Vertical Farming

Looking at the content of the article given here, it will seem a bit new.  Generally we understand farming as sowing seeds on the ground, watering them as well as getting the product from the power of sunlight.  At present the various methods of farming have undergone drastic changes as well as the exclusion of land in its original form.  Now when land acquisition is a very important matter, landless farming as its dwindling source is welcome.  The development of methods such as hydroponics and aeroponics as grain inventions is currently progressing very fast.  If we go one step further, it comes down to ‘vertical farming’. It is not easy to translate this phrase into Gujarati. It is used in its original form in this article.

Vertical farming is a method in which the crop is planted in a kind of tube and such tubes are shot on top of each other.  These tubes are nourished by chemical solution or saturated chemical air.  Such tubes are arranged in a high-rise building.  That is, the apartment takes the form of a farm.

Looking at the history of vertical farming, its pioneer Dr.  Dixon Desiomere, of Columbia University in the United States, wrote a book entitled "Vertical Farm - Feeding the World in the 21st Century."

Generally we believe that plants get nutrition from the soil and prepare food through photosynthesis and if there are not the above two things then the plant cannot survive.  But in vertical farming, let us understand why this is possible if the plant is grown in a homeless medium (in a homeless apartment) and in the absence of sunlight.

In vertical farming, hydroponics and aeroponics methods are used instead of land. As far as the process of photosynthesis by the sun is concerned, in this method sunlight is replaced by LED lamps.  The light of the atrium required by this LED lamp is mounted on the plant which is responsible for the action of photosynthesis.

The light emitted from this type of LED bulb is ‘red’ and ‘blue’.  With this type of light the growth, color, aroma and nutrients of the plant can be maintained very minutely.  This method gives maximum yield of the crop.

The largest commercial farm in the United States is Aerofarm, located in Newark. It is spread over 70, 000 square feet.  The firm uses the aeroponics method as part of the plant nutrition system.  A special fabric used to make bisphenol A [BPA - free (Bisphenol) A free) kuzuial is used.  Seeds are grown on this type of cloth and the crop produced in this way is perfectly healthy.  Another farm in the United States called Green Sense Firm also does this type of farming.  But it uses the eb and flow method of hypnosis to nourish the plants.  Detailed information on this method is given in the article on hydroponics in the same book.  In this method, a nutritious solution is passed through a layer of coconut husk at the bottom of the tube.

Vertical farming requires 57 times less water than land farming, similarly if aeroponics is adopted, the water requirement is reduced by only 40 times than high droponics.  This method saves a lot of water.  Secondly, this type of farming is not weather dependent so there is no danger of natural factors like drought and flood.  With this method the crop can be harvested during 365 days of the year i.e. the effects of climate change can be avoided.

The main advantage of vertical farming is that it does not use any kind of pesticide, herbicide or fungicide in crop production so this type of product is more hygienic.

Vertical farming is done close to the main city so food does not have to be transported for long distances by trucks and other vehicles.  Hence produced by this type of transport.  Carbon monoxide can be reduced.  These saved hydrocarbons can be used for farming activities like plowing, fertilizing, planting, weeding and harvesting.

Such vertical farms have been developed by a company called Green Sense Farm in China, Hong Kong and Macau.  The main reason for the slowdown in the introduction of vertical framing was the high cost of LED lamps.  Now that the price of this type of lame has come down, this type of farming has gained momentum.  This type of farming should be encouraged because it is very important for food security in the coming days and this type of farming is very necessary in the age of global warming as it has carbon footprints.