The Vertical Farms
The desire to create a sustainable environment has been one of the major concerns over the past few years in all parts of the world. This has come as a result of continuous environmental degradation due to various human activities. The most alarming of all assaults on the environment by human beings include contamination of the air, rivers, earth, as well as sea with dangerous chemicals (Carson 6). This explains why many ecologist have come up in order to fight pollution and resource deletion (Drengson and Yuichi 5) Although there have been substantial efforts to develop sustainable technology that aim at conserving the environment, the traditional scientific image of nature still prevails among many people all over the world. Taking this into consideration, it has posed a substantial challenge in regards to developing sustainable technology, while upholding various environmental ethics. It is a fact that advanced technology in the modern world is one of the major causes of the substantial changes that have threatened the ecological balance. Additionally, the carelessness of human beings with the nature has considerably stimulated the development of various technological solutions (Despommier 12). Nevertheless, new technologies have been adapted for the purpose of ensuring sustainable environment as well as environmental ethics. One of these technologies is the use of vertical farms.
Sustainable Benefits of the Vertical Farms
Vertical farming has gained a lot of popularity over the past few years, especially in developed countries. Ideally, it has taken into consideration an application of controlled environment agriculture, which is expected to be the solution of feeding the projected word population of 9 billion in 2050. This has been attributed to how much better it is as compared to industrial agriculture. This is in terms of economic resilience, production efficiency as well as ecological sustainability. Vertical farming has become a solution to a wide range of environmental issues. This green-house based method provides alternative sources of food production in a manner that is friendly to the environment. Additionally, it allows depleted agricultural land to take a break from a wide range of agricultural misuse. People usually tend to abuse land because they perceive that it is a commodity belonging to them, thus little love and respect for it (leopard 21). Basically, vertical farming entails a type of indoor farming, which seeks to maximize production as well as efficiency per unit area (Bromfield 1). This is through growing crops in several levels on a vertical axis. In this regard, it could be crops on stacked shelves, multiple floors, or feel rooftop. In most situations, vertical farming uses hydroponic aerologic, as well as aquaponic growing techniques. Additionally, it uses eschewing soil when it comes to grow medium. This is primarily for the purpose of limiting system inputs as well s facilitating soil restoration. Vertical farming is currently in the infancy stage. In this regard, it is only practiced in urban cities of developed countries including the United States, Singapore, as well as several countries in Europe (Bromfield 1). Nevertheless, with increased campaign on environmental sustainable practices, vertical farming is expected to be embraced in other countries in the near future.
Despite the fact that there are many solutions in regards to environmentally responsible food production, it is a fact that vertical farming is one of the best solutions (Despommier 36). While they use less energy unlike traditional horizontal farms, there are no fertilizers or pesticides required in the farm. Additionally, there is no chemical run-off, which would otherwise lead to environmental pollution. Again, even if synthetic nutrient chemicals are used, they are typically used in a closed as well as recirculating system, which has no chance of contaminating the environment (Bromfield 2). This is usually not the case when it comes to the industrial contemporary agriculture. In this case, it is not possible to add pesticides in horizontal farms without contamination the ground water (Carson 42). Local food production is usually one of the most common themes in most of the vertical farms across the world. In comparison to the traditional farms, which use fossil fuels inputs in planting, harvesting, packaging, and shipping their farm produce, the savings from vertical farms is substantial.
Moreover, vertical farms are usually poised to become primary sources of water remediation across the world. This is especially when drought are on the rise, thus increasing the demand for water. In this regards, engineers are usually in position of designing vertical farms in a way they can in both grey as well as black water (Despommier 45). Although plants in those processes cannot be edible, they can be used within the same systems. Taking this into account, it is a fact that vertical farms do not only use less water, but also restore water for other uses. This is usually not the case when it comes to the traditional horizontal farms. Bromfield (1) explains that one of the biggest draw of vertical farming is what it does to the entire nature. This is in the sense that it provides a substantial space for nature to revive itself. For instance, where tomatoes would take an acre in a horizontal farm, it would only take 345 square feet in vertical farms. This shows the conservation nature as well as efficiency of vertical farms over the traditional horizontal farms.
As urban population rapidly grows and deforestation increases due to agricultural expansion, it is a fact that vertical farming has become one of the most attractive alternatives. In this regards, supporters of vertical farming has claimed that its significance on the environment cannot be overlooked. Taking this into account, these supporters indicate that vertical farming usually reduces transportation costs while decreasing pollution to a considerable extent. Additionally, they indicate that with implementation of vertical farms, there will be less demand for agricultural land. Therefore, the rainforests as well as natural ecosystems that are usually cleared for agriculture will be able to stop. Additionally, the ecosystem will be restored substantially. Nevertheless, vertical farming is not able to give competition to large agricultural productions because agricultural land is usually dedicated to massive production (Despommier 55). Again, vertical farming may not recue deforestation in developing nations because the initial costs of establishing the vertical farms are significantly high.
Increase in human population will have insignificant impact on the new technology. Taking this into account, it is fact that vertical farming is ideally a new concept that has come to address the problem of environmental degradation as a result of increased human activities (Bromfield 2). These activities have been brought about by increased human population. As stated earlier, the human population is projected to hit 9 billion by 2050. This implies that agricultural land will be less, whereas the demand for food will increase. Therefore, with increase in human population, this technology will be improved, as it will be the best option for ensuring that there is food security in every part of the world. Additionally, with increase campaign against environmental degradation by human beings, this technology is expected to improve with time. In this regard, it will not only be used in developed countries alone, but also in developing countries.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is a fact that vertical farming has become one of the solutions of environmental degradation by human activities. Additionally, apart from ensuring a sustainable environment, vertical farming is projected to become the solution to food shortages in the near future. From the above, it is fact that there is a lot of potential in vertical farming. In this regard, the evolution of vertical farms is a clear demonstration that there is a feasible solution to environmental challenges as well as food shortages. This is not just an ethical environmental issue, but one of economic senses. This is due to the fact that the future capacity to deliver various agricultural outputs largely depends on the ecological viability of the ecosystems. Increase in human population is not likely to affect the new technology in any way, as vertical farming takes less space. In fact, with increase in population, this technology is expected to improve. This is because it will be the best option for ensuring that there is constant food supply.