What is Vertical Farming
Vertical farming is a method by which crops are grown in vertical stacked layers under controlled environmental conditions with the aim of achieving higher productivity in smaller spaces. It uses significantly less water and pesticides than traditional agricultural methods. As the crops are grown indoors, they are not affected by seasonal factors and hence have high productivity throughout the year. A single building which houses a vertical farm could yield 390 times more food per sq ft while using 95 per cent less water and with no pesticides. It also incorporates various features that offset the energy cost of traditional farming. For this, it uses soil-less techniques such as hydroponics, aquaponics and aeroponics and modern indoor farming techniques, and controlled environment agriculture technology (CEA). CEA uses a combination of engineering, plant science, and computer managed green house control technologies to optimise plant growing systems. It provides secure, healthy, and cost-effective year-round production of many premium edible, ornamental, and high value plant species. Environmental factors, such as light, humidity, and temperature can be controlled. The technique of biofortification is used in vertical farming to increases the nutritional value of crops.
Crops like lettuce, cabbage, chards, collards, mint, basil, oregano, sweet lemon, cinnamon, parsley, tomatoes, strawberries, thyme, radish, and spinach among others can be grown in vertical farming.
The term ‘vertical farming’ was coined by Gilbert Ellis Bailey in 1915. The concept of vertical farming was developed in the late 1990s by Dickson Despommier, Professor Emeritus of Microbiology at the Columbia University, using the advances in technology in agriculture. He is of the opinion that if we use the vertical farming approach to food production, then no crops would fail due to severe weather conditions. If vertical farming becomes the norm of urban cities then there could be a revival of damaged ecosystems in the long-term. At present, there are many vertical farms in the US, Europe, Japan, and China. Japan has been one of the pioneers in vertical farming.
Despommier, did a research for Agrihouse India International Pvt. Ltd, a vertical farming company in India. In his research article, he suggested that a significant amount of energy to run a vertical farm can come from organic waste such as methane. Vertical farms could be engineered to take in contaminated water and restore it to near-drinking water using bioremediation and other technologies. The technology is still under research and development. Moreover, any water source that emerges as a result of the vertical farming should be fit for consumption so that it could be recycled back into the community that brought it to the farm.
Various Concepts under Vertical Farming
Hydroponics: Hydroponics is a method of growing plants without soil by giving them nutrient-rich water solution. It involves the roots of the plants being supported by solid static medium of cocopeat, fibre made out of coconut husks, instead of soil. As the water is nutrient-rich, there is 70 per cent less consumption of water in hydroponics method as compared to traditional farming.
Hydroponics can be taken up for the following reasons:
- Progressive farmers can adopt it for commercial farming.
- People who are fond of plants can adopt it as a hobby and start growing healthy plants in small spaces.
- In urban and metro regions where space is scarce, the method proves beneficial.
Aeroponics: Aeroponics is the process of growing plants by suspending them in a closed or semi-closed environment by spraying the plant’s dangling roots and lower stem with a nutrient-rich water solution. The plants are grown in an air or mist environment without the use of soil or an aggregate medium. Plants in a true aeroponic apparatus have 100 per cent access to carbon-di-oxide concentrations ranging from 450 ppm (parts per million) to 780 ppm for photosynthesis. In this method, the crop growth is better than in hydroponics and usage of water is also 70 per cent less than in hydroponics.
Aquaponics: Aquaponics method is farming by recirculating system to create an efficient closed loop system. This method uses a combination of hydroponics and aquaculture in which the plants are fed the excreta of the aquatic animal, fish, and in return the aquatic animals clean the vegetables as the water goes back to the fish. Along with the fish and their waste, microbes play an important role in providing nutrition to the plants. These beneficial bacteria gather in the spaces between the roots of the plant and convert the fish waste and the solids into substances the plants can use to grow. The result is a perfect collaboration between aquaculture and gardening.
Importance of vertical farming for India
Vertical farming is important for India due to the following reasons:
- Growing population and food security: The rising human population has led to the creation of mega cities with the resultant lack of space for growing crops to feed the population. India’s population is projected to surpass that of China by the year 2028. At present, India has more than 200 million people facing the harrowing problem of food insecurity.
- Climate change: Climate change is a major factor affecting agriculture in India. It is predicted that major crop yields which form the staple food of Indian people are likely to fall by 9 per cent by 2039 and would stoop further by 25 per cent by 2070. Though agriculture constitutes 20 per cent of India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), rising temperature would make the issue of food security alarming in the long run. Environmental and human factors have had their impact on the cultivable land.
- Water scarcity: The water table of India is declining at an alarming rate. Government data warns that the average per capita water availability in India is expected to fall by 43 per cent by 2050 unless radical measures are taken to control the factors that threaten this fate.
Vertical farming has the potential to mend damaged ecology, create food security, and generate employment. Most importantly, it could save India’s farmers from resorting to extreme steps due to unpredictable climatic ravages.
Advantages and Limitations of Vertical Farming Method
Advantages: The advantages of vertical farming are as follows:
- Vertical farming is expected to play a significant role in meeting the food needs of an increasing population.
- Vertical farming paves way for production of more crops from the same unit area available. It will also help in increased and round-the-year crop production.
- Vertical farming is much more sustainable than traditional methods. It requires 70-95 per cent less water to produce crops in comparison to traditional farming.
- Indoor vertical farms are not affected by unfavourable weather, providing a greater certainty of harvest output throughout the year.
- As crops are produced in a well-controlled indoor environment without the use of pesticides, vertical farming helps in growing pesticide-free organic crops.
- Vertical farming can significantly lessen the occupational hazards associated with traditional farming. Farmers are not exposed to hazards related to heavy farming equipment, diseases like malaria, poisonous chemicals and so on.
Limitations: The limitations of vertical farming are as follows:
- There are questions related to the financial feasibility of vertical farming method. The cost of building skyscrapers for farming, combined with other costs such as lighting, heating, and labour can be more than the benefits offered by the vertical farming.
- As vertical farming takes place in a controlled environment without the presence of insects, the pollination process needs to be done manually, which is labour intensive and expensive.
- In vertical farming, there is a need for highly skilled workers who have been trained in the technology. Hence, the labour cost will be higher than in traditional farming.
- Automation in vertical farms would lead to the need for fewer workers. However, manual pollination may become one of the more labour-intensive functions in vertical farms.
- The layout of a vertical farm may pose a challenge for the workers to reach each layer which may lead to a decline in the overall employee efficiency.
- Vertical farming is highly dependent on various technologies for lighting, and for maintaining temperature and humidity.
Conclusion
Vertical farming technologies are still relatively new. Companies are yet to successfully produce crops at scale and make it economically feasible to meet the growing food demand.
Vertical farming is still in its evolving stage and there is a long way to go before it becomes a common agricultural practice.