The Future Of Vertical Farming

A simple way to grow some greens: a "grow hall", a 14-storey vertical farm. Instead of relying on sunlight and soil to grow its crops, Nordic Harvest employs a less conventional approach: it uses robots to seed mainly leafy vegetables, such as salad leaves and herbs, in a nutrient-rich gel substrate that dissolves in water as the plants grow. Meanwhile, LED light (responsible for the pink hue of the grow hall) and carbon dioxide are added, with renewable energy from wind turbines powering the entire process. Pesticides aren’t needed as the hall is kept free of harmful creatures, and the only water leaving the farm comes from the plants themselves. Nordic Harvest says this means the farm consumes 250 times less water than agricultural farms and 80 times less than greenhouses. It also requires 250 times less space, according to the company.

Source: New Scientist