Vertical Farm

Vertical Farm Ideas see here

Saw one a while ago and since then a couple more popping out of the wood work. It seems that the idea of building a Vertical Farm in the downtown core is the new thing to do.

I can see the advantages to local business's getting fresh fruit and vegetables, even eggs and chicken.... "Fresh Produce Picked This Morning". The localness of it all would change a lot of things, since the produce wouldn't be shipped or stored in transit, we eliminate all that Carbon footprint from the produce, probably wouldn't see to much price change, if anything I could see it going up since the price of the building itself would need to be recovered over some period of time.

I really see this idea taking hold, there's just so much potential from this sort of closed system of Farming.


Advantages of Vertical Farming taken from here
-Year-round crop production; 1 indoor acre is equivalent to 4-6 outdoor acres or more, depending upon the crop (e.g., strawberries: 1 indoor acre = 30 outdoor acres)
-No weather-related crop failures due to droughts, floods, pests
-All VF food is grown organically: no herbicides, pesticides, or fertilizers
-VF virtually eliminates agricultural runoff by recycling black water
-VF returns farmland to nature, restoring ecosystem functions and services
-VF greatly reduces the incidence of many infectious diseases that are acquired at the agricultural interface
-VF converts black and gray water into potable water by collecting the water of evapotranspiration
-VF adds energy back to the grid via methane generation from composting non-edible parts of plants and animals
-VF dramatically reduces fossil fuel use (no tractors, plows, shipping.)
-VF converts abandoned urban properties into food production centers
-VF creates sustainable environments for urban centers
-VF creates new employment opportunities
We cannot go to the moon, Mars, or beyond without first learning to farm indoors on earth
-VF may prove to be useful for integrating into refugee camps
-VF offers the promise of measurable economic improvement for tropical and subtropical LDCs. If this should prove to be the case, then VF may be a catalyst in helping to reduce or even reverse the population growth of LDCs as they adopt urban agriculture as a strategy for sustainable food production.
-VF could reduce the incidence of armed conflict over natural resources, such as water and land for agriculture