Agriculture For The People in a Hurry

VERTICAL FARMING

WHAT IS VERTICAL FARMING?

Vertical farming is that the practice of manufacturing food on vertically inclined surfaces rather than farming vegetables and other foods on one level, like in an exceeding field or a greenhouse, this method produces foods in vertically stacked layers commonly integrated into other structures sort of a skyscraper, shipping container or repurposed warehouse.

Using Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) technology, this contemporary idea uses indoor farming techniques. unnatural control of temperature, light, humidity, and gases makes producing foods and medicine indoor possible. In many ways, vertical farming is analogous to greenhouses where metal reflectors and artificial lighting augments natural sunlight.

WHO, WHEN, AND WHERE?

In the 1980s, Åke Olsson, a Swedish ecological farmer, invented a spiral-shaped rail system for growing plants and suggested vertical farming as a way for producing vegetables in cities. First invented in 1915 by American geologist Gilbert Ellis Bailey, the initial concept of vertical farming was rather understood as a form of rooftop farming.

The present-day concept of vertical farming was proposed in 1999 by Professor Dickson Although the primary true example of a vertical farm was first developed in Armenia in 1951, vertical farming didn't really gain traction as an inspiration to feed growing populations until a professor at university in New York posed a difficult question to a medical ecology class ofgraduate students in 1999.

WHAT ARE THE GOALS AND HOW IT FUNCTIONS?

The main goal of vertical farming is to provide more crops in an exceedingly limited space. There must be towers crammed with cultivated crops, in addition, a great fusion of natural and artificial lights to keep up the right light level within the room. To improve the lighting efficiency, rotating beds technology is typically also used.

There are four critical areas in understanding how vertical farming works:

1. Physical layout, 2. Lighting, 3. Growing medium, and 4. Sustainability features.

Firstly, the first goal of vertical farming is to produce more food per square meter. To accomplish this goal, crops are cultivated in stacked layers in an exceedingly tower life structure. Secondly, an ideal combination of natural and artificial lights is employed to take care of the right light level within the room. Technologies like rotating beds are accustomed improve lighting efficiency.

Thirdly, rather than soil, aeroponic, aquaponic, or hydroponic growing mediums are used. Sphagnum moss or coconut husks and similar non-soil mediums are quite common in vertical farming. Finally, the vertical farming method uses various sustainability features to offset the energy cost of farming. Vertical farming uses 95% less water.

TYPES OF VF?

Vertical farms are available in different shapes and sizes, from simple two-level or wall-mounted systems to large warehouses several stories tall. But all vertical farms use one amongst three soil-free systems for providing nutrients to plants—hydroponic, aeroponic, or aquaponic The subsequent information describes these three growing systems:

Hydroponics:

The predominant growing system manipulated in vertical farms; hydroponics involves growing plants in nutrient solutions that are disengaged from the soil. The plant roots are submerged within the nutrient solution, which is usually monitored and circulated to confirm that the proper chemical composition is maintained.

Aeroponics

The National Aeronautical and Space Administration (NASA) is behind this innovative indoor growing technique. within the 1990s, NASA was fascinated by finding efficient ways to grow plants in space and coined the term “aeroponics,” defined as “growing plants in an air/mist environment with no soil and more molecular water.”

Aeroponics systems are still an anomaly within the vertical farming world, but they're attracting significant interest. An aeroponic system is far and away from the foremost efficient plant-growing system for vertical farms, depletion to 90% less water than even the foremost efficient hydroponic systems. Plants grown in these aeroponic systems have also been shown to uptake more minerals and vitamins, making the plants healthier and potentially more nutritious.

Aquaponics

An aquaponic system takes the hydroponic system one step further, combining plants and fish within the same ecosystem. Fish are grown in indoor ponds, producing nutrient-rich waste that's used as a feed source for the plants within the vertical farm. The plants, in turn, filter and purify the wastewater, which is recycled to the fish ponds.

Although aquaponics is employed in smaller-scale vertical farming systems, most commercial vertical farm systems target producing only some fast-growing vegetable crops and don’t include an aquaponics component. This simplifies the economics and production issues and maximizes efficiency. However, new standardized aquaponic systems may help make this closed-cycle system more popular.

Vertical farming systems are further classified by the kind of structure that houses the system.

Building-based vertical farms are often housed in abandoned buildings in cities, like Chicago’s “The Plant” vertical the farm that was constructed in an old pork-packing plant. New building construction is additionally employed in vertical farms, like the new multistorey vertical farm being attached to an existing parking zone structure in downtown Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

Shipping-container vertical farms are an increasingly popular option. These vertical farms use 40-foot shipping containers, normally in commission carrying goods around the world. Shipping containers are being refurbished by several companies into self-contained vertical farms, complete with LED lights, drip-irrigation systems, and vertically stacked shelves for starting and growing a range of plants. These self-contained units have computer-controlled growth management systems that allow users to observe all systems remotely from a sensible phone or computer.

WHAT CROPS ARE SUITABLE TO GROW IN VF?

Plants and crops that require comparatively low light intensity, have a short cycle, and thrive at high planting density should be chosen to grow in vertical farming. The leafy greens, herbs, medicinal plants, and transplants have opted as they are usually 30cm or shorter in stature.

The crops that are usually grown are;

1. Lettuce

2. Chard

3. Cabbage

4. Rocket

Herbs are another popular choice for vertical farmers, gratitude to many of the identical reasons as salad crops. Again, many of them are ‘fast-turn crops, meaning that the time between sowing and harvesting is comparatively short, so you'll be able to sell more products annually.

Basil is especially recommended for vertical farmers, as it’s in demand all year round. It also needs relatively high temperatures. Basil does well when grown hydroponically because it completes up with the next concentration of oils, which intensifies the flavor.

Common vertical farm herbs include:

• Basil

• Mint

• Chives

• Parsley

You can also grow slow-turn herbs, like oregano and rosemary. While you won’t have the maximum amount of product to sell, you'll charge more per kilo. The cannabis market has commenced in recent years you'll be able to now find cannabinoids in everything from health products to face creams. While these plants take plenty longer to grow than salad, they are available with far higher price tags, so are definitely worth the wait. They also need harvesting less frequently, which may reduce staffing costs.

Cannabis plants are notoriously temperamental and want finely tuned growing conditions to thrive. In other words, they have a controlled environment, like a vertical farm. And it’s crucial to observe that environment using high-tech sensors to minimize the danger of losing a harvest.

COMPARING TRADITIONAL METHODS AND VF

It has been found that vertical farming on average produces 240 times more crop yield while using 99% less land. Also, vertical farming uses 95% less water and 0 chemicals. The advantages seen here would lead many to conclude that vertical farming is superior to traditional farming.

There is a crisis on the way that not many of us are alert to because the earth’s population is increasing, so should the food production level. But unfortunately, that isn’t happening, and that we have seen 30% of our arable land become unusable within the last forty years. Should this trend continue, we humans are visiting have a true problem on our hands. One of the solutions to the current problem was vertical farming.

VERTICAL FARMING	TRADITIONAL FARMING
Zero pesticides and chemicals are taken into consideration thanks to the controlled environment.	Soil chemistry is a crucial aspect of crop production, henceforth the farmers began exploiting the chemical fertilizers to scale back the end results of pests and diseases.
95% less water is needed for the production. so, those are redirected to the concerning areas.	Irrigations should be applied to the crop depending upon its necessity concerning its stages of life.
If we compare, vertical farming one acre is like 30 acres of traditional farming.	It requires more area than vertical farming.
It has to be pollinated artificially, VIZ is pricey and not time-efficient more human to plant contact is needed.	Not everyone must be pollinated manually, hence, the human to plant contact is minimum and is time-efficient.
As is grown in small places, like cities and warehouses so it’s freshly available for consumption for the population living in urban areas.	The produce isn’t freshly available as it must be transported from the place of production.
Expenses of installation and management are high hence, makes it less accessible.	As it requires less capital to start, makes it affordable for poorer countries.

WHEN AND WHERE IN INDIA WAS VF WAS INTRODUCED?

Vertical farming was first introduced in 2019 in India. Small-scale adaptations of vertical farming are seen in Nadia, West Bengal, and Punjab. Bidhan Chandra Krishi Vishwavidhalaya in Nadia has found initial success in growing brinjal and tomato. Punjab also has succeeded in producing potato tubers through vertical farming. Ideal farms, an Indian design-in-tech company is producing vertical farms grow and is preferred because their food is organic, of a prime quality, and also the supply is predictable.

A Bengaluru-based startup, Greenopiais selling kits with smart self-watering pots, enriched soil, and therefore the right seeds. The sensor-embedded pots replenish moisture within the soil on a requirement basis and notify you once you have to refill water externally. Mumbai-based start-up firm U-Farm Technologies is using a hydroponic gardening technique to customize modular farms for a personal apartment complex or a supermarket. More and more start-ups in vertical farming are arising in India.

SUSTAINABILITY (A MYTH OR TRUTH?)

certainly, these studies prove that the yield is higher in VF and it's sustainable, but there exist cons too. It requires plenty of energy to supply a crop. It requires 30-176 kWh per kg more energy than greenhouses.

Also, to remember the energy used isn't wasted, likewise because the cities are developing every day renewable sources of energy and usage of their own produced energy will be utilized for production, by reducing carbon emissions.

REFERENCES

https://www.thebalancesmb.com/what-you-should-know-about-vertical-farming-4144786

https://earthbuddies.net/vertical-farming/

https://landscapingdigimag.com/vertical-farming/

https://www.agrifarming.in/profitable-crops-for-vertical-farming-a-full-guide

https://lightsciencetech.com/what-can-be-grown-in-a-vertical-farm/

http://verticalfarmingplanet.com/is-vertical-farming-better-than-traditional-farming/

http://www.soeagra.com/iaast/iaastdec2018/19.pdf

https://www.eitfood.eu/blog/post/is-vertical-farming-really-sustainable