Vertical Farms: the Future of Agriculture Production

Since the genesis of life, food and hunger has always been the primary interest of all. However, unlike the millions of other species, humans have found a way to free ourselves from having to focus on sustaining calories our whole life: agriculture. The unparalleled productivity of farming provided the foundation for further human development, which led many of us to modern society. However, as much as we benefited from agriculture, the entire human society had to rely on periodical harvests that were never guaranteed. To present days, agriculture is heavily reliant on climate, weather, and other components of nature. There have been numerous attempts to pare the risk of failed harvests throughout history, from ancient religions like the sacrifices of Aztecs to modern solutions like fertilizers and machines to increase produce. Nevertheless, the current food market stays vulnerable. Most importantly, the rising threat of chronic challenges such as climate change, water scarcity and soil degradation not only impedes the persistence of food supply, but also creates a vicious cycle with the current agricultural methods. The immense amounts of carbon footprint, water consumption and soil exploitation from farming backfires, which affects agriculture itself and makes farming unsustainable and detrimental to nature. Fortunately, in response to the serious food supply and environmental problem, the agricultural industry has been investing in “Smart Farming” technology, specifically vertical farming.

The idea of smart farming, surprisingly, has been around since the late 1900’s with the development of technology. While many tend to imagine futuristic factories as the entirety of smart farming, the idea comes from incorporating information and communication technology for better productivity and quality of produce. Usage of familiar technologies such as GPS to map out tractor pathways are parts of smart farming technology, in addition to the more recent examples such as climate condition monitors, automatic greenhouse temperature control, and agricultural drones. Rather, current interests are more concentrated around collecting and analyzing data to provide the optimal conditions for crop growth. The essence of smart farming is in allowing farmers to make the most efficient decisions, to keep consistent rates of success in harvests.

Subsequently, the vertical farming industry has been the superstar among the modern agricultural technologies; unlike conventional outdoor farms, vertical farms are much more predictable, efficient and eco-friendly. The new method grows produce by stacking rows of plant trays, which allows farms to use up to 99 percent less land and 98 percent less water . Using hydroponic technology that supplies nutrition-added water to produce, vertical farms can not only grow fruits and vegetables with optimum nutrition but also keep a year-round production regardless of the season. Using artificial lighting such as LED, smart farming has virtually eliminated the variabilities of conventional farming. Thanks to such strengths, vertical farming technology is projected to support heavily populated urban areas with fresh, healthy produce. The accessibility of vertical farms that can be incorporated to modern spaces such as rooftops, buildings and underground facilities like subway stations allows vertical farms to supply fresh produce directly to customers. Without requiring long-distance travels to reach markets, produce from vertical farms provide better quality for customers and an eco-friendly supply chain with reduced carbon footprints.

However, despite the positive prospects and estimations about vertical farms expected to reach USD 66.8 billion by 2030 globally , current trends of 2023 seems far from a promising future. Vertical Farming, as much as it uses artificial conditions, is a costly technology. Whereas conventional green houses and open field agriculture optionally requires energy use for machinery, irrigation, nutrient application, vertical farming requires energy mandatorily for temperature control, light supply, supplying nutrients, etc. In terms of carbon emission, the most concerning environmental factor in agriculture, vertical farming method has been portrayed to produce over ten times more CO 2 per ton of harvested lettuce in comparison to conventional open-field agriculture ( 5744 kg to 540 kg ). While vertical farming can mitigate carbon emission from transport and food waste problems with consistent quality, the carbon emission from the system itself outnumbers its benefits by using non-renewable energy sources.

Sustaining vertical farms also involves heavy economical burdens. Due to high maintenance costs of vertical farming infrastructure, financial problems for vertical farms have always been the threshold of success. Although the technology will soon be vital for humanity in the foreseeable future, the demand for premium produce from vertical farms over cheaper open-farm produce is insufficient for the establishment of an independent industry. While the break-even price for 450g of leafy greens in open farms and greenhouses are USD 0.65 and USD 2.33 respectively, the same amount of produce has to cost USD 3.07 for vertical farms. As long as the open farms are functioning, finding enough customers to pay 5 times the price seems difficult.

Hitherto, the entire industry relied on large investments which were enough to produce unicorn startups in the industry. With billions of dollars in the industry, vertical farms rapidly grew into farms of thousands of square meters. However, as much as the industry relied on investments to negate the costs, the recent surge in interest rates impacted the entire vertical farming industry. Down to hundred million dollars from last year’s billion dollars, the investment market for vertical farming fell by 91% from the consistent fall in the market since 2022. As a result, many startups in the industry are suffering severely. Companies as big as Aerofarms, Infarm and Kalera that once held USD 239, 400 and 100 million respectively fell starting from 2022, along with other businesses in the vertical farming industry that had to file for bankruptcy or close completely. Despite vertical farms’ potential to sustain future generations with its exponential productivity and efficiency, it is undeniable that there still are realistic hurdles to overcome to function as a viable solution.

Overall, the vertical farming industry requires much more attention from the majority. Despite the fact that vertical farming under current technology is rather unsustainable and unstable, the growth of agriculture is inevitable to match the demand of the surging population. Under proper solutions and strong foundations for development, the vertical farming industry has enough potential to become the key infrastructure for future generations.