Vertical farms could be an important part of the solution to the population’s food problem. Populations are growing and the demand for food increases every year. At the same time, we need to be more precious with earths resources and how we use them. Factory farming has a huge footprint on the planet. Current forecasts even predict that many more climate-damaging gases will be emitted worldwide in the coming years.
Vertical farms could chime in here to help. Gigantic factory halls where many different types of plants (mint, basil, arugula, young spinach, …) are grown and harvested in a highly automated way on several floors.
The advantages: much less water consumption, shorter transport routes due to decentralized cultivation, smaller carbon footprint, highly optimized growth stages - thus more outcome and higher nutrient content. And in the long run: much cheaper than traditional agriculture.
However, it has one major disadvantage at the moment: the energy consumption. The plant lighting systems consume a lot of electricity. And as with electro mobility - it’s only as green as the energy that powers it.