At a time when supply chain disruptions continue to slow distribution, consumers embrace healthy eating habits and climate change is expected to affect crop yields, a practice known as controlled-environment agriculture, including indoor vertical farms relying on artificial light and technology, is attracting venture capitalists.
What made moving indoors possible was a drop in price in LED lights, which plunged as much as 94 percent in 2015 from 2008.
— The New York Times
The increasingly popular subsegment of the agriculture industry is expected to grow into a $9.7 billion market share by 2026 propelled by expanding urban populations and a decrease in arable land associated with traditional farming, which is on track to be cut in half by midcentury. Start-ups like FARM-X and AeroFarms have been able to expand their portfolio of warehouses thanks to an influx of seed capital but may still face limitations stemming from high energy costs required to maintain high-tech sensors and lighting systems based on LED technology that has recently stalled out in terms of its theoretical maximum efficiency.
“LED’s are not going to go down much more,” an adviser to the Tennessee Department of Energy explained to the Times. “Where investors are going against physics, they are going to have a hard time.”
11 Comments
but land price and construction cost are sky rocketing
The problem with vertical farming is the sideways crops.
I once did an experiment trying to decide whether seeds cared about up and down. They did not.
Well now you're just mocking me... =O]
I actually planted a bunch of the same seed, one half pointing one way, one the other. The number of plants which grew was statistically indistinguishable.
Interesting, but explain: what's "one way" versus "the other"? And no gravity complications, leaning, etc? What about watering?
I planted beans with an 'eye' on them so I could know which I was calling 'up' and 'down.' Gravity was a constant throughout the experiment, and I watered and fed them as consistently as a 13 year old could.
Got it, I think. So half the samples were planted conventionally, and the others in, like, pans or something that were inverted somehow? So the soil faced down? (Sorry for all the questions, but I'm truly curious about this.)
I see your confusion. My experiment was not that sophisticated. All pots and soil were as typical, only the beans were inverted in relation to each other. Inverting the soil WOULD be a cool as hell experiment, though. Could use a fine mesh that allowed moisture and air through with a larger hole for the plant to come out if (assuming it germinated.) I know some people grow strawberries upside down. Seems to work.
Ah, got it. Thanks for indulging my questions, Pete. Interesting findings, as well as the adolescent-curiosity angle. Youth!
Maybe just grow produce the regular way, and eat it differently?
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