Vertical Farming - Does it stack up?

Vertical Farming is an idea that was born in the year 1999 in a Columbia University classroom when Dickson Despommier, a professor of environmental sciences and microbiology shared the idea with his students. According to New York magazine, nearly all the land that could potentially be farmed is already being farmed on. So Despommier proposed a novel idea of having skyscrapers filled with floor upon floor of orchards and fields producing crops all year in cities all over the world. Creating more farmable land out of thin air to meet the growing demand as a result of population explosion is virtually an impossibility and therefore this idea has inspired plenty of research by people who believe it might actually stack up. Despommier and his class made the first outline of a vertical farm in 2001. This technique is expected to prove advantageous in several ways. Firstly, transport costs and carbon dioxide emissions associated with moving food over long distances are greatly minimized. The spoilage that occurs inevitably along the way is also reduced. According to UN’s Population Division, by 2050, around 70% of the world’s population will be living in urban areas. So it’s more benefitable to have farms closer to where everyone will be living. The use of pesticides, herbicides and fungicides can be kept to a bare minimum by growing plants indoors in a controlled environment. Erosion will not be a problem because the food will be grown hydroponically. Clever recycling techniques will be used to ensure that only a fraction of the amount of water and nutrients will be needed and there will be no problem with agricultural run-off. Opponents question the potential profitability, availability of less light due to the extreme angle and pollution. Despite these drawbacks, vertical farming is thought of to be the future of sustainable farming.