Chlorophyll has very narrow bands of absorption. Collecting wide spectrum insolation with solar panels gives you plenty of energy to emit narrow-band light from

Chlorophyll has very narrow bands of absorption. Collecting wide spectrum insolation with solar panels gives you plenty of energy to emit narrow-band light from LEDs, even with efficiency losses. In fact, plants do fine in red light. Hydroponics is a well-understood technique - retail kits are available for home ganja growers. Soil is not an input. You would be nuts to grow in soil. Greenhouses are great, think of vertical farming as gen2 of greenhouses. Don't mistake VF as a solution for land-extensive staple crops. It won't grow significant quantity of cereal any time soon. What it does promise is high-value crops like salad, herbs, tomatoes, strawberries. These crops benefit from short food miles and are labour-intensive to harvest. You can cut costs by growing them closer to cities, in beds that you can bring to a comfortable height for picking (or pick by robot). Some of the big costs are: labour, fertiliser, and transport to market. The latter two are tied to energy costs, and the former is expensive in high-CoL places where you want to sell the goods. Hydroponics makes much more efficient use of fertiliser and water, and may reduce labour costs. Vertical farming enables you to operate close to cities where land coats are high. Are you qualified to say who is and who isn't interested in vertical farming? Have you been reading Farmer's Weekly or just HN? But for the sake of argument: existing ag interests are the incumbent and tech is a sector known for disruptors. VF is tech-heavy. It wasn't farmers who invented tractors, it was engineers and entrepreneurs. But this is an interesting point, and the whole thing may turn out to be delusional techbro vainglory. I think that's a stretch in a world where energy cost has tripled in a decade and desertification is an observable reality. I wouldn't look for farmers in the startup, I'd look for biologists and grocers. Farmers are the customers, and the ones losing their livelihoods are good sales prospects.