Fear Of Heights? Sky Farming Not For You!

Fooled you! Sky farming isn’t done on the outside of hillsides or steep mountainsides. It is a plan by scientists, architects, environmental health specialists, water and sewage specialists and idealists to reduce the burden on the planet: feed the ever growing population of human beings by building specialized skyscrapers to do just that.

Farfetched? Not according to Dickson Despommier, a professor of environmental health sciences at Columbia University. He has been developing the concept of vertical farming since before 2001 and is its leading proponent. Although Despommier says there are no real vertical farms extant at this time, there are high tech greenhouses which incorporate some of its announced features- such as hydroponics, a method of growing plants using mineral nutrient solutions instead of soil, and aeroponics – a technology that sprays a thin film of water onto the plants roots. Basically, even a two or three story building can be built in cities so that its water is an endless loop of waste and evaporation and reuse.

Of course, ideally, large skyscrapers specifically designed to take advantage of the newest sewage, energy and hydroponic technologies could be constructed. Despommier suggests that a cluster or clusters of up to 150 30 story towers on Governor’s Island or Hudson Yards, properly designed around modern high tech agricultural production and sustainable building technology, could produce all the fruits, vegetables and grains needed by New York City for a year.

There are many reasons why vertical farming is an excellent idea. First, the human population of the world is exploding. By 2050 demographers believe there will be an additional 3 billion people, for a total of approximately 9.2 billion people! Using current farming methods, a land mass the size of Brazil would be needed to cultivate the vast amount of food needed for these extra mouths. Other advantages:

1) Year-round crop production – 1 acre of indoor strawberries is equal to 30 outdoor acres. (Other foods vary-usually around 4-6 acres outdoors for 1 indoors-remember, this is year-round production.)
2) Bad weather doesn’t affect indoor crop growing – forget about droughts, storms, cold weather.
3) Brackish water is recycled and purified in these vertical farms – no agricultural runoff.
4) Abandoned urban properties can be turned into producing farms.
5) Energy efficient wind and solar systems can produce energy, reducing need for fossil fuels.
6) Since these are visualized as inner city vertical farms, fewer shipping and trucking costs are incurred.

Will vertical farms become viable and cost effective? Will they become hideous burrs on the landscape or marvels of design? If you check out the ingenious and staggering beautiful designs being created by architectural firms all over the world catalyzed by the intriguing concept of urban vertical farming, you will be rewarded with the vast capability of the human mind to see beauty and functionality everywhere.