Increases in population, pollution and transportation costs matched with decreases in farmland, water supply and market prices are some of the oft-cited causes of the global food crisis. In a recent OP-ED piece in the New York Times, Columbia University professor Dickson D. Despommier writes about how some of these challenges to growing food can be overcome by vertical farming. Despommier explains that whole skyscrapers can be dedicated to growing food – using technologies that take up less space, have significant yields and recycle water.
Imagine a farm right in the middle of a major city. Food production would take advantage of hydroponic and aeroponic technologies. Both methods are soil-free. Hydroponics allows us to grow plants in a water-and-nutrient solution, while aeroponics grows them in a nutrient-laden mist. These methods use far less water than conventional cultivation techniques, in some cases as much as 90 percent less.
Does vertical farming have promise to solve the food crisis? While Despommier cites that urban areas in the Middle East would be an excellent testing ground for this technology, he acknowledged in a 2008 Time Magazine article that, for now, the “construction and energy costs would probably make vertically raised food more costly than traditional crops. “
But as the potential for new food crises still threaten the global population and new solutions are sought, this one idea reaches for the sky.
Posted by Sara Chupein
