These are the 10 biggest benefits of vertical farming
With the growing global populations, it is projected that food production has to increase by 69% by the year 2035 [1]. Meanwhile, current food producers are facing vast amounts of issues due to changes in the climate and issues in the global supply chains.
One of the proposed solutions to fix these, and many other problems in the industry is the growth of indoor vertical farming. Vertical farming is a type of soilless farming where plants are grown upwards either by stacking multiple growing layers on top of each other, or by using vertically inclined growing surfaces. The goal of vertical farming is to maximize the production of farming per unit of land used by using all three 3 dimensions of space. In addition, by taking farming indoors, vertical farming companies are able to control every aspect of the plants growth using smart technologies allowing for a safer and higher quality produce compared to what is grown in conventional field farms.
Next, we will highlight just some of the many benefits of vertical farming promises, and what those benefits means for the future of agriculture.
1. Cuts food waste in production, processing and distribution
The first benefit of vertical farming is that it has the potential to cut the amount of food waste generated by the overall food production process. Because vertical farming is generally done in highly controlled indoor environments, companies operating vertical farming systems are able to decrease the amount of food waste generated during production. As an example, indoor vertical farming is not impacted by changes in the growing environment. Thus, changes in the weather or issues with pest – both of which are significant risks for conventional farms – are not a consideration for vertical farming companies. On the other hand, because vertical farming is often done much closer to the end user compared to field farming, the amount of produce that is lost during processing and distribution is also much lower simply because the time between farm-to-fork – this meaning the time between plants being harvested and used – is much lower, and thus, the plants have less opportunities to go bad.
2. Less water used compared to conventional farming
The second benefit of vertical farming is that it uses less water compared to conventional field farming. What is important to understand here is that only a small portion of the fresh water used in conventional farming is actually being utilised by the plants themselves. In fact, significant portions of the fresh water used for irrigation is lost to evaporation or to the soil. Vertical farming, however, does not have either of these issues. Instead of losing water to the soil, vertical farming circulates the water inside a closed loop system meaning that all of the water not being used by the plants during each irrigation cycle is returned back into the system. In addition, by closely controlling the growth environment, (including temperature and relative humidity) we are able to minimise the amount of evaporation happening inside the vertical farms.
While vertical farming uses significantly less water compared to conventional farming, some amount of water does get lost in the process. However, the majority of the water being lost is due to evaporation as the plants naturally release some of the moisture in their leaves into the ambient air. To combat even this most minute loss of water, some companies are developing atmospheric water collection enabling them to capture the evaporating water from the ambient humidity – making sure that every single drop of water inside the controlled environment is being circulated back into the system.
3. Not impacted by weather or the climate
The third benefit of vertical indoor farming is that they are not impacted by local weather conditions or changes in the climate. Taking the farming process indoors and into a highly controlled environment allows us to monitor and control every growth critical aspect of the overall growing ecosystem. This high level of control is one of the biggest benefits of vertical indoor farming when compared to conventional field farming and this is becoming more and more evident over time as climate change impacts the way that food is produced outdoors.
4. Can be done in any indoor environment
The fourth benefit of vertical farming is that it can be implemented pretty much in any indoor environment. To put this into simple terms, the only things that vertical indoor farms really need are a closed indoor space where lights and the overall temperature can be controlled and where the systems can be connected to a water source. While indoor farming does not necessarily require a specialised space, it should be stated that the more control one has over their farming environment, the easier it is to control the quality of the crops. For example, the ability to control the ambient temperature and humidity, the aeration, airflow as well as the CO2 concentration of the farm will also give you a higher quality product compared to situations where these are not controllable.
Regardless of the level of control that one has over one’s farm, the mere ability to take farming right next to the end-users is already a significant shift from conventional farming and it brings with it a number of great added benefits.
5. Hyperlocal production cuts logistics and warehousing
Talking of the benefits of local farming, the fifth benefit of vertical farming is that it allows us to cut the amount of logistics and warehousing required to take the produce to the market. This is highly relevant for the quality of produce as plants start losing their nutrient contents – and hence their taste and overall quality – the second that they are harvested. The rate of this quality loss depends on many variables like the packaging, whether or not the plants are shipped pre-cut or with their roots still in soil, and for example how well the product temperature is controlled during shipping. Regardless, the quality of the product will start falling the second that it is harvested and thus, the faster it is brought to market and consumed, the better.
By doing hyperlocal vertical farming right next to the consumers, we do not need to warehouse the product as it is taken directly from the farm to our customers. In addition, farming close to the end-users allows us to decrease the amount of delivery kilometres (or miles) that the produce has to travel before it is being used.
6. Higher production compared to conventional field farming
The sixth benefit of vertical farming is that it can achieve significantly higher production numbers compared to conventional farming. As this is one of the most commonly referred benefits of vertical farming, one should understand that vertical farming is able to achieve these higher production numbers because of two main reasons:
Vertical farming is done indoors and in highly controlled environments where every aspect of the plants’ growth is being monitored and controlled. This enables us to maximize the number of harvests per year as well as the yield from those harvests. In addition, the high level of control also minimizes the amount of plants lost during the entire production cycle. Both of these things contribute to a higher overall production.
Vertical farming is able farm in both the horizontal and vertical planes of production. Building the farms upwards means allows us to reach a higher yield of production from the same square units that would normally be needed to achieve the same level of production in a conventional farm.
7. Zero fertilizers
The seventh benefit of vertical farming is that it does not use any fertilizers. Instead of using fertilizers, vertical farming grows plants by introducing a nutrient rich water solution directly into the plant root zones. This allows vertical farming companies to optimise the amount and combination of nutrients that each plant needs during its growth.
Fertilizers are one of the great negatives of conventional field farming. The heavy use of fertilizers has already contributed to the rapid and massive loss of arable land around the globe, and to make things even worse, the current geopolitical environment has had a direct impact on the rising cost of fertilizers.
8. Zero pesticides
Talking about the lack of fertilizers and other additives, the eight benefit of vertical indoor farming is that it does not use any pesticides. This benefit comes (once again) from the fact that vertical indoor farming is mostly done in highly controlled indoor environments. The controlled environment means that pests cannot enter the farming ecosystem to cause crop damage. The lack of pesticides is not only great for general product safety but it also means that the plants can be consumed without the need to be washed first.
9. Safe for staff
Adding on top of the previous points, the ninth benefit of vertical farming is that it is safer for the staff when compared to conventional field farming. While pesticides and other chemicals used conventional farming can pose severe health risks to farmers and their employees, moving the farming process indoors to a controlled environment allows us to take all of these health risks out of the equation. In addition to not using pesticides and other harmful chemicals, vertical farming has also other occupational safety benefits when compared to conventional farming. Just some of these are the lack of heavy machinery and the risks involved with them as well as the smaller amount of physical labour required to run the farm. All of these benefits make for a better and safer working environment.
10. Low labour costs
Talking about employees and labour, the tenth benefit of vertical farming is the low labour associated with it. As we have learned, vertical farming is often done in a highly controlled indoor environment and most vertical farming companies strive to automate as much of the farming process as possible. This high level of automation means that vertical farms do not need huge amounts of manual labour nor large teams to run the farming systems. This means that the overall labour overhead can remain relatively low compared to the production capacity – especially as production is scaled upwards.
Having said this, one should still note that even while vertical farming does not require a large amount of active or manual labour, the downside of using technology and high levels of automation is that developing innovative vertical farming technologies does require hiring a lot of highly educated workforce including engineers, software developers, agricultural scientists and so on. So even while running a vertical indoor farm might not require a lot of manual labour, the development of such systems does.
Sources:
[1] WRI: The Future of Fresh Water