2024-10-18 05:00:00
Have you ever heard of climate-independent agriculture? This is what happens in a vertical farm, a true revolution to bring fresher, safer and more sustainable food to urban areas.
Above all, this technological trend in global agribusiness has emerged as one of the solutions to meet the great demand for food on the planet, which according to the United Nations will have 9.7 billion people in 2050. But what exactly are these farms and how do they work? Understand below!
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Vertical farm: how the agriculture of the future works
With climate factors increasingly altering the planet’s agricultural conditions, vertical farms are emerging as a way to continue to supply the world’s population, regardless of the climate. Furthermore, with the prospect of an increase in the planet’s inhabitants, people’s food supply could become a big problem in the future.
Therefore, there is great concern about solutions to avoid this possible shortage. However, the vertical farm concept emerged in the 1990s, when a biologist at Columbia University in New York first used the term. However, the trend of vertical farms has increased in recent years, along with new technologies.
Vertical hydroponic gardens/Shutterstock Image/InveStock Photo
In short, vertical farms are basically crops grown in closed vertical environments and controlled environmental conditions. From there, imagine a vertical planting inside a building. In this scenario, the space is better used and adapted so that the environment is conducive to growing plants.
These structures designed to plant vegetables in vertical layers use technological means to overlap production in the same area. In other words, production is intensified and optimized, with the use of above-ground airspace.
How does a vertical farm work?
Especially in vertical farms everything is controlled, without depending on the weather, unlike normal farms. So there is planning of all the steps, from lighting, water, air circulation, temperature, nutrients, etc.
In other words, radical agriculture does not depend on the climate, which can involve periods of drought and heavy rains, but rather on techniques that use automated technologies.
To understand better, in these farms the use of LED lights is very common which, in addition to being cheaper, serve as a substitute for sunlight to accelerate photosynthesis.
Most food cultivation is carried out with the hydroponic system, i.e. without using soil. Generally, plants are grown inside greenhouses, with sufficient water and necessary nutrients.
In this way the plantations are arranged according to a vertical system, which contributes to large-scale production, even in a space considered small. In addition to the advantage of not being dependent on weather conditions, there is also the advantage of zero waste, since everything is extremely calculated, which avoids large losses, very common in traditional agricultural businesses.
Currently, there are many more significant centers where vertical farms exist in the world, including countries such as Switzerland, Sweden, the Netherlands, the United States, Canada, Japan, and China.
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