Across the country, more indoor farms are launching or expanding even as others founder. This summer marked the groundbreaking of a huge vertical farming operation in Virginia by the California-based company Plenty Unlimited.
You don’t need pesticides to grow them in a vertical farm, and when they aren’t getting attacked by insects and disease you don’t need to focus on pest and disease resistance for the varieties you grow. Pesticides, like you would agree, are not good for people’s health.
You can use your water in a closed loop meaning your use of fertiliser is exponentially more efficient and doesn’t end up in the environment, which we know effects the health of people and particularly the health of waterways and the ocean.
By growing the food locally there is less need for refrigeration and transport, significantly reducing the CO2 produced, and fresher food is more nutritious.
By using space more efficiently we don’t need to continue bulldozing rainforests to grow lettuce, which we also know is bad for human health and the planet. In fact, we’d potentially be able to begin rewilding farmland which would be extremely good for the planet.
And if it’s established to be important, there’s no reason a carefully fostered microbiome can’t be established inside vertical farms.
I agree that growing food in an organic food forest way produces likely the best food. But it’s simply not pragmatic if your goal is feeding billions of people while minimising environmental impact. Vertical farming can accomplish many of the same things while also dramatically reducing our impact on the environment.
You don’t need pesticides to grow them in a vertical farm, and when they aren’t getting attacked by insects and disease you don’t need to focus on pest and disease resistance for the varieties you grow. Pesticides, like you would agree, are not good for people’s health.
You can use your water in a closed loop meaning your use of fertiliser is exponentially more efficient and doesn’t end up in the environment, which we know effects the health of people and particularly the health of waterways and the ocean.
By growing the food locally there is less need for refrigeration and transport, significantly reducing the CO2 produced, and fresher food is more nutritious.
By using space more efficiently we don’t need to continue bulldozing rainforests to grow lettuce, which we also know is bad for human health and the planet. In fact, we’d potentially be able to begin rewilding farmland which would be extremely good for the planet.
And if it’s established to be important, there’s no reason a carefully fostered microbiome can’t be established inside vertical farms.
I agree that growing food in an organic food forest way produces likely the best food. But it’s simply not pragmatic if your goal is feeding billions of people while minimising environmental impact. Vertical farming can accomplish many of the same things while also dramatically reducing our impact on the environment.