Natalie Grimes
ENG 101
Prof. McCormick
Benefits of Vertical Farming
Think about having 30-story buildings in Manhattan filled with different types of fruits
and vegetables on every floor. Interesting isn’t it? Professor Dickson Despommier also seems to
think it’s a great idea for the future in agriculture. In his book “The Vertical Farm: Feeding The
World in the 21st Century he goes further into detail about this interesting idea.
Vertical Farming is a relatively new experiment that is supposed to take over the U.S. by
2050. Despommier is behind this project and feels that it would be a better way of living. This
idea has caught many architects attention in the United States and Europe. Vertical Farming is
basically vertically shaped greenhouses that are 30 stories tall supplied with growing produce
that are made to feed about 50,000 people. It would cost about 20 to $30 million dollars to build
one of these prototypes. Despommier feels that unless this agricultural change is made then there
will be one of the biggest catastrophes in the farming history in the United States. His theory is
that soil will be depleted and it will put a great strain on our water resources which will lead to a
huge famine in America.
Cities are already known to have the density and the basic foundation to support vertical
farms. Scott M. Stringer, the Manhattan borough president, thinks this would be a great addition
to the NYC skyline. Even though Manhattan doesn’t have much space for these experimental
buildings, in the sky is the limit. Roughly 150 buildings will be built which would be able to feed
New York for a year. The construction and energy costs would make vertically grown crops
more costly than traditional crops. Urban farms cold defray some of their own expense by cutting
transportation costs. Rice and wheat would still have to be grown outdoors so sunlight wouldn’t
have to be paid for and also farmers would have to get better at marginal farming. This project is
still being researched and Despommier estimates that it would take a group of agricultural
economists, architects, engineers, agronomists, and urban planners five to ten years to figure out
how to operate such high-tech practices.
Maybe vertical farming is not such a bad idea after all since our agricultural today is
linked to deforestation, chemical fertilizers, and a host of transportation giving off a lot of carbon
which contributes to our climate change. “Vertical farming could allow food to be grown locally
and sustainably” says Glen Kertz CEO of Valcent which is Tech Company based in El Paso,
Texas where the process is being evaluated. According to him, potted crops grow in rows on
clear vertical panels that rotate on a conveyor belt. Moving them on the conveyor belt allows the
plant to receive the right amount of light and nutrients needed to grow 15 times as much lettuce
per acre as on a normal farm using 5% of water that regular agriculture does.
Everyone does not agree with Despommier. Critics like Bruce Bugbee, a professor of
crop psychology at Utah State University believes improvements in how future farm lands are
managed Is more practical and cost of effective. Bugbee’s main objection is the massive cost of
power for such structures. In Arizona Mr. Despommier finds someone who is on his side because
they have 265 acre euro farms, which are thriving with hydroponic tomatoes and seedless
cucumbers. Gene Giacomelli feels that Despommier may be extreme but the idea is worth
considering. Bugbee believes that some farming may lead toward more control environments
especially for crops like fresh herbs but the majority such as wheat and rice has to be done
outside where the levels of sunlight are higher in the summer.
In the article “Vertical Farming in the windy city” by Christina Couch it states that in
Chicago’s meat–packing district, developer John Edel hopes to reinvent the urban food supply
with a $4 million, far-story indoor produce and fish farm called “The Plant”. Edel and his
colleagues have already planted 3,000 square feet of hydroponic grown lettuce and other greens
and installed 1,400 of tilapia in tanks. The Plant is part of a growing push to bring farms into
metropolitan areas. According to analysis from Iowa State University conventional produce
travels about 1,500 miles on a average to its destination, causing the release of 5 to 17 times
more carbon dioxide than food from regional and local farms, Stan Cox, a plant-breeding
researcher at the Land Institute in Kansas point a out that while leafy vegetables grow fairly well
indoors, stalks like wheat and corn require far more light energy. The fish farm and gardens are
connected by a 9,000 gallon water circulation system: waste water from the tilapia tanks, rich in
nitrogen based nutrients, flows into the hydroponic beds, where it irrigates and fertilizes the
lettuce.
In the Canadian Business Magazine, “The Future Is Hungry” it talks of an urban sprawl
encroaches on the world’s arable land and environmental disasters send food prices soaring,
innovators are seeking to take agricultural off the farm. In the wake of hooding in Australia,
droughts in Russia and uprisings in North Africa, food prices hit a record high in January, and
experts predict it’s only going to get worse. Cultivating crops in skyscrapers might save a lot of
energy and provide city dwellers with distinctively fresh food. A vertical farm would drastically
reduce the fossil-fuel use and emissions associated with farm machinery and trucking, as the end
of one season, multiplying wastewater into irrigation water, reducing a city’s refuse problem.
NASA has thought of crops that would grow by dangling in the air infused with a mist of
nutrients and water vapor. The fertilizer and duel consumed for traditional farming is also too
expensive. New York City produces 1.4 billion gallons of liquid waste every day according to
the city reports. Develops that are designing sustainable eco-cities are talking to Despommier
about vertical farming and other appealing promises of more environmentally sound food
production. The Government also pays out billions of dollars annually to rescue farmers who
lose crops to droughts and floods. Most scientists believe that it is logical to combine a
greenhouse with a power generation plant that burns natural gas, biomass fuel or even trash from
the city. One system will compromise a power-generation plant with an engine and electric
generator. One will be used for growing the fruits and vegetables. The greenhouses will always
later results in releasing oxygen into the atmosphere.
In the article from the “Futurist” magazine it explains that The Farm Project supposedly
envisions the transformation of urban architecture along ecological principals. One advantage of
raising food crops and animals indoors and in closer proximity to customers include year-round
production. It would be more efficient use and reuse of water and other resources and protection
from threats ranging from epidemics to terrorists. How farming is taken care of now will affect
the future in a way because of how many resources we are using. It’s costing us millions to keep
traditional farming and to ship to food across the country to different supermarkets and
restaurants. Even though it would take millions to build a prototype of vertical farm but it would
be able to save us money in the future, the only down side is that food prices would skyrocket
but I think it’s worth the risk. It would better than having the world’s worst famine of the
century. When more research is done on how these things will be designed and built it’s worth a
try.
Could vertical farming be the answer to feeding ourselves within the next twenty years?
Could this happen in New York? I believe that vertical farming would be beneficial to New York
citizens in a way that we would not have to rely on food to come from a long distance and other
countries. We would be able to manage our own health and what we eat. These are all things we
should think about when it comes to our future.
Works Citied
Couch, Christina. “Vertical Farming: In the Windy City” Discover 02747529 (2011) vol. 32, Issue 4.Print.
Fishchetti, Mark “Growing Vertical” Scientific American. 1551299 (2008) Special Edition Vol. 18 Issue 4.Print.
Mendleson, Rachel “The Future is Hungry” Canadian Business, 00083100 (2011) Vol.84 Issue 4.print.
Vetataraman, Bina “Country, the City Version: Farms in the Sky Gain New Interest. New York Times 15 July 2008. Web. 2 May 2011
Walsh, Bryan” Vertical Farming” TIME.11 Dec 2008.Web.3 May 2011
For more info you can check out the Vertical Farm website.
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