Why Vertical Farms Are Moving Beyond Leafy Greens

Indoor vertical farms have been touted for their ability to grow leafy green vegetables like lettuce in warehouses year round. Bowery Farming, one of the U.S.'s largest vertical farm companies, says it can grow more than 5.5 tons of produce daily. And in a bid to expand its portfolio the company is adding a new crop to its roster — strawberries. About 90% of strawberries in the U.S. are grown in California. The state's strawberry harvest runs from early spring until fall.

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Why Vertical Farms Are Moving Beyond Leafy Greens

[mattodell]

I love your work here. It's been very informative, and I have nothing but respect. However it seems that that the stat on the number of farms in 1935 and in 2020 might be misleading. While there may be less farms, if the average farm in 2020 is 4 times the size of a farm in the 1935, then we'd actually have more active farm land today. Likewise, if a modern farm with new land usage methods is 4 times more productive, then there would be more food production today then there was in the 1935. All this to say that while stats are interesting, we need to take great care when using them to justify a point.

[thetrainhopper]

The number of farms doesn't matter. The number of farms in the US may be a third of what it was, but those same farms are 3-4 times the acreages. Which means the same amount of land is farmed by fewer companies.

[yearofthegarden]

This subject is something I have been interested in for almost two decades, and to say it's the future is an understatement. This form of growing hasn't even begun to advance to the widespread scale of occurs during the enthusiastic snowballing effect of a gold rush, as it's still fairly well guarded knowledge. What I see happening in the future is the integration of other "natural systems" that can be observed throughout the world, but to the extent that they play an efficiency role within the hydroponic system. Such different aspects such as fungi and bugs to recycle "waste" into fertilizers for the plants, or even recycle air, as mycology/mushroom production has an incubation period that creates an intense amount of c02, which if dialed in to a hydroponic system will allow for the air to be recycles, as well as the heat that is carried within the air for a reduction in costs, as well as mixing spend mushroom substrate in with hydroponic substrate to reduce costs up to 50%, or even oyster mushroom's ability to filter water, particularly salt, when it passes through the substrate. I don't expect large corporations to take on these types of technologies, as they add a level of variable risk, but I assume we will see aspects integrated one company at a time until feasibility becomes predictable. The big game changer will be when GMO's are designed specifically for Hydroponics, not that I am a fan of GMO's but that will be how rice becomes a profitable crop to grow in a hydroponic system.

I also thing there will eventually be a small farmer aspect to hydroponics, as many romanticize the notion of farming, but are limited to city living, or don't actually enjoy the hard work involved in actual farming. This is going to be where hydroponics takes off in the public perspective. Simple pump NFT systems that are customized through shared 3d print files, and aerobic nutrient machines to create affordable fertilizers from waste, to grow plants year round in dug out "chinese greenhouses" is essentially what the world needs to negotiate the stability of advancing our population growth. I currently grow leafy greens in this manor, as well as bush beans, and strawberries.

[bruceritchie]

The fact that someone actually developed a robot with enough dexterity and sensitivity to actually pick strawberries is pretty amazing to me. I really have to wonder about the cost vs just employing people though.

[PlagueMD_]

Telling us there’s less farms doesn’t mean much without telling us the acreage difference

[CitiesForTheFuture]

I live in a developing country where much of the population is poor. While I support indoor vertical farming, we need to go low tech: some crops cam grow in the dark - like mushrooms - so can be grown in low-light environs (even underground?); some crops can grow in low light so can be grown indoors; for crops that need full light & pollination I prefer rooftop or community gardening (via veggie tunnels to reduce need for pesticides?). Green roofs have additional benefits like enhancing building insulation (less heating & cooling required), rainwater harvesting, reducing the urban heat island effect & reducing stress (employees have somewhere nice to have lunch etc). Crops in cities must be grown using renewable energy sources.

In my country medicinal plants are also important. Urban farming can prevent the over harvesting of wild plants.

[_GMP_]

Selling vertical farm set-up equipment to consumer houses and people grow their food in their backyard and charging subscription per month basis can also be game changer

[deviskanyes]

Feels more like an ad rather than focusing on vertical farms all around the USA and the world . Japan has been in the strawberry game for years now no excuse for not researching more.

[mithsaradasanayake]

This technology could help people everywhere.

[franciszhu]

2:06 "We could make a 28 hour day for our plants..." How? lmao

[sir_clovis]

I wholeheartedly support this technology. We've become too interdependent on other nations for our food supply. Imagine implanting these across a nation. Save so much on the logistics of transportation, more skilled jobs domestically, and greatly stabilize the food supply chain leading to stable prices independant of weather and other outside conditions.

[scottvoak]

I got to 1:30 when you said the population was supposed to surge to 10B - if you're using that to justify what you are doing, it is not worth watching the rest - population is actually supposed to fall.

[antonemilit]

My neighbor has been doing something similar in his garage for decades, but with a different cultivar :)

[itserichuang]

28 hour day?!!?!?!?!?!?!?! gimme some of that

[sams]

Why don't they make these vertical farms into Greenhouses? I would assume the sunlight help tremendously with the energy bill

[RyanOwensWorldofTyros]

Should have been doing this is mass a long time ago

[bernardfinucane]

It's weird they don't use greenhouses. Spain and Holland already have massive greenhouse strawberry industries.

[Haji]

all year strawberry is such a dream for me

[TheNewMediaoftheDawn]

The problem also is these systems are hydro, which require lots of mined minerals and are generally nutritionally poorer than rich good quality soil. I’d be curious to see how sweet strawberries chemically grown in hydro and under LED’s can actually be, I’d guess not sweet, but I could be wrong. Leafy greens are easier and lower sugar. Also just eat local seasonal berries, Jersey has amazing blueberries in season, don’t eat ones from Chile in January, or get frozen ones off season…👌

[jetman]

That was a great report, could you do more on the aeroponics systems also.