The Future of Vertical Farm

Together the world's 6.8 billion people use land equal in size to South America to grow food and raise livestock—an astounding agricultural footprint. That figure is expected to be 9.5 billion by 2050...But where to find that much new, arable earth? It simply does not exist...

Agriculture also uses 70 percent of the world's available freshwater for irrigation, rendering it unusable for drinking as a result of contamination with fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides and silt....Clearly, radical change is needed. One strategic shift would do away with almost every ill just noted: grow crops indoors, under rigorously controlled conditions, in vertical farms.

Plants grown in high-rise buildings erected on now vacant city lots and in large, multistory rooftop greenhouses could produce food year round using significantly less water, producing little waste, with less risk of infectious diseases, and no need for fossil-fueled machinery or transport from distant rural farms. Vertical farming could revolutionize how we feed ourselves and the rising population to come.

Vegetables Hydroponically Cultivated

Vegetables that can be hydroponically cultivated are generally mainly leafy vegetables, such as lettuce and water spinach, and of course some fruit vegetables can also be used, such as cucumbers and tomatoes. And their breeding methods are similar, mainly placing the roots of the vegetables in the nutrient solution. And this nutrient solution will provide water, oxygen and other things for vegetables, and these vegetables rely on these nutrients to grow. Therefore, in this way, things such as land preparation, weeding and arable land are also reduced, a lot of workload is reduced, and labor and time are saved.

Hydroponic vegetables are usually grown in boxes with good water storage. There are common wooden boxes and large pots. A clean medium and large plastic foam box is suitable, and a floating board of suitable size is placed at the bottom of the foam box, which can not only store water, but also carry the importance of vegetables, and it is good to colonize vegetable roots. After all, whether it is building a hydroponic tank or preparing a nutrient solution, we all need to learn from scratch.