High hopes for high-rise horticulture
Vertical farmers offer their vision of the future in a video
The video offers a brief introduction to the concept of vertical farming, an innovative method that may have implications for urban living in the future.
The project shown is the Center For Urban Agriculture – a ‘classic’ conceptual high-rise net-zero vertical farm that the architects Mithun designed for the Cascadia Green Building Council’s 2007 Living Building Challenge.
“If we just took Manhattan … how many people do you think we can feed raising food on the rooftops … ?”
Dickson Despommier, Professor of Environmental Health Sciences, Columbia University
If you want to know more about vertical farming, this website gives a really detailed explanation of the concept with some quite cool pictures.
The top picture on there is a photo of what’s called a Living Tower that looks a bit like a multi-storey car park – which raises the question of whether some existing multi-storeys could potentially be repurposed as vertical farms, which might perhaps be an even greener approach?
Vertical farm or converted multi-storey car park?
The Wikipedia page about vertical farming describes it as “a proposed agricultural technique involving large scale agriculture in urban highrises or farm-scrapers”.
The zoo that grows its own bare necessities
A BBC report has a video podcast describing how a UK zoo is testing vertical farming as a way of growing crops to feed some of its animals which cuts running costs and allows the animals to forage for their food.
In the podcast the reporter also interviews Chris Bradford, the UK’s first vertical farmer who gives a brief explanation of the benefits of vertical farming.
This YouTube video shows the vertical farm in Paignton Zoo in action:
Sting
Even Sting and his wife, Trudie Styler have managed to get in on the act and Sting is actually planning to produce a film on the subject!
Are there any disadvantages to vertical farming?
This article identifies one of the disadvantages as being that huge investment will be needed to start these vertical farms and that the high-rise buildings would be at risk from “natural calamities like earthquakes”.
Another article lists one of the potential drawbacks as being the fact that the farms are likely to be irrigated using black water which may put people off buying the resulting crops.
The article listed quite a few other disadvantages, including the fact that the systems would be largely automated and the impact this may have on occupations like farming, delivery drivers and garbage collectors.
It also states that there could be a more limited variety of fresh foods offered, as not all plants and vegetables are suited to being grown in this type of environment.
This next video is called BIG IDEAS: Dickson Despommier’s Vertical Farming
The video prompted one of its viewers to make the following comment:
‘This guy talks like he’s never actually been in an unlit multi-story building.
Protip: Even buildings with completely glass facades are internally lit with electric lights. Sunlight only penetrates so far. How many plant leafs in a multistory building do you think sunlight penetrates through before that light is gone?’
This does actually give a bit of food for thought and makes one wonder if these highrise farms would suffer from a reduction of light if they’re surrounded by other highrise buildings.
Perhaps that’s a problem that could be overcome by siting the vertical farms next to the mirrored buildings that seem to be quite common in many cities these days so that they can take advantage of reflected light.
Would the type of laminate that’s used to give a mirrored finish to buildings provide sufficient reflected light to allow the plants to grow?
Would this require the business model to ‘factor in’ the costs and benefits of ‘doing a deal’ with adjacent buildings?
Is there anybody out there that knows the answers to some of these questions?
Some more vertical farming links:
“Protip: Even buildings with completely glass facades are internally lit with electric lights. Sunlight only penetrates so far. How many plant leafs in a multistory building do you think sunlight penetrates through before that light is gone?’
This does actually give a bit of food for thought and makes one wonder if these highrise farms would suffer from a reduction of light if they’re surrounded by other highrise buildings.”
What about UVA and UVB lighting that can be used? I’m not completely sure whether it would be sufficient for plants to grow? If so, what kind of plants can be stimulated like that?
Surely, it would be economically wise to have artificial lighting in place if we calculate costs of transportation, packaging and so on, needed for foods taken from outside of cities.
While vertical farming is an interesting new technology, I’m afraid it can be made a lucrative excuse for the refusal to put more importance in developing agriculture in appropriate and traditional locations. Aside from the danger it poses to buildings and surrounding areas these vertical farms are built, this practically paves the way for eliminating traditional farming in the near future.
Here’s an article that proves my point:
http://agrosoftbrazil.com/agropage/354.htm
here’s an excerpt from it:
“Farming is an unnatural behavior”
We didn’t always farm. Despommier points out that our ancestors were hunters and gathers, not farmers. Humans have adapted technology to feed themselves for thousands of years.
I say this technology can be further developed but with the welfare of people who depend on agriculture being prioritized rather than its potential to be a great money making scheme.
To be honest, it is only partly true. Of course, we (as humans) were hunters and gatherers once. It was wiser in terms of energy spent, time needed and profitability for a human being to hunt let’s say a deer than growing crops for few months or breed animals for season or more to have any products from it. Ask any archaeologist about that, surely will confirm that. Why did we do it then? No one is 100% sure. Problem for ‘neolithic revolution’ archaeologists to come up with another theory for that.
But how do you imagine such thing now? Have everyone go out into woods to do some hunting for evening meal? Farming is the only way to go, and with more and more people living in the cities these days, vertical farming might be an answer to some problems. Might be, but not necessarily have to be. Plus, I can’t see it taking the role of standard, horizontal farming, imagine a sheer amount of crops that city’s population consumes everyday.
I agree Greg that vertical farming only addresses only a few issues but not necessarily replace traditional farming. There are not only danger to account for in vertical farming, but also economic issues. I found one article wherein the author isn’t too enthused about vertical farming, and he posits this as one of his reasons:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/aug/16/green-ivory-towers-farm-skyscrapers?msg=a&showallcomments=true#end-of-comments
“They show that the light required to grow the 500 grammes of wheat that a loaf of bread contains would cost, at current prices, £9.82. (The current farm-gate price for half a kilo of wheat is 6p). That’s just lighting: no inputs, interest, rates, rents or labour.”
This “minor” issue not only involves raising prices on production, but would also affect the consumers. Not really cost efficient, this artificial lighting for vertical farming is.
Nice find Rob, thanks for sharing! If those calculations are correct, don’t see how vertical farming can be competitive for standard farming.
As a side note – I was wondering about insects, needed to growing and fructifying some types of crops – like tomatoes etc. How would this be resolved? Surely, having that many , for example, bee hives outside of your window in city centre flat is not the most comfortable thing.
No problem Greg. I really think that instead of putting too much hype on the vertical farming technology, efforts must be targeted on finding ways to develop further traditional farming and try to find more innovative ways to sustain it. A change as radical as vertical farming isn’t what agriculture needs, no matter what country, to provide food for its people.
You might be right there Rob, but on the other hand, who knows what comes up from this idea of vertical farming? With new technologies , it may become a base for some new ideas resulting in great technologies of the future. As they say, need is the mother of all invention.