Vertical Farming: Growing fast!

now i know you wouldn't think it to look  at me but i was actually born in 1969.   back then the global human population numbered  about 3.6 billion and learned scholars of the day   were already warning that we'd reach the maximum  sustainable population size today that number   has more than doubled and according to the united  nations it's projected to hit more than 9 billion   in 2050 by which time about 70 percent of all  the humans on the planet will be living in cities   here's a useless factoid for you by mid-century  there'll be more people living in the city of   mumbai than in the whole of canada and that  population growth and mass migration of people   will bring many challenges not least how to feed  everyone without completely destroying what's left   of the planet's increasingly fragile soil one of  the solutions that's been in and out of the news   for about a decade now is to stop tearing  down forests to grow crops outwards across   an ever-expanding area of land and start growing  upwards instead as you've probably gathered by the   title of the video it's a practice called vertical  farming and the first large-scale operation was   opened at this facility called sky greens in  singapore back in 2011. the industry is not   without its skeptics though it's regarded by some  as a vastly expensive energy intensive pipe dream   but others point out that the exponential advances  in green technologies coupled with the massive   cost reductions make those claims less relevant in  the 2020s and in the last couple of years vertical   farming has started to grow extremely rapidly  indeed if you'll forgive the pun so will it work hello and welcome to just have a think  most of the food that we eat in urban   environments will likely have been delivered  from vast distances via sea air road and rail   all of which adds to the burden of carbon  dioxide emissions into our atmosphere   in the united states the average food item  travels about 1500 miles before it reaches the   plate so growing that produce locally indoors  in buildings with relatively small footprints   does seem like a very compelling idea essentially  the vertical farm system is based on hydroponics   which is the technique of growing plants without  soil instead the plant roots are submerged in   liquid solutions containing all the nutrients they  need including nitrogen phosphorus and potassium   that means the plants can be grown in trays  that can be stacked up on shelving systems   dioxide levels are carefully controlled in the  enclosed airspace to ensure photosynthesis happens   right around the clock and because there's no  soil in the system and the growing spaces are   hermetically sealed there's no need to use toxic  pesticides to fight off predatory bugs because   those bugs simply don't exist inside the building  hydroponic systems reduce water use by about   90 percent compared to traditional soil farming  and vastly reduce the area of land required for a   given yield this new startup in san francisco for  example run by a company called plenty reckons to   harvest the same quantity of produce from its  two acre site as you'd get from a traditional   farm taking up 720 acres of land an even more  futuristic growing system called aeroponics   is also gaining some traction in the industry it  was originally developed by nasa as an efficient   way to grow plants in space instead of embedding  plants into a nutrient-rich liquid solution   that solution is pumped as a mist into special  air chambers where plants are suspended aeroponic   systems aren't widely used in vertical farming  just yet but they are certainly attracting a lot   of attention and in fact the technique is already  being used by a u.s company called aerofarms   they operate some of the largest vertical farms in  the world like this six and a half thousand square   meter converted steel mill in newark new jersey  producing a thousand tonnes of greens every year   and aerofarms recently announced plans  to build a fourteen thousand square metre   state of the art facility in danville virginia  which will more than double that production   volume reducing land and water use aren't  the only benefits of vertical farming either   by its very nature the process is extremely  reliable compared to traditional agriculture   there's no seasonality in the weather conditions  so you get consistent crop production all year   round with vastly reduced harvesting time and with  no compromise in flavor or quality and of course   there's no requirement for the old-fashioned  back-breaking labor-intensive farming practices   or huge agricultural machinery currently  needed to produce our crops today it's not   all rosy in the vertical farming garden though the  industry does face major challenges predominantly   in setup costs and energy consumption as i  mentioned earlier one of the major criticisms   is that these facilities use huge amounts of  electricity to provide all that artificial   ultraviolet light and a great deal of power to  run all the plumbing and climate control systems   this 2018 essay by dr jonathan foley who's  a world-renowned environmental scientist and   executive director of project drawdown argued  that powering these systems on a worldwide scale   could use even more energy than our existing  high emissions food industry does today   these are perfectly reasonable concerns and  operators should surely be mindful of the pitfalls   not least the fact that if all the energy for  these facilities was being provided by fossil   fuels then it would undoubtedly have a major  detrimental impact on our climate but led lighting   efficiency has improved remarkably even in the  last couple of years while the cost of renewable   technologies like solar and wind continue to  tumble like they've just fallen off a cliff   this huge new warehouse in copenhagen denmark is  run jointly by the yes health group and nordic   harvest it's a 7 000 square meter hall housing  14 shelving levels of aluminium boxes stacked   full of produce it's fully automated with robots  moving the boxes to optimize crop positioning   and algorithms controlling nutrient balance light  availability and carbon dioxide levels twenty   thousand specialized led lights are installed here  all of which are powered by renewable energy from   denmark's extensive wind farms once it's fully  operational the facility will have a similar   output to aerofarms new jersey operation at  a thousand tons of produce a year the other   site we briefly looked at earlier run by plenty in  san francisco adds artificial intelligence-based   software to the automated robots to improve  efficiencies still further and they also use   100 percent renewable energy to power their  systems as a relatively new startup company plenty   has attracted plenty of attention having  already received 400 million dollars of capital   from investors including softbank former google  chairman eric schmidt and amazon's jeff bezos and   they've struck a deal with albertson's stores in  california to supply 430 stores with fresh produce   on a smaller scale imaginative pioneers are  putting hydroponic systems into underground   tunnels and vaults or even mine shafts where the  temperature and humidity are already quite warm   and constant which means less energy is needed  to maintain the right atmospheric conditions even   recycled shipping containers are being put to use  for the purpose in fact they're becoming a very   popular low-cost option that have the advantage  of being ready-made standardized modular chambers   that can be easily fitted out with led lighting  hydroponic racking and smart climate control   systems fast turn crops like these are most  commonly used in vertical farming but companies   like plenty are working hard on including  fruit and vegetables into their production   their ceo matt barnard says our goal is to fit  perishable produce into as many people's budgets   as possible year after year more and more fresh  fruit and vegetable production will be localized   more people will be able to eat fresh fruit and  vegetables than ever before and those people will   be amazed at how great those fruit and vegetables  taste and as more research is carried out so more   and more options are being explored one of  those options is aquaponics which essentially   combines plant growing with fish farming  fish tanks produce nutrient-rich waste water   which gets filtered and treated to convert  ammonia into nitrates that the plants can use   as they absorb the nutrients in the water  the plants purify it so it can be fed back   into the fish tanks and the crops use the  carbon dioxide produced by the fish too   the water in the fish tank retains heat and helps  the greenhouse maintain temperature at night   to save energy they're not widely used yet  but they could certainly represent a potential   solution for the future as we move away from our  reliance on land and water intensive red meat   and poultry for our protein one foodstuff that  has until recently been regarded as a complete   non-starter for vertical farming though is cereal  crops like wheat maize and rice and that's a great   shame because the vast swathes of land currently  being used to produce these staples of our diet   are mostly found in the very regions of the world  that are at the severest risk from climate change   and given that these crops provide more than half  of all the calories consumed by human beings today   that means we could be looking at an existential  food crisis by mid-century but this latest   research published in the proceedings of the  national academy of sciences in august 2020   has demonstrated that wheat can be grown using  vertical farming techniques and if that turns   out to be verifiable in a commercial setting  then it really would be a game changer wheat is   the most widely grown crop in the world making up  about 20 percent of all the calories and protein   we humans eat the research has created two growth  simulation models of a 10 layer vertical farm with   optimal artificial light temperatures and carbon  dioxide levels in that environment they found that   the setup could yield as much as 1940 metric  tonnes of wheat per hectare of land per year   that's a massive increase on traditional wheat  farming which manages just 3.2 tonnes per hectare   as always of course someone will  need to stump up some serious cash   and take the financial risk of trying to make this  theoretical simulation actually work commercially   in practice but let's face it that's what  entrepreneurs do every day isn't it and the   investor that nails this one will find themselves  with a very lucrative enterprise on their hands   in the meantime vertical farming continues to go  from strength to strength facilities are cropping   up all the time not just in the united states and  europe but pretty much anywhere in the world where   there are large expanding urban centres these  facilities are all very impressive but i don't   think anyone is trying to pretend that vertical  farming on its own will come anywhere near to   solving the dual crises of food scarcity and soil  degradation that loom large as we approach 2050   nevertheless though as our way of life becomes  increasingly more urbanized and more and more   people move away from their dependence on meat  and towards plant-based diets these new city-based   fresh food factories look set to become an  increasingly commonplace element in our everyday   lives now that you've got your own views on  the subject or perhaps even some experience   of working with these systems if so then jump  down to the comment section below and leave your   thoughts there that's it for this week though  thanks to our fantastic patreon supporters who   help keep the channel independent and keep these  videos ad free and a quick shout out to the folks   who've joined since last time with pledges of 10  dollars or more a month they are mike dewey jeff   lang david herreau brett bond mikhail johnson  andrew aikman gonzalo rafat and andrew mutziger   and of course a big thank you to everyone  else who's joined since last time too   you can support the channel and receive exclusive  monthly news updates from me plus the chance to   have your say on future programs in monthly  content polls by visiting www.patreon.com   forward slash just have a think and of course you  can hugely support the channel absolutely for free   by subscribing and hitting that like button and  if you want to be notified about new content each   week make sure you hit that little bell icon too  subscribing couldn't be easier you just need to   click down there or on that icon there as always  thanks very much for watching have a great week   and remember to just have  a think see you next week

Channel: Just Have a Think

Views: 105,032

Rating: 4.9555268 out of 5

Keywords: vertical farming, sustainable foods, areo farms, square roots, bowery farns, sky greens, stack farming, growing undergorund, plenty vertical farming

Id: zCoC5o6x_Sw

Length: 12min 46sec (766 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 03 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/AnzenR3l3as3]

Oh no, but what will I do with all the empty skyscrapers, office buildings and abandoned Amazon warehouses?