Imagine a food future where your fruits and vegetables are easily accessible, gathered fresh on a daily basis, with seemingly no shortage. That concept is why farming is moving inside — it’s not a future premise, but a reality.
Known as indoor or vertical farming, this industry has been increasing in its outlook.
In this article, we’ll discover why farming is moving inside, what it means for farming and agriculture, and the benefits of starting your own vertical farm.
What is Indoor/Vertical Farming?
Vertical farming is the practice and process of growing crops and produce in vertically stacked layers.
Vertical farms are often indoors and use controlled-environment agriculture (CEA) to optimize plant growth by creating near-perfect growing environments.
In order to save space and grow vertically more easily, it usually uses soilless farming techniques such as hydroponics, aquaponics and aeroponics.
Vertical farming has become very popular, thanks to increasing global populations, future food shortages and health concerns.
There is expected to be nearly 2 billion extra people in the global population by 2050. That’s a lot of extra mouths to feed!
With so many people coming into the world, we need to find new ways to produce food.
Why Farming is Moving Inside
Food concerns have motivated both consumers and scientists to look at other means of agriculture.
Consumers especially are growing more and more interested in knowing where their food, especially produce and fruits, are coming from.
The increase of technology within farming has opened the door for more opportunity for growers and consumers.
Vertical farming has many great advantages over traditional farming.
Maximum crop yields
Vertical farms have the ability to produce more crops than the traditional farm.
This is because produce and crops aren’t affected by conditions like weather, temperatures and daylight. This allows for produce to grow fully and then be replaced without seasonal conditions.
Reduced labor costs
Labor has always been a pain point for many industries, but especially in agriculture, where there is currently a labor shortage.
By using automation, vertical farming is able to significantly reduce the cost of labor for harvesting, planting and logistics.
Water conservation
One of the main benefits of vertical farming is the ability to conserve water.
Vertical farms use up to 70% less water and with sensor technology, vertical farmers can optimize light, temperature and humidity.
Sustainable
Sustainability has grown in importance in recent years.
In addition to using less water, indoor vertical farms take up less space than lands used by traditional farmers and are also easily available for areas that may not have accessible lands for farming.
Starting your own vertical farm
We looked at what vertical farming was and why farming is moving inside. Now, let’s look at how you can start your own vertical farm and the benefits of doing so.
Some of the benefits to start your own vertical farm include:
- Growing a variety of crops and produce
- Providing your family, friends, and community with healthier and nutritious foods
- Providing jobs for your community
- Avoiding common farming dangers like chemical exposure, weather hazards, and more
We created a helpful beginning guide for vertical farming within a container, with sections to help navigate loans, container design and selling your produce or crops.
In this article, we discovered why farming is moving inside and how vertical farming is becoming a growing field.
If you’re considering vertical farming or container farming, send us a message through our contact form or give us a call at 602-753-3469.
