Vertical Farming: A Professional Grower Checks the Hype

Vertical Farming proponents make many claims about their growing systems, and in this video, I'll have a closer look at those statements. I'm always enthusiastic to hear about innovations in horticulture, but when I see the promise (from multiple systems and suppliers) that the greenhouses or indoor growing spaces are completely pest free, I have to chalk that up as hype.

Likewise, the range of crops that can be grown seems a little exaggerated - I have no doubt that you can grow corn or blueberries in an indoor setting, but the real question is: would it make any sense?

Some sources glossed over the issues of intensive energy use, seemingly counting on technological improvements to solve the problem - but to me, it's a man-made problem. There's loads of easy improvements to improve the yields in greenhouse-based horticulture without packing them up and putting them in city warehouses.

I really do appreciate all the information and guidance offered by Bob Holm and the staff at Sky Greens Canada. As an aside to the video topic, it's a Canadian manufacturing success story: having licensed the technology from Singapore for distribution in North American and Europe, Sky Greens Canada brought the manufacturing back here to Canada. I always hear about manufacturing jobs going oversees, but this one went the opposite direction, saving money along the way! You can see more information on their growing systems at: https://skygreenscanada.com/

Video Credits:

Thanks to Sky Greens Canada for video clips of the production greenhouse in Singapore and of barley fodder

Clips from the following 3 videos were included for commentary and criticism, which I would be happy to defend as fair use:

Vertical: The future of Farming by Vimeo user vertical-film.com

Vertical Farms Could Take Over the World by Freethink

The Story of Little Leaf Farms by Little Leaf Farm

Image Credits:

日本語: 桑の水耕栽培（ストリーム、長野県岡谷市）by Satoshi KINOKUNI CC BY 2.0

Vertical Farming Tower Concept by Cjacobs627 at English Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0

Tomato rows at Lufa Farms, the world’s first commercial rooftop greenhouses by Lufa Farms CC BY-SA 2.0

Indoor Greens purple light by Lianoland Wimons CC BY-SA 4.0

Taipei AGORA GARDEN LUXURIOUS RESIDENTIAL TOWER - proposal by forgemind webuse 0009 CC BY 2.0

Disney Living with the Land greenhouse by ManoaChild CC BY-SA 3.0

Foods of the Future from World of Tomorrow by Neil Ardley photo by S Woodside CC BY-SA 2.0

Verticrop by valcenteu CC BY-SA 3.0

Vertical Farm Finland by ifarm.fi CC BY-SA 4.0

Tomato seedlings by Dwight Sipler CC BY 2.0

Microgreens by Idéalités CC BY-SA 4.0

iFarm Inside by Ilnar A. Salakhiev CC BY-SA 4.0