Vertical farming solutions for sustainable food production in an sustainable environmentally friendly manner.
By 2050, the world’s population is expected to grow by another 2 billion people, and feeding it will be a huge challenge. Due to industrial development and urbanization, we are losing arable lands every day. Scientists say that the Earth has lost a third of its arable lands over the last 40 years.
We don’t know how much more we are going to lose in the next 40 years. Increasing food demand due to a growing population along with ever decreasing arable lands poses one of the greatest challenges facing us. Many believe that vertical farming can be the answer to this challenge. Is vertical farming the future of agriculture? Let’s find out!
What Is Vertical Farming?
Vertical farming is the practice of producing food on vertically inclined surfaces. Instead of farming vegetables and other foods on a single level, such as in a field or a greenhouse, this method produces foods in vertically stacked layers commonly integrated into other structures like a skyscraper, shipping container or repurposed warehouse.
Using Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) technology, this modern idea uses indoor farming techniques. The artificial control of temperature, light, humidity, and gases makes producing foods and medicine indoor possible. In many ways, vertical farming is similar to greenhouses where metal reflectors and artificial lighting augment natural sunlight. The primary goal of vertical farming is maximizing crops output in a limited space.
How Vertical Farming Works
There are four critical areas in understanding how vertical farming works:
1. Physical layout,
2. Lighting,
3. Growing medium,
4. Sustainability features.
Firstly, the primary goal of vertical farming is producing more foods per square meter. To accomplish this goal, crops are cultivated in stacked layers in a tower life structure. Secondly, a perfect combination of natural and artificial lights is used to maintain the perfect light level in the room. Technologies such as rotating beds are used to improve lighting efficiency.
Thirdly, instead of soil, aeroponic, aquaponic or hydroponic growing mediums are used. Peat moss or coconut husks and similar non-soil mediums are very common in vertical farming. Finally, the vertical farming method uses various sustainability features to offset the energy cost of farming. In fact, vertical farming uses 95 percent less water.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Vertical Farming
Vertical farming has a lot of promise and sounds like the farm of the future. However, there are a few stumbling blocks to consider before rushing full-speed ahead into vertical farming.
Advantages
It offers a plan to handle future food demands
It allows crops to grow year-round
It uses significantly less water
Weather doesn't affect the crops
More organic crops can be grown
There is less exposure to chemicals and disease
Disadvantages
It could be very costly to build and economic feasibility studies haven't yet been completed
Pollination would be very difficult and costly
It would involve higher labor costs
It relies too much on technology and one day of power loss would be devastating
VERTICAL FARMING TRACEABILITY HAS NEVER BEEN EASIER
Instant traceability recalls, with 100% accuracy. Trace fruit & vegetables back to a grower, area of land/field, crop batch/patch and all inputs and their related suppliers & batch/lot details. If you use farmsoft Post Harvest software for tobacco processing, you can even trace product all the way to customers and invoices.
VERTICAL FARM PLANNING MADE EASY, REDUCE FARMING COSTS
Easy with auto creation of tasks to guide teams through the best farming processes. Plan the entire years tobacco crops with just a few clicks! Reduce administration and traceability costs costs by collecting data during farming, reducing the burden on the admin team, and delivering automatic reporting without needing to compile reports manually.
ENFORCE BEST VERTICAL FARMING PRACTICES
Farm tasks can be created automatically, you check their accuracy and adjust them if the weather or other conditions change. The farming team is guided through farm tasks ensuring work is done at the right time using correct materials, and compliance data is captured at every critical point.
PASS AUDITS WITH EASE
You know that feeling you get in the pit of your stomach when you know the auditors are coming the next day? Forget about about it. Using farmsoft, you have the confidence that you can do instant recalls, and generate any traceability, farm summaries, and farm records in a matter of seconds.
AUTOMATIC BUDGETS & COST MONITORING
View costs in real time, down to a specific patch/block, or by farm site, crop, and variety. Never have production cost shocks again. Budgets are automatically created by the best practice system and allow projections for any period of time into the future, down to the application of a specific spray chemical or fertilizer.
INTEGRATION WITH POST HARVEST SOFTWARE
Optionally use farmsoft Post Harvest packing solutions that seamlessly integrate with the vertical farming software for a complete enterprise management solution. Learn more here.
VERTICAL FARM TRACEABILITY
Compliance with international GAP and food safety standards allows easy crop recalls, traceability, and pesticide and controlled substance monitoring and reporting.
