The Future of Food
How are we going to feed 2 billion more people in 30 years time? Vertical farming may be part of the answer.
The idea of vertical farming is one which is relatively new, first proposed in 1999 by Dickson Despommier, a professor of Public and Environmental Health at Columbia University. Despommier and his students popularised the concept of vertical farming by constructing a design of a skyscraper farm that had the capacity to feed 50,000 people; the design has of yet not been built (Cooper, Pacific Standard, 2017). The concept of vertical farming is of growing crops stacked on top of each other and incorporates controlled-environment agriculture, as well as soilless farming techniques such as hydroponics, aquaponics, and aeroponics. The recent discussion surrounding vertical farming proves to be one of the utmost importance, considering the UN projections of a 2 billion population increase by 2050 (United Nations, 2019). While we are currently experiencing a climate crisis which according to researchers from the OECD agriculture contributes a large share of, with a greenhouse gas emissions totalling to around 24% via the entire agriculture sector (OECD, 2016).
The current projections of population increases mean agricultural practises must be enhanced and intensified in order to meet the incoming demands of an…
