What are important advantages to vertical farming?

Vertical farming is the agricultural process in which crops are grown on top of each other, rather than in traditional, horizontal rows. Growing vertically allows for conservation in space, resulting in a higher crop yield per square foot of land used

Advantages of vertical farming

Here are some of the main benefits of vertical Agriculture:

1 – preparing for the future: by 2050, about 68% of the world’s population is expected to live in urban areas, and the growing population will lead to increased demand for food. The effective use of vertical agriculture may play an important role in addressing this challenge.

2 – increased crop production throughout the year: vertical agriculture enables us to produce more crops on the same square foot of planting area. In fact, one acre of indoor area produces at least 4-6 acres of outdoor capacity. Year round crop production can be carried out in a controlled indoor environment completely controlled by vertical farming technology.

3 – reduction of tillage water: vertical tillage makes our crops produce 70% to 95% less water than normal tillage 

4 – protection from adverse weather conditions: crops in farmland may be adversely affected by natural disasters, such as rainstorms, cyclones, floods or severe droughts, which are becoming more and more common due to global warming. Indoor vertical farms are unlikely to feel the impact of adverse weather, which will more determine the harvest yield of the whole year.

5 – increase the yield of organic crops: because the crops are produced in a well controlled indoor environment and do not use chemical pesticides, vertical agriculture enables us to grow pesticide free organic crops.

6 – human and environment friendly: indoor vertical agriculture can significantly reduce the occupational hazards associated with traditional agriculture. Farmers will not be affected by diseases such as heavy agricultural equipment, malaria and toxic chemicals. Because it does not interfere with animals and trees in inland areas, it is also conducive to biodiversity.

Some main disadvantages of vertical farming;

1 – high initial cost

Another disadvantage of vertical agriculture is that initial construction and installation costs can be quite high.

Because vertical farming systems are often very complex and require a lot of planning, the initial cost can be high.

2 – huge operating costs

Vertical agricultural systems also require complex logistics mechanisms to constantly move and replace plants in order to make the most effective use of space. Therefore, the operating costs of vertical agriculture may be quite high.

3 – high energy consumption

Another disadvantage of vertical gardening is that it requires a lot of energy.

Due to the need for proper lighting to cover multiple layers of plants, electricity charges will increase rapidly over time.

4 – high professional labor cost

Because vertical farming systems are often very complex, high-quality professional workers are needed to continuously monitor these farming processes.

5 – a lot of maintenance work

Since the conditions inside the agricultural system are manually controlled by lighting and changing humidity levels, some equipment used to control these parameters may fail over time.

6 – technology is not mature

Although the ideas and technologies behind vertical agriculture are very promising, they are still in the early stage, and a lot of time and money must be invested to improve the process to make vertical agriculture suitable for fruit production and large-scale vegetables.