YouTube - @ValcentProdInc On Twitter [Valcent Products Inc]

This system is now ready to ship worldwide. It saves over 95% H2O and has zero petroleum footprint and is profitable to run. So forget letting your extra room to Korean exchange students and grow a garden instead!