Vertical farms, what is that? Well, Vertical farming or skyfarming as it is also known as, is a theoretical form of agriculture which can be done in urban high-rises. In these farmscrapers (high-rises) food such as vegetables, fruit, fish, and even live-stock can be raised by using greenhouse growing methods. Ingenious idea!

Despite concerns over exorbitant costs, Dickson Despommier, an environmental health expert in New York is convinced the world has the know-how to make the concept a reality.

In fact, Chris Jacobs, Creative Director of United Future, LA California has brought the Vertical Farm concepts into the spotlight, especially after his article about Dickson’s Vertical Farm concept was featured in the New York Magazine.

But, why do we need vertical farming? Dickson Despommier says,

the reason why we need vertical farming is that horizontal farming is failing. If current practices don’t change by mid-century, he points outs, an area bigger than Brazil would need to become farmland just to keep pace with the demand

Vertical farming has numerous advantages; some of them are as follows:

• Prevention of deforestation, sprawl, and other consequences of growing agricultural land use.

• By producing food within the city, less pollution is produced transporting the food from distant farms.

• Controlled environment of a greenhouse will also hopefully allow greater crop yields and also reduce the need for pesticides and fertilizers.
Way to go! I hope vertical farms become a reality soon, because not only will they make the cities cleaner, but they will also help to reduce global warming.

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