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Page added on August 16, 2011
Vertical Farming – Solution to Feeding Growing World Population
Vertical farming is known as a highly promising means to meet the growing demand for food and clean water in growing cities around the world.
Columbia University professor, Dr. Despommier, dubbed the Father of vertical farming, taught “Medical Ecology.” In 1999 his class gave birth to the concept of vertical farming.
His students decided they wanted to do something practical with their education and started by growing food on rooftops. Rooftop farming uses a city’s rooftops to grow crops. But it turns out this method of farming can only produce a minimal output.
[Prof. Dickson Despommier, Columbia University]:
“Apparently that was a good idea at the time, but at the end of the day there wasn’t enough roof-top, to allow them to produce enough food to make a difference. Even in New York City. … So, why don’t we take your idea of rooftop farming and move it into a building.”
In an area like Manhattan, rooftop farming could only feed about 2 percent of the inhabitants, while vertical farming can grow food on a much larger scale. The entire vertical structure of a building could be used to grow different food crops.
According to Despommier, by the year 2050, close to 50 percent of the world population will live in cities or suburbs. Currently, throughout the world over 80 percent of the land suitable for raising crops is already in use. With a current global population growth rate of 1.1 percent, this could cause severe food shortages in the future.
Scientists and politicians around the world are already faced with the question of how to deal with this situation.
[Prof. Dickson Despommier, Columbia University]:
“And the answer is, I hope, vertical farming. To put the farm right in the city where the people are living anyway.”
Korea is one of the leading countries in applying this innovative concept. One example is Suwon, South Korea, where a three-story pilot project is growing vegetables in a high-rise building.This may work in countries like Korea and the US, but it might not be feasible for the less developed countries.
[Prof. Dickson Despommier, Columbia University]:
“The poor countries could not afford to develop this from scratch. It’s probably going to be managed mostly by the wealthier countries to begin with. If everybody wants one, then we’ll find a way to get them to everyone.”
In future the vegetables that can be bought at the supermarket, may also be grown and packaged in the very same multi-story building.
3 Comments on "Vertical Farming – Solution to Feeding Growing World Population"
BillT on Wed, 17th Aug 2011 3:20 am
In the future, you will grow your own or starve. As billions will do in the next 20 – 30 years (starve). There will be no oil / coal to ship food across the country and certainly not across the world like we do now. If it is not grown locally, you will not eat it.
SilentRunning on Wed, 17th Aug 2011 4:11 am
The *ONLY* solution to feeding a growing population is ultimately to stop the population from growing.
Sure, “vertical farms” will be able to grow some food in urban areas – but there is still only so much square footage in any city available to acquire sunlight. Each high-rise building shades areas next to it – those areas are unavailable to grow food – without cheap electricity to provide artificial lighting. Cheap energy is on the way out, in case anyone is paying attention.
Even growing at a mere 1% per year, the human population in only a few centuries will become so huge that every atom in the entire universe would have to be part of a human body. The math is inescapable – as is the physical impossibility of population growth going on that long.
DC on Thu, 18th Aug 2011 3:39 am
VF will probably never go anywhere. Too much energy required for lights, pumping water against the force of gravity, too energy intensive, and how do you dispose of the wastes? Maybe some limited form of VF may prove useful if we pursue it, but at a glance, it appears to be too energy intensive, not to mention costly, to ever be practical on a large scale.