Vertical farming is the latest trick for growing food efficiently and is being marketed well but in reality it is just another way to increase the landspace we have for growing things. Personally, I don’t think we have an issue with landspace its just all in the wrong places such as the massive deserts we have on this planet and how it is currently mainly wasted space. Now modern techniques can be used to make barren land more fertile, irrigate the land and put the right crops in there. May not even be anything edible for humans but food stock for plants, fish or animals is still viable. remember that Israel have turned their bit of the desert into a paradise in sharp contrast to the rest of that area.
Vertical farming does seem to be a viable method of growing food though. I have seen several methods deployed over the last few years using these techniques. I have seen potatoes, strawberries, courgettes and tomatoes advertised with the vertical unit although I have no doubt that the technique can be used for many more crops. From experience the potatoe and strawberry yield is certainly improved using vertical techniques but I have not seen other crops used myself and I only grow fruit in my garden anyway.
As a point of interest though I have hear of this vertical farming being used with livestock as well. Fish, poultry, guinea pigs and rabbits have been kept in these units when space is tight. Even humans in some of the earlier social experiments and we now how well they multiplied.
So clearly it depends on where you are and what you are growing. Where space is tight then a vertical solution could help. Where water is an issue vertical solutions will undoubtedly help by reducing the surface area for water evaporation but where you have space and plenty of water then utilising the ground is clearly going to be less labour intensive and seeing as we are actually paying people to grow nothing on their land I don’t see us having a problem with land space yet although I wonder if farmers could claim more if they didn’t grow crops vertically. Its beyond parody really.
Vertical farming
Vertical farming is the latest trick for growing food efficiently and is being marketed well but in reality it is just another way to increase the landspace we have for growing things. Personally, I don’t think we have an issue with landspace its just all in the wrong places such as the massive deserts we have on this planet and how it is currently mainly wasted space. Now modern techniques can be used to make barren land more fertile, irrigate the land and put the right crops in there. May not even be anything edible for humans but food stock for plants, fish or animals is still viable. remember that Israel have turned their bit of the desert into a paradise in sharp contrast to the rest of that area.
Vertical farming does seem to be a viable method of growing food though. I have seen several methods deployed over the last few years using these techniques. I have seen potatoes, strawberries, courgettes and tomatoes advertised with the vertical unit although I have no doubt that the technique can be used for many more crops. From experience the potatoe and strawberry yield is certainly improved using vertical techniques but I have not seen other crops used myself and I only grow fruit in my garden anyway.
As a point of interest though I have hear of this vertical farming being used with livestock as well. Fish, poultry, guinea pigs and rabbits have been kept in these units when space is tight. Even humans in some of the earlier social experiments and we now how well they multiplied.
So clearly it depends on where you are and what you are growing. Where space is tight then a vertical solution could help. Where water is an issue vertical solutions will undoubtedly help by reducing the surface area for water evaporation but where you have space and plenty of water then utilising the ground is clearly going to be less labour intensive and seeing as we are actually paying people to grow nothing on their land I don’t see us having a problem with land space yet although I wonder if farmers could claim more if they didn’t grow crops vertically. Its beyond parody really.