Can Vertical Farms Fix the Future of Food?

Singapore has only 1% of its land available for agriculture, so it imports 90% of its food requirements. The government is looking to curb this dependence on outside food sources under a programme titled ‘30 by 30,’ which aims to allow Singapore to grow 30% of its produce by the year 2030. Local vertical farms like Sustenir are at the forefront of bringing about this change. VICE visits the sustainable start-up to understand the future of food.

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[ephoenix]

Really don't like the audio mixing. The background music increases when people aren't talking. So if I lower the volume for that reason, then I can barely hear people talking. Again, music volume fluctuates, depending on whether or not people are talking.

[idontwanttopickone]

Why wouldn't you put your main selling point front and center on your packaging? How many farms can claim their farm is 30 minutes from a central metropolitan store or that the customers could be buying the product on the same day it was picked in a city? If those are the things that make your veg fresher than your rivals produce, then show it off on the front of your packaging. Kinky Kale doesn't tell me anything about the product (other than that the packaging designer has a fetish for greens), but calling it *Singapore Kale* or *Under an hour from harvest to store KALE* or anything more informative and snappy tells me as a consumer why I should not only buy your product but also look for it in the future. They are really missing a trick there.

[Peacelove]

If only it wasn’t packed in plastic that would even better for the planet

[vancouverbill]

Really like this idea. Would be great to see them invest time in decomposable packaging

[roymarshall_]

Every single time I see these futuristic farms, its always lettuce, kale, tomatoes, etc. I'd like to see one of these but they grow wheat, corn, barley, etc. I don't see the real point of this tech without being able to grow calorie dense food that actually sustains people.

[jchastain]

Zeitgeist put this idea forward a decade ago. Glad to see ppl are finally seeing this as a good idea. Picture a skyscraper greenhouse...

[hannahblakemore]

Oooh just beat before being first..

I'm a student of vertical farming, this is awesome!

[kwonharin]

With how often they talked about saving the planet I hate that they use plastic for their packaging

[jayk]

Why the F is it so loud with the music in the background, you can barely hear what the people are saying in those spaces with everything running. Is vice making music videos or what?

[PhantomSoldier]

America should do this but it make to much sense

[mattyrjackson]

Can’t believe they’re preaching about changing the world and sustainability but have plastic packaging 🤦🏻‍♂️

[JW-mrmh]

When the human population gets too out of control and everyone lives in skyscrapers, I bet our food will be made here..

[lucasskovgaard]

Super interesting video/subject, although it felt a little too much like an advert at times in my opinion. Still great though.

[wildandliving]

Use a leaf blower can pollinate strawberrys quick

[enricodragoni]

This is pretty much the opposite of sustainable (especially in a country that produces its electricity mainly out of oil and gas)
We need to live in smaller cities (5k-10k people), where food can be grown nearby and transported without trucks and cars.

[NoExpert]

This is amazing content, this channel has inspired me to start my own channel 👍👍👍

[kyiamonson]

This is incredible, the ingenuity of people amazes me.

[dunsbroccoli]

The problem is that you need soil in order to have the proper spectrum of nutrition inside the plants. These are great products, but they don't address the need for fungal and micro-orgs inside the growth cycle. Without them there are immune system pathways that are being neglected which increase the likelihood of disease.

Again, science and capital are failing to strike the core of the problem in order to make shortcuts which are profitable instead of beneficial to human life.

We are too focused on making things "more productive" or "more efficient" but we look at these concepts through the language of an empiricism that is submissive to market forces. We don't question population relative to healthy land usage. We continue to push for maximality at any cost because it's the easiest way to produce more profit.

We don't need more humans or more profit. We need better quality, healthier humans who have enough space and freedom to live properly. Ironically, if we focused on that we would probably inherently become more intelligent, produce better ideas and strategies and we would all profit in a currency more important than material.

It's like we only want the benefits of "organic"ness in order to continue to engineer GMO human beings who are ideologically MPK fertilized and sprayed with RoundUp. It doesn't make any sense. Why don't we engineer ideologically "organic" human beings who are able to garden organic food and feed themselves? The dogma of global capital is just so exhausting.

[jhunnid]

Did an essay on this topic a while back. Safer for the environment whether it’s on land usage or more importantly water usage. (Up to 50% more efficient) Any one around the world can have access to healthier/fresher foods and reduce food miles that pollute earth. These can be placed anywhere from unused mines to freighter crates!

[thomasstruebingjr.]

Vertical farming has been around and used for years. Great recycled idea though