Fertiliser firm steps up into vertical farming
- Image via Wikipedia
Converted Organics, a Boston MA-based producer of organic fertilisers hopes to secure the heights of the nascent vertical farming market after buying indoor agriculture specialist TerraSphere Systems and its technology for $26 million (£16.5 million) in July 2010.
The move has also allowed Converted Organics to enter the pharmaceuticals market.
Terrasphere holds three US patents on technologies which it claims can increase organic food production ten-fold for a given area without the use of pesticides.
Converted Organics uses microbial digestion technology to process food waste into dry pellet and liquid concentrate organic fertilisers.
“Current economic, societal, political and regulatory trends have created strong demand for innovative agricultural solutions and a significant market opportunity for innovators such as TerraSphere and Converted Organics,”
Nick Brusatore, inventor and co-founder of TerraSphere Systems
Move enables entry into pharmaceuticals market
In addition to food crops the technology can be used to produce plant-based products for the pharmaceutical, nutraceutical, and cosmeceutical markets.
Following the all stock purchase of TerraSphere, Converted Organics immediately set up a new company, PharmaSphere, which will sell vertical farming technology capable of cultivating plants used in chemotherapy, anti-malarial treatments, and insulin therapy for diabetes.
The first thing I wanted to know about was ‘Vertical Farming.’
So I looked up online to find some information. Here is what wikipedia has to say about it:
“Vertical farming is a proposed agricultural technique involving large-scale agriculture in urban high-rises or “farmscrapers”. Using recycled resources and greenhouse methods such as hydroponics, these buildings would produce fruit, vegetables, edible mushrooms and algae year-round.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vertical_farming
But I was wondering if there are any disadvantages of vertical farming.
Vertical farming is a subject that caught my eye recently while I was looking around on the web. It seems like this could have a positive impact for people living in cities. There’s another article on this website on vertical farming, Malini – it’s called “High hopes for high rise horticulture” and some of the disadvantages are listed on there.Some of the disadvantages are listed on this website:
http://www.brighthub.com/environment/science-environmental/articles/39036.aspx?p=2
Chief amongst the disadvantages listed are fewer varieties of foods, loss of jobs in the delivery and garbage collection industries and a reluctance by the public to buy crops that have been irrigated using “black water”.
I find it interesting in this article that the acquisition of TerraSphere (along with their subsidiary, PharmaSphere) will allow Converted Organics to get into the pharmaceuticals market.
The wikipedia page notes one more disadvantage. It mentions, “Critics have noted that the costs of the additional energy needed for artificial lighting, heating and other vertical farming operations might outweigh the benefit of the building’s close proximity to the areas of consumption.”
Looking for the advantages of vertical farming, I stumbled upon this website
http://www.verticalfarm.com/more
It says “1 indoor acre is equivalent to 4-6 outdoor acres or more, depending upon the crop ”
Another advantage that caught my attention was the last one:
“VF could reduce the incidence of armed conflict over natural resources, such as water and land for agriculture”
It does have a lot of advantages, Malini. What troubles me however, is how big corporations are the ones raving about vertical farming, as if farming was developed to further monetary gains. Besides, the disadvantages far outweigh the advantages of vertical farming. Not to mention the issue I pointed out in my previous comment.
I’ve read about vertical farming before and from the looks of it, as good and as promising as this technology sounds, it won’t sit well with farming, especially farmers. Farming is a central issue in a lot of countries where even revolutions were launched because of the problem with the lands that farmers have long fought for. This technology, to me, undermines farming and its essence to a lot of people, farmers and everyone who depends on them.
Well said Rob!
A big population is still dependent on farming, and any technology that helps them increase the produce is welcome.
Have a look at this one
http://inhabitat.com/2010/10/25/beehive-tower-is-a-honeycomb-inspired-vertical-farm-for-london/
A beautiful architectural design for a vertical farm.
It does look good Malini, but it looks straight out from a science fiction graphic novel. I come from an agricultural country, and to know that setting up these vertical farms are being taken by pharma companies and not the farmers themselves is just not good. But come to think of it, why would farmers pick this alternative? Not to think for farmers themselves, but I think this looks more a like profit-driven initiative rather than a step to alleviate major issues in farming.