[Scpg] VERTICAL FARM -

[Margie Bushman, Coordinator, SBCC Center for Sustainability]

http://www.odesign.com.au/Vertical-Farming.html


VERTICAL FARM - TYPE O2

VERTICAL FARM, AUSTRALIA

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Vertical Farming Perspective
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by Oliver Foster

Vertical Farming offers a much needed response to 
the world crises society faces today such as 
population increases, decreasing food supplies, a 
dwindling ecology, pollution, climate change, 
dramatically reduced transportation loads , urban 
heat island effect are to name a few.



In 2027 the world’s population will have reached 
10 billion double the population of 5 billion 
around 20 years ago and it’s not as though the 
increase will not stop there; it will carry on 
infinitely and exponentially thereafter (1).

Population increase quite logically increases the 
effect of every man made impact we have on this earth.

To name a few,

· De-forestation

· Urban sprawl

· Pollution

· Global Warming

Vertical Farming has the potential to address all 
of these issues. It can dramatically reduce 
de-forestation as there is far less land needed 
for vertical farming than traditional farming 
methods. It can help to reduce urban sprawl with 
less processing factories, transport hubs and 
transport infrastructure. It can reduce pollution 
by dramatically reducing the transport loads, 
chemicals and other pesticides used in more recent farming.

In 50 years 80% of the Earth's population will 
live in cities. 80% of the land that can be used 
to grow crops is already in use, and 15% of that 
land has been damaged by poor agricultural 
practices (2). Yet we rush to find a replacement 
for our depleting oil reserves when the amount of 
land we have for food production is diminishing at a much faster rate.

There is fast becoming an increasing interest in 
Vertical Farming throughout the world. Indoor 
farming is not a new concept, as greenhouse-based 
agriculture has been in existence for some time. 
Many commercially viable crops (e.g., 
strawberries, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, 
herbs, and spices) have seen their way to the 
world’s supermarkets in increasing amounts over 
the last 15 years. Most of these operations have 
been much smaller the traditional farming 
methods. However unlike their outdoor 
counterparts, these facilities can produce crops 
year-round. Japan, Scandinavia, New Zealand, the 
United States, and Canada have thriving 
greenhouse industries, yet to this day none have 
been constructed as multi-story buildings. There 
have been other food items that have been 
commercialized by indoor farming such as 
freshwater fishes (e.g., tilapia, trout, stripped 
bass), and a wide variety of crustaceans and 
mollusks (e.g., shrimp, crayfish, mussels) (3).

For those of us that recognise the earth is 
warming, there is evidence to suggest that the 
cooling effect of our forests and vegetation has 
been severely underestimated, according to one of 
the worlds leading scientific research 
organizations, Australia's Commonwealth 
Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO). (19).

A Columbian University Professor, Dickson 
Despommier has stated that, “Farm able to feed 
50,000 people could 'fit comfortably within a city block' (4).

We are starting to see a more 3D way of thinking 
towards agriculture, as opposed to the very much 
2D thinking we have been previously prone to. Las 
Vegas is to begin development of the World’s 
first vertical farm. This $200 million dollar 
project is designed to be a functional and 
profitable working farm growing enough food to 
feed 72,000 people for a year. Furthermore it 
aims to provide another tourist attraction to the 
city that was already notorious for building a 
casino in a desert and still becoming the tourist 
attraction it is today. With annual revenue of 
$25 million from produce and another $15 million 
from tourists the 30 story vertical farm would be 
about as profitable as a casino with operating 
expenses only being about $6 million a year, 
these figures would equate to the building paying 
itself of in just under 6 years! A remarkable 
achievement for such a prototype (3).

They plan to grow a hundred different crops, 
ranging from strawberries to lettuce even 
miniature banana trees could be grown from each 
floors specially controlled environment. They aim 
to have all the products going straight to the 
casinos and hotel properties, as well as creating 
a very identifiable and desirable addition to the 
overall Las Vegas experience. The overall time 
frame is that the design details should be worked 
out in 2008 and the project open its doors by the middle of 2010 (3)!

Some farmers are already operating successful, 
complex farming systems based on biological 
synergies and adaptive management. Takao Furuno's 
duck/fish/rice/fruit farm in Japan. Furuno 
produces duck meat, duck eggs, fish meat, fruit, 
and rice without any purchased outside inputs, 
using a highly synergistic system of production. 
This all takes place on the same acreage, where 
previously, he only produced rice. In this new 
system, his rice yields have increased up to 50% 
over previous yields from an energy-intensive 
rice monoculture. On a similar level Joel 
Salatin, of Polyface Farms near Swoope, VA, has 
developed a rotational grazing production system. 
This features pastures containing at least 40 
varieties of plants and numerous animal species. 
The farm is highly productive, yet uses little 
fossil fuel. The 57-hectare farm annually 
produces 30,000 dozen eggs, 10,000 to 12,000 
broilers, 100 beef animals, 250 hogs, 800 turkeys, and 600 rabbits (5).

Fully sustainable systems in contained 
environments have proven to be very succesfull. 
The innovative approach of combining fish 
farming, and high yield - quality plant 
production is already booming business for the 
Australian company "Ecocityfarm." (18)

A study by George Boody and colleagues has 
calculated, on a watershed basis, that diverse, 
synergistic farms can be profitable and 
simultaneously benefit the environment. 
Furthermore they were able to show by their 
calculations that when farms are converted from 
corn/soybean monocultures to more diverse 
operations, net farm income can increase by as 
much as 108%, while generating significant 
environmental and social benefits. It seems that 
principles guiding postmodern farms are almost 
diametrically opposed to those supporting 
industrial agriculture. Perhaps an awareness of 
the following could be more widely adopted:

· Be energy conserving · Feature both biological 
and genetic diversity · Be largely 
self-regulating and self-renewing · Be knowledge 
intensive · Operate on biological synergies · 
Employ adaptive management · Feature ecological 
restoration rather than choosing between 
extraction and preservation · Achieve optimum 
productivity by featuring nutrient-density, and 
multi-product synergistic production on limited acreage (6).

The choices of entities to integrate within 
vertical farming are endless, a highly profitable 
and marketable strategy is to integrate office 
space. “New York magazine asked four architects 
to dream up proposals for a lot on Canal Street 
and Work AC came up with this unique and special 
design. The design is both unique and special. It 
is like a terrace stretching in to the sky and 
underneath the giant staircase is plenty of space 
for selling what has been grown on top. It is 
both ecologically and economically sound design 
with space for both production and marketing. I 
can only imagine how advertising firms would line 
up to get a space on this one! (7).” Indoor fish 
farming is widely used internationally and has 
proven to be more successful than previous methods (3).



POSSIBILITIES

One of the most exciting possibilities or one 
which could seemingly have the largest global 
impact would be the systematic abandonment of 
farm land in order to restore a healthier and stronger ecology.

Vertical farms in polluted and hot urban 
environments can create healthier environment not 
only with the obvious cleaner air, but also 
healthier water supplies for any potential 
residents of the building. There would also be 
fewer abandoned lots and/or buildings as vertical 
farming would be a prime use for these areas.

Vertical Farming could offer more exciting employment opportunities.

Traditional farming has been known to create many 
health risks (e.g., schistosomes, malaria, 
geohelminths). These diseases can disable large 
populations, in turn removing them from the flow 
of commerce, even in the poorest of countries. 
Other health risks to farmers include acute 
exposure to toxic agrochemicals (e.g., pesticides 
and fungicides), bites from noxious wildlife, and 
trauma injuries. The latter two risk categories 
are particularly common among “slash and burn” 
subsistence farmers. It is reasonable to expect 
that as the human population continues to grow, so do these problems (2).

One exciting possibility is to work with existing 
restaurants or to integrate restaurants within. 
This can provide huge energy benefits as well as 
demonstrating full cycle sustainability. It is 
claimed that methane generation from this single 
restaurant could contribute significantly to 
energy generation, and may be able to supply 
enough to run vertical farms without the use of electricity from the grid (4).

The multitude of plant variates that exist 
actually work in favour of vertical farming, as 
vertical structures naturally create varying 
pockets of mini-climates, due to the various 
levels of shaded areas and differing 
temperatures. There are plants which enjoy more 
shade and others that prefer more direct/strong 
light, others may be deciduous etc.

Other possibilities are:

· Elimination for large scale use of pesticides and herbicides

· All year round food production

· Far less land area used



Society has come to the point in its evolution 
where global thinking is now an ethical necessity.



For more info on Vertical Farm - Type O please see the following blog:

<http://verticalfarmingaustralia.blogspot.com>verticalfarmingaustralia.blogspot.com



1. Bartlett, Albert. Arithmetic, Population and 
Energy (Forgotten Fundamentals of the Energy 
Crisis). s.l. : Univ Col Boulder Academic Media Services, March .

2. Richard, Michael. Vertical Farming – The 
Future of Agriculture? www.treehugger.com. 
[Online] 06 June 2005. 
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2005/06/vertical_farmin_1.php.

3. www.verticalfarm.com. www.verticalfarm.com. 
[Online] 2008. www.verticalfarm.com.

4. Nelson, Bryn. Could vertical farming be the 
future? New York : MSNBC Interactive, 2008.

5. Despommier, Dickson. The Vertical Farm Essay. 
New York : Columbia University, 2005.

6. Kirschenmann, Fred. Future Farming. 
www.world-360.blogspot.com. [Online] 11 June 
2008. http://world-360.blogspot.com/2008/06/future-farming.html.

7. Attitude. Vertical Farming: Let the greens 
stretch in to the blue. 
http://www.ecofriend.org/entry/vertical-farming-let-the-greens-stretch-in-to-the-blue/. 
[Online] 18 April 2008. 
http://www.ecofriend.org/entry/vertical-farming-let-the-greens-stretch-in-to-the-blue/. 


8. Limited, AEC Group. REPORT ON THE SUNSHINE 
COAST REGIONAL ECONOMY. Sunshine Coast : NJ Printing, 2005. ISSN 1449-0358.

9. Green Skins. Callaghan, Greg. Surry Hills : 
The Weekend Australian Magazine, 2008, Vols. June 21-22.

10. Mochelle, Richard and Brisbin, Chris. Rurban 
Systems Design. Brisbane : QUT, 2008.

11. Beliefs and Personality Traits: What Sets 
Vegetarians Apart From the Rest? Wong, Melissa. 
1, s.l. : Vegetarian Journal, 2006, Vol. 2006.

12. Johnson, B and Hill, K. Ecology and Design. 
Washington : Island Press, 2002.

13. Urban heat and air pollution: an emerging 
role for planners in the climate change debate. 
Stone, B. Journal of the American Planning 
Association 71 : s.n., 2005, Journal of the 
American Planning Association 71, pp. 13–25.

14. Kawachi, Ichiro and Wamala, Sarah. 
Globalization and Health. US : Oxford University Press, 2006.

15. Clark, Colin. Population Growth and Land Use. London : Macmillan, 1968.

16. Heij, Elizabeth. CSIRO: SUSTAINABILITY 
NETWORK. Glen Osmond, SA, Australia : s.n., 15 Feb .

17. Energy cannot be created nor destroyed. 
blog.lib.umn.edu. [Online] 13 May 2008. 
http://blog.lib.umn.edu/dewo0010/architecture/.

18. Ecocityfarm - www.ecocityfarm.com

19. Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and 
Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) - www.csiro.au




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