- Depending on the crop to be cultivated, the overall produce of one acre of vertical farm is equal to the overall produce on four to thirty acres of conventional farms on flat land. - ‗Food miles‘ refer to the distance travelled by the food produced in the farms in order to reach our plates. Vertical farming aims to achieve net zero food miles through food growth in controlled environments. - No need to import seasonal fruits and vegetables as vertical farms tend to cater to food growth throughout the year. - The controlled environment in which the food is grown makes pesticides, herbicides and chemical fertilizers obsolete. Thus it produces organic food. - Vertical farms can be designed with added elements like bio digesters that reproduce and send back to the grid, the energy which the vertical farm consumes, through methane generation. - Vertical farms do not employ tractors and electric ploughs- There is also no need for shipping the produce. Saves large amounts of fossil fuels.
Figure 28: Crops cultivated inside buildings - "breathing highrises"
47
