Farming grows up… The sky is the limit, especially when it comes to the future of farming. In fact, vertical farming was recently named the 16th best world invention of 2009 by Time Magazine.1 Innovational companies, like Valcent, have created efficient, affordable systems that reduce water use, limit pesticides and can be place in pretty much anywhere in the world. Vertical farming is a concept that people are becoming more and more interested in as agricultural demands are high and getting more expensive.
To start off 2010, environmentalist Robert Kennedy Junior made a presentation on VertiCrop™ at the 78th United States Mayors Conference in Washington D.C.2 VertiCrop is a system that allows plants to be grown in vertical planes on suspended trays attached from the ceiling. The trays rotate on a conveyor belt that passes through a feeding station, providing water and nutrients. Through this process the plants get airflow and equally distributed light exposure.3
Mr. Kennedy’s presentation noted the importance of vertical farming as superior form of agriculture: “Substitution of this technology for conventional food production can revitalize agricultural land damaged by traditional farming, rejuvenate abandoned city properties, and help combat health problems such as Type II diabetes and obesity that result, in part, from lack of quality produce in our diets.”4 He also mentioned that the system uses significantly less water than a normal crop, it doesn’t use any pesticides, and it can be placed in urban locations.
The U.S. Mayor’s Conference was the ideal venue for vertical farming to take center stage because it gathered individuals with power in every city in America. Vertical farming is the type of system that can start on the city level and grow with popularity. Cities like San Francisco, Providence, Denver, and Salt Lake City have already agreed to use VertiCrop and plan on building facilities within the next fiscal year.
With the amount of resources the world expends, it is relieving to know that cities across the country are already implementing VertiCrop. Chris Bradford, President and CEO of Valcent: “We can open a new chapter in the book on food security and contribute significantly to reducing our collective carbon footprint, and offset the long term effects of global warming.”5
Support for VertiCrop is vital. Many important figures are already emphasizing the need for vertical farming. The following spoke at Mr. Kennedy’s presentation: First Lady Michelle Obama, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan, Energy Secretary Arne Duncan, Attorney General Eric Holder, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson, Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.
This type of support foreshadows a pleasant future for VertiCrop. As world population grows exponentially, food supply dwindles, and food production competes for land with housing and fuel crops, VertiCrop has the opportunity to step up and save the agricultural industry while minimizing our carbon footprint.
For more on Vertical Farming, check out:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=the-rise-of-vertical-farms;
http://www.verticalfarm.com/.
