After visiting a museum exhibit in Tokyo about the cities of the future, I became very focused on the sustainability and future of the agricultural industry. While there is substantial bodies of work on the correct methods of growing plants, including urban farming, I wanted to jump in and learn as I went along by growing 20 heads of lettuce in my closet.

First, what is hydroponic farming?

Hydroponic farming is farming without the use of soil. …

For several months now, I have become obsessed with the concept of vertical farming and the potential impact that it could have on the world. From an environmental, economic and nutritional perspective, traditional agricultural practices are inefficient and contribute to some of the greatest blights to ecological systems. In the western world, a move towards vertical farming would aid against the declination of the bee population, depletion of water supplies along the west coast, global warming in the form of the razing of wooded areas to accommodate farmland, the removal of diversity of vegetable species and so much more. Outside of the west, the ability to grow upwards instead of outwards would provide non arable regions with the ability to be food independent, as well as provide industry to local communities that may not have the education or access to budding, employable industries. …