Vertical Farming: How The Revolution of Agriculture Could Save The World's Hunger Problem!
The world population is growing rapidly - but the way we're currently producing food is not sustainable.
If we keep going, there will be a shortage of food sooner or later!
Most people will be living in crammed urban areas and space will be limited - there's not enough land to build more fields or farms.
So what do you do if horizontal space is running short? You build vertically!
That's exactly the concept of vertical farming, a futuristic twist to traditional agriculture.
It's a new area of business and many different start ups have come up with strategies to use vertical space for their farms.
An example for one type of vertical farms are Aerofarms - this company uses old warehouses to grow crops with no soil and 95% less water.
It may sound crazy or idealistic, but it's already happening: these farms are producing food indoors in an environmentally friendly way.
Instead of soil, the crops are growing on a reusable cloth made from recycled plastic.
Instead of sun, they are placed under specific LED lights.
And instead of watering them, the company has come up with a special ventilating system to mist the plants with water instead - which uses 95% less water than traditional farming methods.
It's an environmentally-friendly, efficient, completely indoor farm of the future:
The largest vertical indoor farm is located in New Jersey - with over 7,000 sq m (70,000 sq ft) of floor space!
They focus on fast-growing greens, herbs and salad vegetables, since they're easier and quicker to grow in an indoor space compared to other produce like root vegetables.
There are also no pesticides used and the plants grow even quicker than in regular fields or greenhouses.
The only downside of this concept is that the vertical farms has to have constant access to electricity to imitate the sunlight - but it could still be very cost-efficient in areas that are crammed, where the ground is useless for farming or where solar energy could be used.
A very different approach to vertical farming are actual vertical skyscrapers.
Also called farmscrapers, these tall buildings could be ten or twenty stories high, growing different crops and even combining the space with a marketplace for the produce.
A new concept for one of these vertical farm-skyscrapers has just been awarded: the design magazine eVolo holds an annual competition for the most innovative skyscraper designs.
This year's first place winner is the Mashambas Skyscraper - a vertical farm tower specifically designed to fight famine in rural Africa.
It consists of different layers which can be disassembled individually, and the whole tower could even be moved if different communities need it in another area.
It's not even only a farm, it's an all-in-one food- education- and healthcare system:
While produce is grown on the upper floors, below that would be a healthcare station, kindergarden, and even a docking port for drones so that food can be delivered to isolated villages.
The tower was designed by polish architects Mateusz Frankowski and Pawel Lipiński, whose goal would be to give impoverished towns in rural africa an opportunity to fight hunger.
"The main objective of the project is to bring this green revolution to the poorest people. Giving training, fertilizer, and seeds to the small farmers can give them an opportunity to produce as much produce per acre as huge modern farms. When farmers improve their harvests, they pull themselves out of poverty. They also start producing surplus food for their neighbors. When farmers prosper, they eradicate poverty and hunger in their communities. Today hunger and poverty may be only African matter, but the world’s population will likely reach nine billion by 2050. Scientists warn that this would result in global food shortage. Africa’s fertile farmland could not only feed its own growing population, it could also feed the whole world."-Architects Mateusz Frankowski and Pawel Lipiński
Let's hope that eco-friendly farms like these could help fight world hunger and revolutionize the way we use agriculture!
Grass Steemit Logo by @rubenalexander, Images: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
- Instagram -
© Sirwinchester
Vertical farming, along with hydroponics is the farming of the future! Great post :D
I agree that we should make some changes in order to make sure everyone has enough health, and I think one of the major things we need to take a look at is our consumption of meat. By feeding cattle we need to spend 10X the amount of energy, so you could get 10X as many calories from vegetables for the same amount of meat.
I'm not a vegetarian myself, and I don't really think we need to go that far, but what I'm saying we should do is be aware of how much meat we eat, and consider having between 1 and 3 days without any meat each week. It is healthy for us, and prevents more forest being logged for cattle farms.
Anyway, now I'm going on a rant here! Thanks for posting this, I really liked it ;)
Very good points.
I've seen some statistics about what would change if the whole world went vegetarian... crazy.
I'm not completely vegetarian either but I make sure to eat meat only from time to time, like you said, this already helps and it's healthy anyway!
Thanks for your comment!
If mostly everyone stopped eatong meat then that would open doors for more resources to be used for other people. This is highly documented
I have already written an article on this topic, but it was very short. You have elaborated it. It is a great post.
Thank you, I appreciate the compliment!
We always say what is going to happen but we never ask why it is going to happen. Understanding the why is key. So we're running out of land. Why? So we're running out of food. Why? If we solved the why questions then we would get alot further. It's like taking medicine becuase you're sick. Although taking the medicine could help it would be better to know and figure out exaclty what is wrong on the inside. When we talk about farming we most of the time dont think about how much land is wasted which means there is less useful land. And as land gets scarce from wastefullness it doesn't help when the population explodes. We have created the environment we live in. The earth is more than abundant for what we need. We have chosen profit and excess which leads to more used resources, which in turn leads to more strain on our environment. Vertical farming is a dope idea that can help many. Great post just thought I'd share some insight.
Only if we insist on meat every day ;)
But the results of controlled growing can be positively breathtaking. I worked 2 month for a growing-science firm who also did those climatized LED chambers.
It still needs a lot of testing thought, one of the problems is that e.g. the salad grows too fast - it dies on the underside because there is no space. Cleaning that result is no fun I can tell you :D
Here, I was in there for example: http://www.lighting.philips.com/main/products/horticulture/press-releases/brightbox-venlo
Oh, and in the firm I did an experiment with different LED lighting and salad sorts. Was very interesting.
Sounds very interesting, I guess you learned a lot during that time! Thanks for sharing!
if you love nature have a look at my post on Zebras you will love it dont forget to look at the videos
I will, thank you!
thanks for your support
If you enjoyed my post on Wildlife all about Zebras
You will love my post on Wildlife all about Turtles
https://steemit.com/wildlife/@writemore/wildlife-all-about-sea-turtles
Great post! Thank you.
Glad you enjoyed it, thanks for your comment!
I want do such "garden". Where I can take grant for making it?
I actually read that some companies are planning to make mini versions of these vertical farms, about as big as a fridge, so that people can grow their own fresh vegetables at home!
It is actually for me. I find some own business for myself.
farming future model
Excellent Outreach for this post @sirwinchester,i could never imagine such advancement in Agriculture.
Thank you! Yes, isn't it crazy that some of these things are already a reality when they sound so futuristic!
This post has been ranked within the top 25 most undervalued posts in the second half of May 03. We estimate that this post is undervalued by $6.91 as compared to a scenario in which every voter had an equal say.
See the full rankings and details in The Daily Tribune: May 03 - Part II. You can also read about some of our methodology, data analysis and technical details in our initial post.
If you are the author and would prefer not to receive these comments, simply reply "Stop" to this comment.