7/4/2015

Growing Vertical: Skyscraper Farming - Scientific American

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This article is from the In-Depth Report Earth 3.0: Solutions for Sustainable Progress

60-Second Science Podcast

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Growing Vertical: Skyscraper
60-Second Health Podcast
Farming

Cultivating crops in downtown skyscrapers might save

bushels Mind
of energy
and provide city
60-Second
Podcast
dwellers with distinctively fresh food
By Mark Fischetti | Sep 1, 2008

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Atypical farm burns vast quantities of fossil fuels to plow fields, sow seeds, reap
Sciencecenters.
Talk Podcast
harvests and truck products many miles to population
It spreads heaps of
petroleum-based fertilizers, which then run off into streams and watersheds. It also
consumes rivers of freshwater and casts pesticides across the countryside. Raising
chickens and pigs further insults the earth
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7/4/2015

Growing Vertical: Skyscraper Farming - Scientific American

with unhygienic filth.

Why not grow grains, vegetables and fruits
right where the expanding crowds of
consumers are: in the middle of a city, inside
a tall glass building? Poultry and pork could
be reared there, too. A vertical farm would
drastically reduce the fossil-fuel use and
emissions associated with farm machinery
and trucking, as well as the spread of
fertilizer and its runoff. Crops could grow
and be harvested year-round instead of at
the end of one season, multiplying annual
yield by at least four times. Urban
Charlie Neibergall
agriculture could also convert municipal
wastewater into irrigation water, reducing a
citys refuse problem. And consumers would get the freshest food possible, without
pesticides.

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A fanciful notion only a few years ago, vertical farming has captured the attention of
large developers that are planning more sustainable cities, such as the multinational
firm Arup, and municipalities that are looking to reduce environmental damage and
the cost of treating wastewater. Although growing crops in downtown skyscrapers may
seem strange, Dickson Despommier of Columbia University, who has championed the
movement, says the practice makes perfect sense. When its 98 degrees and 80
percent humidity outside, we humans sit inside a controlled environment that is 72
degrees and 25 percent humidity, he says. Weve done that for our homes and
offices. Why cant we do that for our crops? Well, we can.
Proponents also say we must. If, as demographers project, the worlds population rises
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Growing Vertical: Skyscraper Farming - Scientific American

from six billion to nine billion by 2050almost entirely through a net addition to urban
populationsthe planet will need to cultivate a billion more hectares of arable land,
roughly the area of Brazil. Researchers say that much arable land simply doesnt exist.
The science for indoor farming does exist. Agronomists have developed crops that
thrive in lightweight, engineered soils such as vermiculite or in water (hydroponics).
NASA has devised crops that grow by dangling in air infused with a mist of water
vapor and nutrients (aeroponics). Large greenhouses in several countries, notably the
Netherlands, are producing substantial yields using these techniques. According to
Despommier, a 30-story farm that covered a city block could feed 50,000 people
year-round.
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Skeptics worry that indoor crops would have to be genetically modified to thrive, but
Despommier says such alteration is unnecessary: None of these crops has to be
modified further for life indoors. In fact, theyll do much better because we can match
their growth characteristics with temperature and humidity conditions and nutrition
profiles.
Engineering that environment itself is the greater challenge. Providing sufficient light
and water is relatively easy. Whats harder is controlling the indoor flow of air and
nutrients, efficiently recycling water and devising high-tech incinerators that burn
plant waste to produce energy that augments wind and solar power.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/growing-vertical-skyscraper-farming/

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Growing Vertical: Skyscraper Farming - Scientific American

Operating costs are an issue, of course, including winter heating and harvesting. But
the fertilizer and fuel consumed for traditional farming is expensive, too; witness the
run-up in food prices this year. Governments also pay out billions of dollars annually to
rescue farmers who lose crops to drought and floods such as those that ravaged the
Midwest this past June.

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Although real estate in cities would seem too pricey for farming, Despommiers grad
uate students surveyed New York City and found many abandoned buildings and lots
where high-rise farms could sprout. And they dont all have to be big towers,
Despommier allows. You can do this on the rooftops of hospitals and schools, which
would use the food in their own commissaries. You can do this along the periphery but
still within city limits. You can do this on open stretches of air force bases and airports
and city islands.

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This article was originally published with the title "Growing Vertical."

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Comments
Oldest - Newest

Long time subscriber

October 31, 2009, 2:20 PM

While this approach to farming may be feasible it completely ignores the underlying threat of
overpopulation. Just as politicians continue to promise endless growth for the economy few seem
to question endless growth for humanity. We have already seen massive degradation of the
natural environment due to overpopulation - when will it be acknowledged as the root cause of
most of our problems, e.g., climate change, poverty, overfishing of the oceans, etc.?
Report as Abuse

cjacobs627

Link to This

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/growing-vertical-skyscraper-farming/

October 31, 2009, 3:22 PM

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Growing Vertical: Skyscraper Farming - Scientific American

Actually, yes. Most of the technologies discussed in Vertical Farming are 100% found in the
growing of marijuana. www.chrisjacobs.com
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scots engineer

November 7, 2009, 7:25 AM

Several facts stand in the way of this fantastic idea. Crops need light to grow, lots of it. Even then
most crops turn much less than 10% of that light energy into biomass. Even our most efficient
artificial light sources turn less than 50% of the electricity they need into light. When you do the
sums, it requires 800 times more energy to grow vegetables under artificial lighting than to
transport these vegetables 500 kilometers. There are few countries in the world that cannot find
land for vegetable growing in an area of over 200,000 square kilometers near their large cities.
Nor does the concept rule out the need for some pesticides. Unless extreme biosecurity measures
are maintained from the outset, fungicides will be required, as the spores are airborn and can
travel many miles and still be viable. Consumers are rightly cautious of crops which are irrigated
with sewage water, and in UK supermarket buyers will not buy from farms where sewage waste has
been recently applied.Environmentally controlled growth houses are starting to become popular
for fresh vegetables and fruit to extend the seasons at both ends and give more total yield. This is
as it should be, but trying to grow large quantities on expensive urban land makes no sense either
economically or environmentally.
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Charlie White

December 6, 2009, 6:02 PM

Now add to this going vertical on each floor and you'll have the right numbers for profitability.
Valcent Products (www.valcent.net ) has been doing this with their VertiCrop system at a proofof-concept at a zoo in London and are now ready to pump out half a dozen systems by end of
January. Valcent just announced Robert F. Kennedy Jr. joining their advisory board and were
voted Time Magazine Top 50 Innovations of 2009. Going vertical on each floor will make all the
difference!
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Growing Vertical: Skyscraper Farming - Scientific American

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