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Vertical farming is a solution in search of a problem. It's not viable and it doesn't solve any meaningful issues in agriculture. In cities, land is more produc
by CydeWeys 4y ago
Vertical farming is a solution in search of a problem. It's not viable and it doesn't solve any meaningful issues in agriculture. In cities, land is more productive when used for other purposes (residential, commercial, retail, etc.), and out in the country where crops are typically grown, space simply isn't an issue to the point that you need to go up. Indeed, way more food is currently produced than is actually needed for human consumption (most cropland in the US is used to feed livestock or turned into bioethanol).
- poslathian 4y agoI always assumed the key word here was “indoor,” and not “vertical.” Indoors is a place where it is much, much, easier to automate and control growing conditions. Both could add up to faster better cheaper. Given how amazingly huge; dense; and performant logistics has gotten, I can’t imagine the real estate angle is moving the needle very much.
- CydeWeys 4y agoIndoors is much more expensive though. You've got to build the buildings and all the infrastructure. Outdoors in big simple fields has a lot of pluses. And it's time-tested. There's no particular reason to think that the majority of food will ever be grown indoors, or even a small but significant fraction of it. Not on Earth anyway.