To make matters worse, present and previous farming techniques are highly damaging to the environment. Climate change, deforestation, and soil deterioration have been linked to agricultural practices. The situation is so severe that we appear to have lost a third of our arable land in the last 40 years. To prevent harming the world and generating worse issues for future generations, we must develop better ways to produce food. In today’s article we are going to explain everything in detail about Vertical Farming.
What is Vertical Farming?
Vertical farming is a method of producing crops in layers piled vertically. These layers are frequently incorporated into structures such as skyscrapers, warehouses or shipping containers, greenhouses (such as ours), or other locations that would otherwise be unsuitable for farming. However, such farming entails considerably more than simply stacking plants and hoping for the best.
Costs of Agriculture for Vertical Farming
It would be best to ask how much it will cost to build your vertical farm at home. Unlike traditional gardening, it requires more complex equipment than a trawl and a few seeds. There are also ongoing fees to think about. Let’s look at these two categories of expenses.
Equipment Charges: Stackable shelves, watering system, temperature control, artificial light system, and growth media were among the items required to create an in-home vertical farm. There are numerous different systems on the market, ranging from the simplest to the most complex. You may begin growing right away and every day throughout the year once you have the proper tools.
Running Charges: You’ll have to pay for water and lighting systems in addition to the regular seeds and fertilizer costs. The higher the operating costs of your vertical farm equipment, the more advanced it is. First and primarily, the increasing cost will be related to the power bill. However, you will save money on your green food shopping in the long term.
Advantages of Vertical Farming
Although it has several advantages, a few of which includes the following
Occupies less space
It saves space, which is the most obvious advantage. The stacked layers take up little room and provide you with more harvests. In this day and age, when few people have the luxury of having a garden linked to their home, anybody may begin gardening whether or not they have one.
Less Water Consumption
As you may be aware, getting the proper amount of water to the roots of your garden plants is no easy task. More water is wasted due to the hot weather and ineffective irrigation practices. Water is recycled, and every drop of water is used efficiently in vertical process farming, resulting in minimal water waste
More Crops and more production
You’ll be able to cultivate more crops at once and boost your food output, as you might imagine. There’s no need to choose between crops to fit your restricted gardening space. You’ll also receive a higher yield from your plants if you use adequate feeding and watering strategies
Environment That Is Controlled
Vertical gardening allows you more control over the growing circumstances of the plants than an open garden blasted by variable temperatures, sunshine, and frost. It increases the likelihood of the plants succeeding and lowers crop loss due to illnesses, challenging weather, and persistent pests
Consistent crop yields
Vertical layer farming has the benefit of ensuring relatively consistent crop production. It’s pretty straightforward to forecast how much veggies and fruits are produced in a particular period if it is established accurately. Because there is a consistent supply of products and income regulated due to such farming, it is simple to form long-term agreements with grocery shops and suppliers.
Withstand Unfavorable Weather Conditions
Famines, downpours, and hurricanes, for instance, bring a considerable proportion of crops to be lost per annum in the outdoor farming system. None of these extreme weather conditions will matter if vertical gardening is used since the indoor conditions will not be affected by them, at least if the harsh weather occurrences do not harm the vertical layer farming facilities. As a result, if this farming system is built solidly, unfavorable outside weather conditions should not be a significant concern.
A solution to the Food Desert – Vertical Farming
Finally, vertical farms can alleviate the growing problem of food deserts. Food deserts are densely inhabited places where fresh goods such as fruits and vegetables are scarce. Vertical farms have already begun to generate food oases where deserts formerly existed since they can be built with a tiny footprint and even integrated into existing buildings and rooftops. It gives nutritious meals when before there were only unhealthy ones. It can also generate economic and healthy food for low-income people because it does not require a lengthy shipping and warehousing procedure.
Read more: Things to know before buying horticulture vertical farm full spectrum 640w LED
Environment and Vertical Framing
Freshwater is becoming an increasingly scarce resource. As a result, every time you conserve water and decrease trash, you are helping to save the environment. Consider a vegetable like lettuce to put this into perspective. If you grow it in a field using standard farming methods, you’ll need 259 liters more water than if you employ water-conserving vertical farming methods.
Vertical farming proponents hail the influence it can have now and in the future on increasing food security and improving human health. It would lower the quantity of agriculture required, reducing deforestation and pollution while also assisting urban areas in becoming self-sufficient.
According to critics, most vertical agribusiness systems do not effectively offer the necessary artificial light to green design. To generate excellent crops, many vertical farms incur significant electric expenses. Furthermore, the requirement for this farming is contested, with some arguing that the problem is a poor use of farmable areas rather than a shortage of farmable land.
Conclusion
As the world’s population rises, traditional food production methods will eventually become unsustainable. As a result, all eyes are on vertical indoor farming to deliver more harvests annually while reducing the load on farms and arable land throughout the world.
