Is the Only Way Up? The Pros and Cons of Vertical Farming Systems

Japan has fully embraced high-tech farming and high-tech food. And indeed: stacked, soilless farming has many advantages. By using mathematical models to fully control climate—along with LED lighting and fertigation—vertical farming systems are a highly efficient, clean and safe way of growing crops.

picture of Shanghai skyline

Yet it is somewhat misleading to present this innovative way of farming as the solution to feeding a future global population of 9 billion people sustainably. Vertical farming is not an economically viable system for growing staple foods that are fundamental to human food consumption. It doesn’t make sense to grow potatoes in factories instead of growing them on fertile Flemish soil, where they’re farmed and processed in such an efficient way that they can compete globally. Vertical farming also can’t replace the large-scale farming of soybeans on countless Brazilian fields, needed to feed ever-growing livestock numbers in Asia.

Vertical farming can only be successful if applied in other fields. One clear advantage is the added value in breeding. Breeders can accelerate the breeding process by speeding up the growth cycle and gaining a deeper understanding of how to use the full potential of plants. And plant factories could aid research on plant extracts, and on plant substances with nutritional, medicinal or cosmetic value. Growers or specialised propagators who want to grow high-value, top-quality young plants or seedlings may also opt for factories, which can be located in close proximity to the final production area. In cities, urban farms have already taken root as the ultimate way of producing locally—from growing premium lettuce in small cabins in restaurant dining rooms to rooftop greenhouses on supermarket roofs. A trendy bar serving fresh, homegrown tea from its own basement plant factory definitely has a good story to tell and sell. A unique feature of plant factories is that, as long as power is available, they can be located virtually anywhere in the universe: the Arctic, in deserts, atop a skyscraper in Shanghai or even on Mars.

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