An Indian perspective of new generation of farming: Vertical farming

The way we grow our food has to change substantially in future. World population is set to increase by 9.1billion by 2050 from 7.79billion in 2020. With an exponential increase in population, according to FAO, there must be an increase of 70% in food production to satisfy future needs. In the process of becoming food secure using current land-use change activities in future, we might end up converting all of the forests into agricultural cultivation land. Currently, 70% of freshwater withdrawal is only for agricultural activities. This technique of growing crops is highly unsustainable.

Agricultural land in past was created by clearing forest areas. But this is no longer an option. With more and more agricultural land disappearing and intensifying desertification, the necessity for a feasible solution is a must. We need to have more food production per unit area. Traditionally it was achieved through the use of fertilizers. But the chemicals involved in the process are far more degrading to health and harmful to the environment. There is excessive demand for innovation to generate more food in lesser available space.

Vertical farms might be the solution to this problem. Vertical farming is the practice of growing food on multiple surfaces or planes instead of farming in a single level such as growing crops in the field. There are four important aspects of vertical farming that is a physical arrangement, artificial lighting, growing medium and energy requirements. There are two methods of physical arrangement. First is farming using multiple horizontal surfaces stacked on top of another and second is growing on verticle surfaces. Photosynthesis can take place under artificial lights. Current developments in LED technology have provided farmers with a unique ability to grow food indoors. The growing medium is very important during verticle farming. Different growing medium such as coco coir, Rockwool, grow stone, soil (traditionally used), and many more, have their own advantages and disadvantages. Energy requirements should be measures before installation and its sustainability should be measured and comprehensively documented.

There are three types of vertical farming techniques that are hydroponics, aquaponics and aeroponics. In all of these techniques, there is no use of soil. Hydroponics is the most common vertical farming approach due to its low investment in infrastructure and minimal monitoring. It submerges crops in nutrient-rich water that is pumped and the additional water is transferred back to the pump using an effective drainage system. Aquaponics takes the hydroponic technique one step further. This technique combines an aquarium with a farming plant. The nutrient-rich water from fishes is transferred to plants which in turn give clean water for the fish. This is a complete ecosystem with no waste generation. In 1990s NASA was interested in different ways to grow crops in space and coined the term aeroponics. An aeroponic system is the most efficient plant growing system for vertical farms using 90% less amount of water and increasing its minerals intake. It involves time to time spraying the plants with nutrient-rich mist.

Traditionally we have to transport food grains from distant places. But with vertical farming, we can have an outlet in the middle of this city just like Herbivore farms has in Mumbai one of the most crowded cities in the world. Because of no usage of soil, fertilizers are not required to be sprayed in these farms. Many major companies have invested in this technique of farming. In 2017, SoftBank invested $200million, IKEA, David Chang and ruler of Dubai invested $40million and in 2018 Google Ventures invested $90 million in Browery farming. Bigger companies are investing in vertical farming but this might not be a feasible option for agricultural sector poor countries.

Vertical farming certainly comes with a cost and require a lot of prior knowledge and experience. Studies show that most of the poor farmers in India might not be capable to invest in such advance practices. LED light required for farming is very expensive and required excessive maintenance. The growing medium that is advanced is mostly expensive and for a market like India, we have to go a long way to make this a success. "A government subsidy might be a way to go forward but we also need to realise that the MSP(Minimum support price) for different crops is just on paper to support the farmers" explained Rangeel, an agricultural officer in Ludhiana. "In reality, only rice and wheat are purchased on MSP and other crops are sold on way lesser price". 

The government also needs to make sure that an advanced venture like vertical farming might not increase the unemployment rates continuously, which employs almost 50% of its population. This might result in a monopoly of certain companies with way less requirement of labour. Major unemployment rates might result in revolt and completely discarding this idea of farming. Verticle farming has major advantages in terms of monetary benefits and requirement of labour. We must not drop this idea completely. It must be assed at laws must be in place for extensive private intervention.

There is no doubt the advantages to these techniques far more outweigh the disadvantages. But we also need to consider what is best for our country. Effective measures should be undertaken to ensure that there is no formation of a monopoly or oligopoly in this sector. This is a food security issue, so I think that least private participation should be ensured. The government needs to play a major role in assuring the affordability and availability of these advanced techniques. Many landlords have developed this technique but there is still a long road to travel. Incredible advances in the years to come it is hard not to think vertical farming could be a major source of planets food in the future. Only by fully understanding the science behind it, we might be able to completely eradicate the hunger problem of the world.