Vertical Farming: the future?
Have you heard about the Vertical Farm Project? Headed by Dr. Dickson Despommier (Environmental Health Science); this project is Columbia University’s answer to the impending global food shortage.
“By the year 2050, nearly 80% of the earth’s population will reside in urban centers. Applying the most conservative estimates to current demographic trends, the human population will increase by about 3 billion people during the interim. An estimated 109 hectares of new land (about 20% more land than is represented by the country of Brazil) will be needed to grow enough food to feed them, if traditional farming practices continue as they are practiced today. At present, throughout the world, over 80% of the land that is suitable for raising crops is in use (sources: FAO and NASA).” The Vertical Farm Project: Agriculture for the 21st Century and Beyond.
They suggest the answer to this problem is to farm vertically in high rise buidings in urban centres.
They claim there would be many advantages to such a method; crops could be farmed all year round, there would be no weather related crop failures, we could reduce carbon emissions generated by use of farm equipment, as well as by the need to transport food (production would be more localised), abandoned buildings could be put to use, crops could be grown without pesticides, farmland could be returned to nature and it could reduce incidents of armed conflict over natural resources, such as land, for food production.
‘The Living Tower’ design by SOA Architects.
While it seems like a really good idea, it’s kind of scary. It seems unnatural for people to be eating crops grown under such artificial conditions, without real sunlight and without roots planted firmly in the soil.
Nevertheless, this idea is a way to protect nature by allowing nature to take over again in abandoned farms; but what effect would that have on our relationship to nature?
Living in urban centres, we are largely alienated from nature; while there are places like national parks, where nature is allowed to exist without too much human interference, how many of us actually visit these places regularly?
Imagine Australians lived in cities which produced food locally and the land was left alone. In 20 years, the landscape will have returned to what it was 200 years ago, and we city rats wouldn’t know what to do with ourselves in that environment. Would we feel oppressed? Would the wild landscape fence us into cities?
Modern Australians are like the Rats of Nimh; we haven’t the knowledge of how to survive in the natural conditions of this country. Indigenous Australians had/have that knowledge, but for the majority of Australians it an entirely foreign concept.
While human beings certainly began clearing land thousands of years ago so they could farm, it was also about reversing the power relationship between man and nature.
In the beginning, we were at nature’s mercy, doing what we could to survive. When we worked out that we could turn that around, we decimated the landscape and took much more than we needed for our survival. I think we did that so we could feel masters of our domain. So we could eradicate that fear of nature and reign her in to submission.
Personally, I really love nature and feel a real attachment to this land. I would like for this to happen; for nature to be allowed to return to its natural state. I believe if we did that, the world environmental crisis would greatly improve on many fronts i.e. with a landscape covered by trees (the lungs of the earth) carbon emissions wouldn’t be such a problem. So ultimately I think vertical farming is a good idea.
But I wonder if we could ever let get past our need to own nature, to control her and to be her masters?
‘Pyramid Farm’ design by Eric Ellingsen and Dickson Despommier.
3 years ago