Indoor Vertical Farming
In vertical farming we try to bring our modelling skills from outdoor systems into indoor system. In controlled conditions we can determine on a very detailed level what are influencing factors of crop growth. The idea of vertical farming comes with the idea to save land and input resources such as water or fertilizer and adapt it to the specific needs of a plant. Furthermore, a high degree of mechanization, for example through fully automatic transport of the plants within the rooms as well as lighting and irrigation systems, reduces the operator effort to a minimum. In the closed system, which is shielded from the outside world, water consumption could be reduced by up to 90 percent and chemical plant protection could ideally be dispensed with altogether. The yield can be increased many times over by optimal supply and growth conditions.
Wheat and soybean experiments are conducted in the vertical farming chambers located in the Dürnast station at TUM-Weihenstephan campus. Furthermore, Professor Asseng is one of the TUM main investigator of the Proteins4Singapore (link) project, where he conducts a pilot experiment of a soybean vertical farm in Singapore.
What Is the Limit of Vertical Farming Productivity?
With the possibility of co-optimizing all growth factors in vertical farming, such systems could contribute to future food supply, but the potential productivity is unknown. Analyzing 171 publications with 1403 data points across 10 crop categories from controlled-environment experiments revealed major productivity variation among and within crop species. Potato produced the most edible dry mass of 33 g m−2 day−1, 28 times more per layer than open-field cultivation. High planting density crops generally showed a high productivity, while crops with longer life cycles were less productive considering time and space. The limits of productivity, defined as the points at which optimizing growth factors return no further benefit, remain uncertain. Uncovering this limit requires systematic, standardized, and scalable controlled-environment experiments across crop types. https://doi.org/10.1002/fes3.70061
The future potential of controlled environment agriculture
The production of high-quality food needs to increase to feed the growing global population. Controlled environment agriculture (CEA) systems in a vertical farm setting—in which several layers are stacked above each other, thus increasing the area for growth—can substantially boost productivity for crops, algae, mushrooms, fish, insects, and cultured meat. These systems are independent of climate, weather, and region, offering reduced environmental impact, although they come with high energy demands. An easy-to-understand, quantitative performance assessment of the theoretical potential for these 6 CEA systems is proposed here. It compares them against the world's main food production system: field production of maize, wheat, rice, and soybean. CEA could play a pivotal role in the global food supply if efficiencies in energy, control of growth environments, and waste stream utilization are vastly improved. Technological advancements, targeted policy support and public engagement strategies will be necessary to significantly reduce production costs and increase public acceptance. https://doi.org/10.1093/pnasnexus/pgaf078
