Indoor Vertical Farming

 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. The increasing population and food demand. With optimum space and land we want produce maximum production. Some believe that vertical farming can be the answer to this challenge. Is vertical farming the future of agriculture? Let’s check it

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.

Techniques of vertical farming

Hydroponics

Hydroponics refers to the technique of growing plants without soil.In hydroponic systems, the roots of plants are submerged in liquid solutions containing macronutrients, such as nitrogen, phosphorus, sulphur, potassium, calcium, and magnesium, as well as trace elements, including iron, chlorine, manganese, boron, zinc, copper, and molybdenum.Additionally, inert (chemically inactive) mediums such as gravel, sand, and sawdust are used as soil substitutes to provide support for the roots.

The advantages of hydroponics include the ability to increase yield per area and reduce water usage. As compared to conventional farming, hydroponic farming could increase the yield per area of lettuce by around 11 times while requiring 13 times less water.Due to these advantages, hydroponics is the predominant growing system used in vertical farming. 

Aquaponics

The technique of growing plants without soil. Aquaponics takes hydroponics one step further by integrating the production of terrestrial plants with the production of aquatic organisms in a closed-loop system that mimics nature itself.Nutrient-rich wastewater from the fish tanks is filtered by a solid removal unit and then led to a bio-filter, where toxic ammonia is converted to nutritious nitrate.While absorbing nutrients, the plants then purify the wastewater, which is recycled back to the fish tanks.Moreover, the plants consume carbon dioxide produced by the fish, and water in the fish tanks obtains heat and helps the greenhouse maintain temperature at night to save energy.As most commercial vertical farming systems focus on producing a few fast-growing vegetable crops, aquaponics, which also includes an aquacultural component, is currently not as widely used as conventional hydroponics.

Aeroponics

Unlike conventional hydroponics and aquaponics, aeroponics does not require any liquid or solid medium to grow plants in.Instead, a liquid solution with nutrients is misted in air chambers where the plants are suspended.By far, aeroponics is the most sustainable soil-less growing technique,as it uses up to 90% less water than the most efficient conventional hydroponic systems and requires no replacement of growing medium.Moreover, the absence of growing medium allows aeroponic systems to adopt a vertical design, which further saves energy as gravity automatically drains away excess liquid, whereas conventional horizontal hydroponic systems often require water pumps for controlling excess solution.Currently, aeroponic systems have not been widely applied to vertical farming, but are starting to attract significant attention. 

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

• Preparation for Future:

•  By 2050, around 80 percent of the world population is expected to live in urban areas, and the growing population will lead to an increased demand for food. The efficient use of vertical farming may perhaps play a significant role in preparing for such a challenge. 

• Increased And Year-Round Crop Production:

•  Vertical farming allows us to produce more crops from the same square footage of growing area. In fact, 1 acre of an indoor area offers equivalent production to at least 4-6 acres of outdoor capacity. According to an independent estimate, a 30-story building with a basal area of 5 acres can potentially produce an equivalent of 2,400 acres of conventional horizontal farming. Additionally, year-round crop production is possible in a controlled indoor environment which is completely controlled by vertical farming technologies.

• Less Use Of Water In Cultivation: 

• Vertical farming allows us to produce crops with 70-95 percent less water than required for normal cultivation. 

• Not Affected By Unfavorable Weather Conditions: 

• Crops in a field can be adversely affected by natural calamities such as torrential rains, cyclones, flooding or severe droughts—events which are becoming increasingly common as a result of global warming. Indoor vertical farms are less likely to feel the brunt of the unfavorable weather, providing greater certainty of harvest output throughout the year.

• Increased Production of Organic Crops: 

• As crops are produced in a well-controlled indoor environment without the use of chemical pesticides, vertical farming allows us to grow pesticide-free and organic crops. 

• Human and Environmentally Friendly: 

• Indoor vertical farming can significantly lessen the occupational hazards associated with traditional farming. Farmers are not exposed to hazards related to heavy farming equipment, diseases like malaria, poisonous chemicals and so on. As it does not disturb animals and trees inland areas, it is good for biodiversity as well.

• Efficiency 

Traditional farming's arable land requirements are too large and invasive to remain sustainable for future generations. With the ever-so-rapid population growth rates, . Vertical farming allows for, in some cases, over ten times the crop yield per acre than traditional methods. Unlike traditional farming in non-tropical areas, indoor farming can produce crops year-round. 

Vertical farming also allows for the production of a larger variety of harvestable crops because of its usage of isolated crop sectors. As opposed to a traditional farm where one type of crop is harvested per season, vertical farms allow for a multitude of different crops to be grown and harvested at once due to their individual land plots

Environmental conservation

Up to 20 units of outdoor farmland per unit of vertical farming could return to its natural state, due to vertical farming's increased productivity.Vertical farming would reduce the amount of farmland, thus saving many natural resources.

Deforestation and desertification caused by agricultural encroachment on natural biomes could be avoided.  Producing food indoors reduces or eliminates conventional plowing, planting, and harvesting by farm machinery, protecting soil, and reducing emissions.

 In comparison, vertical farming would cause nominal harm to wildlife because of its limited space usage

Disadvantages 

• No Established Economics:
•  The financial feasibility of this new farming method remains uncertain. The cost of building skyscrapers for farming, combined with other costs such as lighting, heating, and labor, can easily outweigh the benefits we can get from the output of vertical farming. . And while vertical farms will be attractive to locate close to cities, the high price of real estate will impede the financial viability of urban locations. The financial situation is changing, however, as the industry matures and technologies improve. 
• Difficulties with Pollination: Vertical farming takes place in a controlled environment without the presence of insects. As such, the pollination process needs to be done manually, which will be labor intensive and costly.
• Labor Costs: 
• As high as energy costs are in vertical farming, labor costs can be even higher due to their concentration in urban centers where wages are higher, as well as the need for more skilled labor. Automation in vertical farms, however, may lead to the need for fewer workers. Manual pollination may become one of the more labor-intensive functions in vertical farms. 
• Too Much Dependency on Technology: The development of better technologies can always increase efficiency and lessen costs. But the entire vertical farming is extremely dependent on various technologies for lighting, maintaining temperature, and humidity. Losing power for just a single day can prove very costly for a vertical farm. Many believe the technologies in use today are not ready for mass adoption.

Vertical farming technologies are still relatively new. Companies are yet to successfully produce crops at scale and make it economically feasible to meet the growing food demand. The performance of farms like AeroFarms will determine how important a role vertical farming will play in the future to face the challenge of growing food demand.