Vertical Farming for the Future
Imagine walking into your local grocery store to pick up freshly harvested lettuce, fragrant basil, juicy sweet strawberries, and ripe red tomatoes – all of which were harvested at a local farm only hours before you’d arrived. You might be imagining buying that fresh produce from vertical farms where farmers can grow indoors year-round by controlling light, temperature, water, and oftentimes carbon dioxide levels as well. Generally, fresh produce grown in vertical farms travels only a few miles to reach grocery store shelves compared to conventional produce, which can travel thousands of miles by truck or plane.
What is Vertical farming?
Vertical farming is a practice of producing food items on vertically inclined surfaces. Rather than farming vegetables and foods at a single level in the field or in a greenhouse, vertical farming produces food items in vertical stack layers. The method of vertical farming is majorly integrated into structures such as shipping containers, skyscrapers, or repurposed warehouses.
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Beyond providing fresh local produce, vertical agriculture could help increase food production and expand agricultural operations as the world’s population is projected to exceed 9 billion by 2050. And by that same year, two out of every three people are expected to live in urban areas. Producing fresh greens and vegetables close to these growing urban populations could help meet growing global food demands in an environmentally responsible and sustainable way by reducing distribution chains to offer lower emissions, providing higher-nutrient produce, and drastically reducing water usage and runoff.
MARKET PLAYERS
Aerofarms, Agrilution, American Hydroponics, Everlight Electronics Co., Ltd., Green Sense Farms, LLC, Illumitex, Inc., Koninklijke Philips N.V., Sky Greens, Urban Crop Solutions, Vertical Farm System