What Is Vertical Farming

 Vertical farming is to use vertical space to multiply the utilization area of a piece of land. This can be indoor or outdoor cultivation (in a greenhouse or on a building shell), or the cultivation of various animals. The cultivation methods are soil culture, substrate culture, hydroponics, aeroponics and aquaponics. Indoor planting must use artificial light, and outdoor planting usually chooses to use artificial light because it is stacked very high.

Planting methods involved in vertical farming

Substrate culture

A soilless cultivation method in which the roots of plants are fixed with a solid substrate (medium) and nutrient solution and oxygen are absorbed through the substrate. There are many types of substrates. Commonly used inorganic substrates include vermiculite, perlite, rock wool, sand, polyurethane, etc.; organic substrates include peat, rice husk charcoal, and bark. Therefore, substrate cultivation is divided into rock wool cultivation, sand cultivation and so on. Nutrient solution was supplied by drip irrigation. The advantages are that the equipment is simpler and the production cost is lower. However, it needs a lot of substrate, and the old substrate of continuous cropping is easy to carry germs and spread diseases.

Hydroponics

Hydroponics is the domestication of common plants and flowers using modern bioengineering technology and physical, chemical and biological engineering methods. It is easy to carry, easy to take care of, cheap, clean, the flowers and leaves grow healthy, and it can achieve the picture of fish and flower sharing.

Aeroponics

Also known as aeroponics. Abbreviation for spray cultivation. One of the methods of soilless cultivation. Instead of a solid substrate, it sprays the nutrient solution directly onto plant roots to supply the nutrients and oxygen they need. Usually a container made of foam plastic board is used to make holes in the board, and plants are planted. The stems and leaves are exposed on the board holes, and the root system is suspended in the dark place in the lower space. Spray the root system with nutrient solution for a few seconds every 2-3min. The nutrient solution is recycled, but the solubility of the fertilizer in the nutrient solution should be high, and the spray droplets are required to be extremely fine.

Now, aeroponics plants are in the promotion stage. Especially in places with poor vegetation conditions, it is more suitable for the promotion and application of aeroponics.

Aquaponics

Aquaponics is a new type of compound farming system that combines aquaculture and hydroponics, two completely different farming techniques, through clever ecological design to achieve Scientific synergistic symbiosis, so as to realize the ecological symbiosis effect of growing fish without changing water and without water quality problems, and growing vegetables without fertilizing and growing normally. In traditional aquaculture, with the accumulation of fish excrement, the ammonia nitrogen in the water body increases, and the toxicity gradually increases. In the aquaponics system, the aquaculture water is transported to the hydroponic cultivation system, and the microbial bacteria decompose the ammonia nitrogen in the water into nitrite and nitrate, which are then absorbed and utilized by plants as nutrients. Since hydroponics and aquaculture techniques are the cornerstones of aquaponics, aquaponics can produce many types of systems by combining different modes of hydroponics and aquaculture techniques. Aquaponics allows animals, plants and microorganisms to achieve a harmonious ecological balance. It is a sustainable, circular, and low-carbon production model with zero emissions in the future, and it is also the most effective way to effectively solve the agricultural ecological crisis.

Advantages of vertical farming

High yield

Vertical planting (vertical farming) can give full play to the production potential of crops. Compared with ordinary planting methods, the yield can be increased several times or dozens of times.

Can make full use of space

Getting rid of the shackles of land is of great significance for agricultural development in areas with less arable land.

Cleanliness

It will not cause environmental pollution and other problems, and effectively solve the problem of traditional cultivation of chemical fertilizers and pesticides polluting water sources

Conducive to the realization of modern agriculture

Vertical Farming's Prospects

1. From the perspective of agricultural development,

Humans develop agricultural production by intervening and controlling the growth and development of crops. The emergence of vertical farming (vertical farming) technology enables human beings to precisely control all environmental conditions for crop growth, thus making it possible for agricultural production to completely get rid of the constraints of natural conditions, and to move towards automation, mechanization and factory production in full accordance with human wishes. way to develop. This will increase the yield of crops several times, dozens or even hundreds of times.

2. From a resource point of view,

Cultivated land is an extremely valuable and non-renewable resource. Since vertical farming (vertical farming) can develop and utilize many non-arable lands (indoors, containers, building exteriors), the non-renewable arable land resources have been expanded and supplemented, which is helpful for alleviating and solving the increasingly serious arable land problems on the earth, has far-reaching significance.

3. From the perspective of water resources,

Water is also a major problem in the world that increasingly threatens the survival and development of human beings. Not only in arid regions, but also in developed and densely populated large cities, water shortages are becoming more and more prominent. As the population continues to grow, various water resources are over-exploited, and some areas are nearly depleted. Therefore, controlling agricultural water use is one of the measures to save water, and vertical planting (vertical farming) technology avoids a large amount of water leakage and loss, and water can be recycled to compensate for difficult-to-regenerate water resources. It will become the only way for water-saving agriculture and agriculture in dry areas.

But we must also realize that there are many problems in the practical application of vertical farming (vertical farming) technology, such as high cost and additional energy consumption. But today, overcoming these problems is not a problem. As long as there is a market, there will be development.