We have a problem: the world’s population is growing rapidly putting pressure on agriculture to feed all those people. One solution is vertical farming, which has just won the endorsement of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Valcent, developers of Verticrop, explains the benefits of vertical farming:
Vertical growing is a new idea currently emerging in the sustainability discourse which offers great promise for increasing urban production. Vertical growing systems have been proposed as possible solutions for increasing urban food supplies while decreasing the ecological impact of farming. The primary advantage of vertical growing is the high density production it allows using a much reduced physical footprint and fewer resources relative to conventional agriculture. Vertical growing, hydroponics and greenhouse production have now been combined into an integrated commercial production system, a system that has major potential for the realization of environmentally sustainable urban food and fuel production.
Treehugger further addresses some of the criticisms of vertical farming:
Of course criticisms of vertical and urban farming still shave some merit–namely that urban real estate is generally expensive, and best used for high-density residential and commercial use, with the surrounding farmland being used to feed the city. But such criticisms ignore the fact that formerly industrial sites in cities like Detroit are now lying derelict and are being eyed-up by potential urban farming operations.
I don’t see that vertical farming has to be limited to urban locations, as it could also be used by farmers in order to maximize their crop land for food products that require more space.