What Benefits Does Vertical Farming Offer?

The efficiency and other advantages that vertical farming technologies bring are driving the sector’s increased interest in vertical farming.

Fremont, CA: Vertical farming has gained traction in the previous decade, increasing the number of vertical farms in Europe, Asia, and North America. Vertical farming has fast grown from innovative, up-and-coming technology to a multi-billion-dollar industry with a projected market value of $21.15 billion by 2028. Vertical farms are frequently recognized for their exceptional capacity to drastically minimize the use of natural resources like land and water, but these are just two of the many benefits that vertical farming provides. Vertical farms can produce a wide selection of fresh, pesticide- and herbicide-free crops all year, thanks to their highly automated infrastructure and controlled environments. Furthermore, they can fully eliminate important environmental offenders like agricultural runoff while also lowering greenhouse gas emissions.

Benefits of vertical farming:

Decrease land usage

Agriculture is the world's largest land user and the leading driver of deforestation and forest degradation. Approximately five billion hectares of land, or about 35 percent of the Earth's surface (excluding oceans), have been reclaimed for agricultural uses. The agriculture sector's vast land use is wreaking havoc on the planet's climate, biodiversity, and ecosystems. Various bird, insect, and animal species have perished as a result of habitat loss induced by land clearing. New farming technologies such as indoor agriculture and vertical farming, which can produce a great quantity of fresh food on a small surface area, promise to mitigate the negative consequences of conventional agriculture on natural resources and biodiversity. According to estimates, indoor farming yields the equivalent of between 1.6 and 2.4 hectares of outdoor farming. The vertical layout of these vertical farms is responsible for their effective land usage. Crops are cultivated in particular containers that are piled vertically above one another in a traditional vertical farming system. This strategy makes the most of available space and boosts output per square foot.

Requires minimum water usage

Agriculture is also the world's largest user of freshwater, accounting for over 70mpercent of all freshwater withdrawals. Agriculture accounts for 80 percent of overall water consumption in the United States. Approximately 3,000 litres of water are necessary to meet a person's daily dietary demands. On the other hand, water is a rare and expensive commodity in many regions of the world. These countries will be able to produce fresh, wholesome food while consuming less water, thanks to indoor farming. Vertical farms have successfully lowered their water consumption by 95 percent, and in some cases as low as 99 percent, thanks to their recycling technologies. Because plants are grown indoors, water lost through evaporation and transpiration is caught and redistributed by dehumidification devices.

No pesticide and chemical

Plants grown outdoors are subjected to a variety of biotic stresses that impede their growth; as a result, farmers use pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, and other chemical agents on a regular basis to keep weeds, insects, and harmful microorganisms at bay. Pesticides are anticipated to be utilized in excess of 5.6 billion pounds per year around the world. Pesticides and other chemical agents used in excess have disastrous impacts on biodiversity and pose a serious threat to numerous aquatic species. Pesticides and herbicides, on the other hand, are used sparingly or not at all in vertical farming. Because crops are grown in isolated and highly controlled conditions, they are not subjected to biotic stress and hence do not require the use of chemicals.