Revision 956078 of "Vertical farming" on enwikiversity

{{Hydroculture}}
'''Vertical farming''' is a proposal to conduct large-scale [[agriculture]] in [[Urban area|urban]] [[high-rise]]s or "farmscrapers".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2007/4/23/104245/760#comment5 |title=Urbanism and the environment | Gristmill: The environmental news blog | Grist |publisher=Gristmill.grist.org |date= |accessdate=2009-03-14}}</ref> Using [[recycle]]d resources and greenhouse methods such as [[hydroponics]], these buildings would produce fruit, vegetables, edible mushrooms and algae year-round. Their proponents argue that, by allowing traditional outdoor farms to revert to a natural state and reducing the energy costs needed to transport foods to consumers, vertical farms could significantly alleviate climate change produced by excess atmospheric carbon.  

[[Dickson Despommier]], a professor of [[environmental health]] sciences and microbiology at [[Columbia University]] in New York City, developed the idea of vertical farming in 1999 with graduate students in a medical ecology class.In an interview with Miller-McCune.com, Despommier described how vertical farms would function:

<blockquote>
	"Each floor will have its own watering and nutrient monitoring systems. There'll be sensors for every single plant that tracks how much and what kinds of nutrients the plant 	has absorbed. You'll even have systems to monitor plant diseases by employing DNA chip technologies that detect the presence of plant pathogens by simply sampling the air 	and using snippets from various viral and bacterial infections. It's very easy to do.
</blockquote>

<blockquote>
	Moreover, a gas chromatograph will tell us when to pick the plant by analyzing which [[Flavonoid|flavenoids]] the produce contains. These flavenoids are what gives the food the flavors you're so fond of, particularly for more aromatic produce like tomatoes and peppers. These are all right-off-the-shelf technologies. The ability to construct a vertical farm exists now. We don't have to make anything new.<ref>{{cite news |last= Cooper |first= Arnie |title= Going Up? Farming in High-Rises Raises Hopes|pages= |publisher= Miller-McCune |date= [[05-19-2009]] |url= http://www.miller-mccune.com/science_environment/farming-in-high-rises-raises-hopes-1226 |accessdate= 06-26-2009 }}</ref> "
</blockquote>

Architectural designs have been produced by Chris Jacobs of United Future, Andrew Kranis at Columbia University and Gordon Graff <ref>{{cite news |last= Whyte |first= Murray |title= Is high rise farming in Toronto's future? |pages= |publisher= [[Toronto Star]] |date= [[2008-07-27]] |url= http://www.thestar.com/article/468023 |accessdate= 2008-08-12 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sky-farm.com |title=High Density Urban Agriculture |publisher=SkyFarm |date= |accessdate=2009-03-14}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/06/sky_farm_propos.php |title=Sky Farm Proposed for Downtown Toronto |publisher=TreeHugger |date= |accessdate=2009-03-14}}</ref> at the [[University of Waterloo]].

Mass media attention began with an article by Lisa Chamberlain in ''[[New York (magazine)|New York]]'' magazine.<ref name = "NYmag">{{cite news |last= Chamberlain |first= Lisa |title= Skyfarming |pages= |publisher= [[New York Magazine]] |date= [[2007-04-02]] |url= http://nymag.com/news/features/30020/ |accessdate= 06-26-2009}}</ref>  Since 2007, articles have appeared in ''[[The New York Times]]''<ref>{{cite news |last= Venkataraman |first= Bina |title= Country, the City Version: Farms in the Sky Gain New Interest |pages= |publisher= New York Times |date= [[2008-07-15]] |url= http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/15/science/15farm.html }}</ref>, ''[[U.S. News & World Report]]''<ref>{{cite news |last= Shute |first= Nancy |title= Farm of the Future? Someday food may grow in skyscrapers |pages= |publisher= [[U.S. News & World Report]] |date= [[2007-05-20]] |url= http://health.usnews.com/usnews/health/articles/070520/28food.b1.htm }}</ref>, ''[[Popular Science]]''<ref>{{cite news |last= Feldman |first= Amy |title= Skyscraper Farms |pages= |publisher= [[Popular Science]] |date= [[2007-07-11]] |url= http://www.popsci.com/environment/article/2007-07/skyscraper-farms }}</ref> and ''[[Maxim (magazine)]]'', among others, as well as radio and television features.

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==Economic analysis==
The detailed analytical work needed to establish the feasibility of vertical farming has not yet been done. Nevertheless, Despommier has argued that the idea is plausible. He estimates that, using currently available technologies, one vertical farm occupying one square city block and rising 30 stories would feed 10,000 people.<ref name="verticalfarm1">{{cite web |last= Despommier |first= D. |title= Vertical Farm Essay I|pages= |publisher= Vertical Farm |date= [[2008]] |url= http://www.verticalfarm.com/essay_print.htm |accessdate= 06-26-2009 }}</ref>In others sources he claims this number to be up to 50,000<ref>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Scs2SIeIkkM</ref>. Because the stacked growing surfaces of a vertical farm would receive far less sunlight than the equivalent land area in a rural farm, the vertical farm would require a significant level of artificial lighting and heating to operate in all seasons. Proponents of vertical farming have yet to demonstrate that the cost of producing and transporting energy from renewable sources which are mainly located in rural areas to an urban vertical farm can compete with the energy costs of directly growing food under sunlight in rural areas and then transporting it to cities.

== Advantages ==
Several potential advantages of vertical farming have been discussed by Despommier.<ref name="verticalfarm1"/> Many of these benefits are obtained from scaling up [[hydroponic]] or [[aeroponic]] growing methods. Others relate to vertical farming building designs that would allow the use of renewable energy sources (wind and solar) and the recycling of materials of production such as water.

===Continuous crop production===
Unlike traditional farming, indoor farming can produce crops year-round. All-season farming multiplies the productivity of the farmed surface by a factor of 4 to 6 depending on the crop. With some crops, such as strawberries, the factor may be as high as 30.<ref>{{cite web |last= Despommier |first= D. |title= Vertical Farm Essay I|pages= |publisher= Vertical Farm |date= [[2008]] |url= http://www.verticalfarm.com/essay2_print.htm |accessdate= 06-26-2009 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title= Vertical Farm Video|pages= |publisher= Discovery Channel |date= [[04-23-2009]] |url= http://watch.discoverychannel.ca/daily-planet/april-2009/daily-planet-april-23-2009/#clip164926 |accessdate= 06-26-2009 }}</ref>

===Protection from weather-related crop failures===
Crops grown in traditional farming landscapes suffer from the sometimes extreme nature of geological and meteorological events such as earthquakes, monsoons, hailstorms, tornadoes, flooding, wildfires, and droughts.<ref name="verticalfarm1"/>  Because it provides a controlled environment, the productivity of vertical farms would be independent of weather and protected from extreme weather events. Protection from extreme weather may become a crucial feature as climate change increases the occurrence of such events. Although the controlled environment of vertical farming negates most of these factors, earthquakes and tornadoes still pose threats to the proposed infrastructure.

===Conservation of resources===
Vertical farming could reduce the need for new farmland due to [[overpopulation]], potentially saving many natural resources.  [[Deforestation]], [[desertification]], and other consequences of agricultural encroachment on natural [[biome]]s could be avoided. Because vertical farming allows crops to be grown closer to consumers, it may substantially reduce the amount of fossil fuels currently used to transport and refrigerate farm produce. Producing food indoors reduces or eliminates conventional plowing, planting, and harvesting by farm machinery powered by fossil fuels. Burning less fossil fuel would reduce air pollution and the carbon dioxide emissions that cause climate change.

===Organic crops===
The controlled growing environment and recycling reduces the need for [[pesticide]]s, [[herbicide]]s, and [[fertilizer]]s. Advocates claim that producing organic crops in vertical farms is practical and the most likely production and marketing strategy.

===Water recycling===

Because water recycling is more practical and economic in a controlled agricultural environment, vertical farming would use much less water than traditional farming. New York City dumps 1.4 billion gallons of “treated waste water” into its rivers daily. However, a system of water recycling is already in use in the [[The Solaire|Solaire]] building in Battery Park.<ref name = "NYmag"/>	Vertical farming would convert black and gray water into [[potable water]] by collecting the water released into the air by [[evapotranspiration]]. Today, over 70% of the liquid fresh water on Earth is used for conventional agriculture.  The agriculture often pollutes the water with fertilizers and pesticides. Vertical farms will use less water, and recycle it.  The recycling condenses water [[transpiration|transpired]] from the plants. This recycled water is pure, and can be used for crops or drinking.<ref>{{cite news |last= Pope |first= C.T. |title= Rethinking cities: Moving the farm indoors |pages= |publisher= Circle of Blue |date= [[2008-09-12]] |url= http://www.circleofblue.org/waternews/science-tech/rethinking-cities-moving-the-farm-indoors/ }}</ref>

===Halting mass extinction===

Withdrawing human activity from large areas of the earth's land surface may be necessary to slow and eventually halt the current [[anthropogenic]] [[Holocene extinction event|mass extinction]] of land animals. Because most of the earth's human-occupied land is used for agriculture, vertical farming may be the only way to restore enough land for animal habitat to prevent extinction while continuing to sustain large human populations. 

Traditional agriculture is highly disruptive to wild animal populations that live in and around farmland and may become [[Ethics of eating meat#Argument that plant consumption also kills animals|unethical]] when there is a viable alternative. One study showed that [[wood mouse]] populations dropped from 25 per hectare to 5 per hectare after harvest, estimating 10 animals killed per hectare each year with conventional farming.<ref>{{cite conference
 | author=S.L. Davis
 | date=2001
 | title=The least harm principle suggests that humans should eat beef, lamb, dairy, not a vegan diet
 | booktitle=Proceedings of the Third Congress of the European Society for Agricultural and Food Ethics
 | pages=449-450
}}</ref>  In comparison, vertical farming would cause very little destruction of insects and other wildlife deaths.

===Impact on Human Health===
Traditional Farming is a hazardous occupation with particular risks that often take their toll on the health of human laborers. Such risks include: exposure to infectious diseases such as malaria and schistosomes, exposure to toxic chemicals commonly used as pesticides and fungicides, confrontations with dangerous wildlife such as poisonous snakes, and the severe injuries that can occur when using large industrial farming equipment. Whereas the traditional farming environment inevitably contains these risks (particularly in the farming practice known as “slash and burn”), vertical farming – because the environment is strictly controlled and predictable – eliminates them altogether.<ref name="verticalfarm1"/> 

===Urban Growth===
Vertical Farming, used in conjunction with other technologies and socioeconomic practices, could allow cities to expand while remaining largely self sufficient. This would allow for large urban centers that could grow without destroying considerably larger areas of forest to provide food for their people.Moreover, the industry of vertical farming will provide employment to these expanding urban centers. This may help to displace the unemployment created by the dismantling of traditional farms, as more farm laborers move to cities in search of work.<ref name="verticalfarm1"/>  Although, it is unlikely that traditional farms will become obsolete, as there are numerous crops that are not suited for vertical farming.

===Energy production===
Proponents claim that vertical farms could generate power.  Methane digesters could be built on site to transform the organic waste generated at the farm into [[Biogas]] which is generally composed of 65% methane along with other gasses.  This biogas could then be burned to generate electricity that can either be consumed at the farm or added to the grid.  <ref>Case Study - Landfill Power Generation, H. Scott Matthews, Green Design Initiative, Carnegie Mellon University. http://gdi.ce.cmu.edu/gd/education/landfill-case.pdf Retrieved 07.02.09</ref>

The claim that vertical farms could contribute surplus power to the electric grid assumes that most light used by the plants is obtained from sunlight.  In high density vertical farming, use of sunlight is problematic because natural light could only nourish plants near the surface of the building. Plants in the interior would require artificial lighting. If artificial light is used for most lighting needs, the building would not be capable of net power gain because that would violate the law of [[conservation of energy]].

== Technologies & Devices ==
Vertical farming relies on the use of various physical methods to become effective. Combining these technologies and devices in an integrated whole is what a Vertical Farm consists of. Various types are proposed and under research. The most common technologies used are:

* [[Solar greenhouse (technical)]] / [[Greenhouse]]
* [[Aeroponics]] / [[Hydroponics]]
* [[Composting]]
* [[Grow light]]
* [[Phytoremediation]]
* [[Skyscraper]]

== Plans ==
Professor Despommier argues that the technology to construct vertical farms currently exists.  He also believes that the system can be profitable and effective, a claim evidenced by some preliminary research posted on the project's website. Developers and local governments in the following cities have expressed serious interest in establishing a vertical farm: [[Inchon]] ([[South Korea]]), [[Abu Dhabi]] ([[United Arab Emirates]]), and [[Dongtan]] ([[China]]).<ref>{{cite web |last= McConnell |first= Kathryn |title= Vertical Farms Grow Food by Growing Up, Not Out |work= [[Bureau of International Information Programs]] |publisher= [[United States Department of State]] |date= [[2008-07-01]] |url= http://www.america.gov/st/foraid-english/2008/July/20080630192325AKllennoCcM0.5946161.html |doi= |accessdate= 2008-08-12 }}</ref>

== Criticisms ==
Critics have noted that the energy needed for artificial lighting and other vertical farming operations might outweigh the benefit of the building’s close proximity to the areas of consumption. Artificial lighting would be needed for crops growing in areas of the building not exposed to sunlight.<ref>Nelson, B. (2008).[http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21154137/ Could vertical farming be the future?] MSNBC.</ref> Bruce Bugbee, a crop physiologist at Utah State University, believes that the huge power demands of vertical farming would be too expensive and not-competitive with traditional farms using only free natural light. He notes that the levels of artificial light required by growing crops is approximately 100 times the amount used by people working in offices.<ref>Roach, J. (June 30, 2009). High-Rise Farms: The Future of Food?. <i>National  Geographic News</i>.</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Basic aquaponics system (DIY)]]
* [[Arcology]]
* [[Hydroponics]]
* [[Aeroponics]]
* [[Aquaculture]]
* [[Folkewall]]
* [[Hanging Gardens of Babylon]]
* [[Horticulture]]
* [[Terrace (agriculture)]], [[Terrace (gardening)]], and [[Terrace (building)]]
* [[Rooftop farming]]
* [[Vincent Callebaut Dragonfly]]
* [[Development Supported Agriculture]]

== Notes ==
{{reflist|2}}

== External links ==
* [http://www.verticalfarm.com The Vertical Farm Project]
* [http://www.verticalfarm.com/Designs.aspx Various Vertical Farm Designs]
* [http://bigthink.com/dicksondespommier/ideas Dickson Despommier's Ideas]
* [http://www.nbm.org/media/video/greener-good/vertical-farming.html Vertical Farming For the Greener Good]
* [http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/007000.html Rewilding Canada]
* [http://americancity.org/daily/entry/1405/ Meet Farming’s Future]
* [http://www.plentymag.com/features/2007/01/the_farmer_in_the_highrise.php?page=2 The Farmer in the High-Rise  Plenty Magazine ]
* [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1865974,00.html Vertical Farming  Time Magazine ]
* [http://www.except.nl/consult/largescaleurbanargriculture/largescaleurbanagriculture1.html Vertical Farms & Large Scale Urban Agriculture Research - Except Consulting]
* [http://www.machinefilms.com/Reels/FT_hd.mov Animation of large Vertical Farm in city - Chris Jacobs and Dean Fowler]
* [http://www.chrisjacobs.com Chris Jacobs Vertical Farm Blog]
* [http://money.cnn.com/2007/09/10/technology/farming_vertical.biz2/index.htm?postversion=2007091105 CNN Vertical Farming]; [http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/international/2007/11/19/intv.eco.sol.vertical.farming.cnn?iref=videosearch Sky Farming Video]
* [http://www.columbiatribune.com/2005/Aug/20050830Busi010.asp "Professor sees vertical farms on horizon," Columbia Tribune, 8/30/2005, accessed 9/3/06]
* [http://www.eco-tower.fr "La Tour Vivante de l'agence soa architectes" (French and English)] 
* [http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2007/4/23/104245/760#comment5 "Comment on article "Urbanism and the environment"] - Gar Lipow coins the term "farmscraper" 4/23/2007
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6752795.stm "Vertical farming in the big Apple"] BBC article from June 19, 2007
* [http://science.howstuffworks.com/vertical-farming.htm Howstuffworks - "Will there be farms in New York City's skyscrapers?"]
* [http://torontoist.com/2007/06/is_toronto_a_fu.php "Grow Up"] Pullquote: "If designer Gordon Graff gets his way, a new skyscraper in Toronto's Theatre District could be the unlikely source of food for 35,000 residents."

[[Category:Farms]]
[[Category:Agricultural economics]]
[[Category:Sustainable agriculture]]
[[Category:Urban agriculture]]
[[Category:Action on climate change]]
[[Category:Sustainable technologies]]

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