Vertical Farming: How Modern-Age Agriculture Technique Reducing Environmental Impact

 

The lack of arable land to feed the growing population has become one of the biggest challenges the world is facing, even scientists claim that the earth has lost a third of its arable land in the last 40 years.

We must find an alternative. Vertical farming is definitely a boon for the global agriculture scenario, that helps to fight the issue of decreasing percentage of the arable lands and provide some added benefits over traditional farming for modern-age farmers.

Vertical farms use 250 times less water and 250 times less space to grow the same amount of crops. While Conventional agriculture is one of the largest greenhouse gas emissions sources, accounting for 25% of the total man-made greenhouse gas emissions, vertical farming can produce a wide variety of crops without having a huge impact on the environment. Farm scientists strongly believe that vertical farms can change the world for the better.

What is Vertical Farming,

Vertical farming is the practice of growing plants indoors in vertically stacked layers. Instead of sunlight and rain, vertical farms use LED lighting and controlled growing and nutrition systems, where a natural environment is modified to increase the crop yield. As plants are stacked vertically in layers, so many of the farms look like warehouses filled with large shelving units.

Vertical farms aren’t reliant on the weather conditions, because crops are grown in controlled environments; the suitable conditions are artificially created so that the plants can grow better, so there's no chance of unfavorable conditions ruining the crops and fresh produce can be grown all year round.

Vertical farming is sustainable as it requires 95% less water as compared to other farming methods. The advantages of this kind of agriculture include growing more food in less space and eschewing pesticides.

Its tower-like structure allows farmers to grow more plants in less area, for example you can cultivate 4-5 acres of crop in an area of ​​just 1 acre. Vertical farms also tend to produce more than conventional farms. Nordic Harvest says plants can be harvested 15 times a year. In a conventional field, harvesting is twice a year.

For instance, Europe’s biggest vertical farm grows 1,000 tonnes of food a year.

Software, robotics and data science are some of the technologies used in vertical farms to monitor crops and create optimum growing conditions. This includes controlling temperature, humidity, CO2 and light. As it involves technological advancements, it has the potential to revolutionize the future of agriculture.

Environmental Impact,

Reducing the environmental impact of modern farming is important to achieve sustainability. Vertical Farming systems can offer a raft of potential opportunities to reduce environmental impact. This approach offers a system with no loss of nutrients to the environment, vastly reduced land requirement upto10-20 times, better control of waste, less production loss to pests and diseases (- 40% less).

Year round crop production, increased daylight hours or growing time per day, no variation in productivity due to weather variation, and no adverse effects of extreme weather events, are some of the pros vertical farms have.

Vertical farms are so efficient in reducing water usage. Globally, around 70% of the freshwater available for human use is used for agriculture, which is a major environmental and human health issue. Vertical farming has managed to reduce water consumption by 95% and, in some cases, by 99%.

Vertical farmers use techniques such as Hydroponics, where nutrient-rich water is circulated around the plant’s roots, so plants can be raised without soil. Other growing systems include Aquaponics (developed by NASA as a way for astronauts to grow in space and feed themselves without soil while preserving precious water supplies), where plants are fed using nitrate-rich water filtered from fish tanks (creating a recycled source of fertiliser) or Aeroponics, using nutrient water mist systems that reduce water use by more than 90 per cent.

Moreover, vertical farms have incorporated dehumidifiers in their systems which collect, purify, and reuse excess water released by plants during the transpiration process.

Deforestation and biodiversity loss; are some of the most pressing challenges posed by conventional agriculture. By increasing the number of vertical farms, lands that were once used for farming can regenerate and return to their natural state. Moreover, in the absence of destructive farming techniques, ecosystems and biodiversity will start to flourish again.

The United Nations estimates that the world’s population will hit nearly 10 billion by the year 2050, almost 70 per cent of those people will live in and around cities. This proportion could be even higher in the coming years. That's why more efficient methods of farming are needed.

Vertical farming allows food production facilities to be built close to population centers rather than in rural areas. Sewing vegetables and fruit in stacked planters in underground complexes, on top of buildings or even in high-rise facilities, means food production can expand upwards rather than outwards. The crops raised also travel fewer miles to customers and can be grown fresh in urban surroundings. Wouldn't be wrong to say, vertical agriculture is the demand of the time.

That said, the global vertical farming market is steadily growing, says Statista, and is expected to leap from $5.5 billion in 2020 to around $20bn by 2025.

Can vertical farming be a global solution?

Cost is a big hurdle for vertical farming. Sun and rain are free; Powering LED lights, software and sophisticated growing systems isn’t.

While some facilities run on electricity from wind turbines, vertical farms running on fossil fuels may be adding to the problem of climate change rather than making it better.

Setting up a well-functioning vertical farm is undoubtedly the most challenging part of the process for many entrepreneurs and farmers. Typically, vertical farms require a lot of equipment to function properly. Some of the most important ones include

LED lights,

air humidifiers,

air dryers,

air conditioning,

water purification systems,

automation systems,

computers,

sensors,

webcams.

Among which, only a handful of them (LED lights, sensors, and electronics) can be recycled or reused after the end of their lifecycle. Equipment that breaks down or stops working will likely end up in landfills, contributing to soil and water contamination.

Buying urban real estate to build a vertical farm can also be expensive. In Australia, for example, an average square metre of city centre land in Melbourne is almost $3,500, according to Duke University in the US.