The buzz surrounding urban agriculture continues to grow and currently it accounts for 10-15% of global food production, but to what extent can they be considered sustainable?
Vertical farming has undeniable benefits. Firstly, this form of urban agriculture uses around 85% less water than open field agriculture and produces less fresh-water pollution. Vertical farming is also more efficient with space and uses around 90% less land that conventional farming. (You can read more about vertical farming and the benefits here).
However recent studies examining the full life cycle analysis (LCA) of vertical farms have raised concern about their large electricity demand, with some studies showing they have greater co2 emissions that conventional rural agriculture. One study (Rob Wildeman – University of Twente. Vertical Farming: A future Perspective or a more Conceptual Idea?) suggested the true land food print of vertical farming was underestimated due to the large amount of vicarious land use for electricity production. They suggested that the land footprint may actually be 15 times higher than that of rural agriculture. Another study (One Farm – CO2 Emissions Scoping Report) examining the emissions of vertical farmed lettuce with water usage, transport emissions, energy use efficiency, structure, substrate, pesticides, and fertilisers showed that conventional vertical farming produced almost 10x as much CO2 as a conventional greenhouse and over 10x more CO2 for open field agriculture. However, they separated ‘green vertical farms’ and ‘advanced greenhouses’ into separate categories if they used clean energy, had technology to improve energy efficiency and were able to fully recycle waste energy. Under these conditions green vertical farming emitted 70% less CO2 that open field agriculture.
So, it seems that the salient message for this modern age is that novel technologies are only as sustainable as their inputs. High energy costs must be mitigated by green energy and high raw material usage must be mitigated by advanced recycling and efficiencies. We believe that the careful application of this technology can help to improve food security, shorten food supply chains, and utilise waste spaces for horticulture.
If you are interested in building a vertical farm, please get in touch.
