new concept in agriculture . . . the Vertical Farm . . .

[OneBlueSky]

still in the conceptual stage, but an interesting approach to increasing food production for an ever-expanding urban population . . .

http://www.verticalfarm.com/

The Problem

By the year 2050, nearly 80% of the earth’s population will reside in urban centers. Applying the most conservative estimates to current demographic trends, the human population will increase by about 3 billion people during the interim. An estimated 109 hectares of new and (about 20% more land than is represented by the country of Brazil) will be needed to grow enough food to feed them, if traditional farming practices continue as they are practiced today. At present, throughout the world, over 80% of the land that is suitable for raising crops is in use. Historically, some 15% of that has been laid waste by poor management practices. What can be done to avoid this impending disaster?

A Potential Solution: farm vertically

What is a vertical farm?

The concept of indoor farming is not new, since hothouse production of tomatoes, a wide variety of herbs, and other produce has been in vogue for some time. What is new is the urgent need to scale up this technology to accommodate another 3 billion people. An entirely new approach to indoor farming must be invented, employing cutting edge technologies. The Vertical Farm must be efficient (cheap to construct and safe to operate). Vertical farms, many stories high, will be situated in the heart of the world’s urban centers. If successfully implemented, they offer the promise of urban renewal, sustainable production of a safe and varied food supply (year-round crop production), and the eventual repair of ecosystems that have been sacrificed for horizontal farming.

It took humans 10,000 years to learn how to grow most of the crops we now take for granted. Along the way, we despoiled most of the land we worked, often turning verdant, natural ecozones into semi-arid deserts. Over 60% of the human population now lives vertically in cities. The time has arrived for us to learn how to grow our food that way, too. If we do not, then in just another 50 years, 3 billion people will surely go hungry, and the world will be a very unpleasant place in which to live.

[Old and In the Way]

1. I'm from Maine. University of Maine has 2 major schools

Paper making and Agriculture. I've been thinking, why not integrate the 2? The world loses land area the size of the state of Maine every year to desertification. Why not use recycled paper with fertilzer and seeds custom blended for specific tropic zones and locations to take back the deserts and reintroduce vegitation? I'd die the media green, too. I think there's a wavelength response to that color for vegetation.

Just a stoner thought that makes some sense to me.

[ijk]

2. confused

Where does the light to grow the plants come from in a vertical farm?

[Aussie_Hillbilly]

3. Good question.

Electric i guess. Hence ultimately from burning fossil fuels :(

I don't think the multi-storey bit is pratical, but maybe people could grow some crops on top of multi-storey apartment blocks etc. That would be cool.

The whole idea seems a little impractical. Ultimately, the only real solution to overpopulation is birth control, or war :(. In the short-term growing more calorie-intensive crops could feed more people - less meat and dairy farming. I'm not blaming the farmers (I grew up in dairy farming area). Its not going to happen while wealth-inequality encourages production of expensive, better-tasting foods for the more wealthy.

I'm probably as guilty as anyone here, although I donate to UNHCR.

btw, couldn't open that link.

[muriel_volestrangler]

4. You're right - less animals is the way to go

The web site appears to be a student project from Columbia University architects.

"The Vertical Farm is a concept that seeks to address the major concerns of the environmental degradation of the modern city by composting, recycling waste and farming in a standard tenement building. "

The energy to run the building comes from methane generated from the city waste products. There's a lot of figures at http://www.verticalfarm.com/first-step.htm - it looks like they reckon 150kg of vegetables a day from a 6 floor tenement building.

[Aussie_Hillbilly]

7. Its a student project I'm afraid.

A+ for originality
A+ for idealism
B+ for research
C- for practicality.

The anaerobic digester looks splendid, and is extensively described. I like it. I like the way the writer thinks - very lateral. We need a lot more of that if humanity is to survive. However, this idea is not as well thought through as you might think.

Energetically self-sustaining

There's a problem right there. No system, particularly a complex, necessarily inefficient machine like this, can be self-sustaining. Energy input from outside is essential. Second Law of Thermodynamics. Energy will be wasted at each step, it always is.

"180,000 BTU electricity per day". 3.7 BTU=1 watt. 180000/3.7 : 48 kilowatt hrs/day. Over 24 hours, thats a constant 2000 watts. For six floors of lights? Please! And they'd be 400w high-pressure sodium lights if you want to grow anything, not your office fluorescents.

I'm far from an expert, but the figures don't add up. Parts of the system look good - the methane gas from landfill idea has been around for a while and if it can be done practically it might reduce fossil fuel consumption a bit.

The methane powered generator powering lights is a good example of the lack of wider practical knowledge in the writer. It would be far more efficient to burn the methane for light directly, although it would still never come close to breaking-even energy-wise.

The advantages of growing food in the city are evident - less transportation! But with fuel prices unsustainably low like they are, this project could never compete with traditional agriculture. As oil runs out it will become more competitive.

In huge metropolises like NYC it may be possible even now to produce some food by hydroponics cheaper than traditional alternatives. Opportunity for someone. Should be encouraged. And there is a lot of sunlight going to waste on rooftops. Must be good for something.

Importantly, the more complex the process, the more things are likely to break. The building and whatever coatings, vats, light-globes and equipment are used will need to be replaced periodically, and maintained while in use. The resources used to make them may or may not exceed those saved by the project. In practical terms, the cost of running the place will almost certainly exceed the value of the goods produced, whatever economic system you are running (capitalist, communist or anarchist).

Is this idea going to revolutionize agriculture? Sadly, no. It as some good points, though, that may be practical on their own, in the future if not now.

Long ago, the ancient Greeks designed an engine, where falling water powered a grindstone and a pump to take the water back up. Strangely, it never worked. This is the modern-day equivalent. Sorry to rain on anyone's parade.

[NickB79]

6. If the vertical farms are grown outdoors

You could use mirrors to reflect sunlight down the towers and into each level. Several skyscrapers use central shafts with movable mirrors to reflect natural sunlight down from the roof and into the core of the building.

[ijk]

8. Nope.

Plants need pretty much all the sunlight that's normally availible to grow productively. You can't split that energy across multiple floors of plants and expect them to survive. You could collect sunlight from a larger area than the tower with mirrors, but now you're plunging your city into darkness.

If they're really planning to power this sucker by burning methane to produce electricity, well, I'm not sure they've seriously considered the amount of power involved in producing enough food to have any real impact on the city. It's maybe a nice niche idea for high-value crops where freshness is at a premium - herbs, maybe - to help do the things that city parks and such already do, in terms of being local CO2 sinks and the like. But for feeding humanity, I don't think there's much of an impact, at least unless you have a basically free power source like fusion.

[kodi]

5. the chinese have been vertical farming for 3,000 years with their terraces

what goes around comes around again.