Content

 Introduction
 Why there is need of vertical farming?
 Working of vertical farming
 Advantages of vertical farming
 Disadvantages of vertical farming
 Conclusion
 Bibliography
 INTRODUCTION

Hydroponics is basically growing plants without soil.

Soil's function is to supply plants nutrients and to
anchor the plants' roots. In a hydroponic garden,
you provide your plants with a complete nutrient
formula and an inert growing medium to anchor
your plants' roots so they have easier access to the
food and water.
Because the food is dissolved in water, it goes
directly to the roots. Plants grow faster and are
ready for harvest sooner. You can grow more plants
in the same space as you can with a soil garden, and
since there’s no soil, there’s no worry about soil-
borne diseases or pests – and no weeding.

WHY THERE IS NEED OF VERTICAL FARMING

Vertical farming is the practice of growing crops in
vertically stacked layers. It often incorporates
controlled-environment agriculture, which aims to
optimize plant growth, and soilless farming
techniques such as hydroponics, aquaponics, and
geoponics. Some common choices of structures to
house vertical farming systems include buildings,
shipping containers, tunnels, and abandoned mine
shafts.
So, the main reason for utilizing vertical farming
technologies is the increased crop yield that comes
with a smaller unit area of land requirement. The
increased ability to cultivate a larger variety of crops
at once because crops do not share the same plots
of land while growing is another sought-after
advantage. Additionally, crops are resistant to
weather disruptions because of their placement
indoors, meaning less crops lost to extreme or
unexpected weather occurrences. Lastly, because of
its limited land usage, vertical farming is less
disruptive to the native plants and animals, leading
to further conservation of the local flora and fauna.
Current applications of vertical farming coupled
with other state-of-the-art technologies, such as
specialized LED lights, have resulted in over 10
times the crop yield than compared to normal
traditional methods.

Vertical Farming is thus regarded as a realistic

future farming system, which may offer the stable
model needed for future food production, to
provide for the 3 billion increase in population
predicted by 2050.

WORKING OF Vertical Farming

Vertical farming is the practice of food production
that takes the form of vertically stacked layers and
vertically inclined surfaces. The method is executed
inside a controlled environment building, usually
without soil or natural light.

The method of growing the crops in a vertical farm

involves the following elements.
• Temperature control
• Humidity control
• Artificial lighting.
The most widely discussed benefit of indoor vertical
farming is its ability to greatly conserve natural
resources such as water, land, and nutrients while
concurrently improving harvests for select crops
such as leafy greens, tomatoes, and herbs•

The processes that involve in vertical farming are:-

A nutrient tank contains both micronutrients and
macronutrients that are needed for the growth and
development of the plants.

The nutrient tank also contain air pump for

producing bubbles for availability of oxygen.

The growth beds that contains plants that are

present in different stalks layer by layer.

The system contains both the inlet and outlet for

passing the nutrient solution from tank to the
growth beds.

Now the first step is to pass the nutrient solution

from the tank to the growth bed by a water pump
through pipe that connects both of them.
Now, the plants present in the growth bed absorb
the nutrients through the roots that is dissolved in
the growth bed.

As the growth beds filled by the nutrient solution

over time, the solution pass through the outlet.

Now the remaining solution again come back to the

nutrient tank through the pipe that connects the
outlet and tank.
This process run as a cycle and produce the
maximum yield.
ADVANTAGES OF VERTICAL FARMING:-
There are many advantages of vertical farming.
They are as follows:
 It uses less land but yield more.
 It offers a plan to handle future food demands.
 It allows crops to grow year-round.
 It uses significantly less water.
 Weather doesn't affect the crops.
 There is less exposure to chemicals and
 Disease
DISADVANTAGES OF VERTICAL FARMING:-
 It could be very costly to build and economic
feasibility studies haven't yet been finished.
 Pollination would be very difficult and costly.
 It would involve higher labor costs.
 It relies too much on technology and one day of
power loss would be devastating.
 Limited variety of plants can be grown such as
herbs, shrubs and small flower plants. This type
of farming systems does not support cropping
of tall trees.

CONCLUSION
While the vertical farming market continues to
make inroads in the U.S., Japan perhaps has seen
the most success of any country.
Vertical farming technologies are still relatively new.
Companies are yet to successfully produce crops at
scale and make it economically feasible to meet the
growing food demand. The performance of farms
like Aero Farms will determine how important a role
vertical farming will play in the future to face the
challenge of growing food demand.
It is worth noting, however, that technologies
developed for vertical farms are also being adopted
by other segments of the $300 billion indoor
farming sector, such as greenhouses, which can
utilize natural sunlight, albeit requiring much more
real estate and longer routes to market.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
https://www.thebalancesmb.com

https://www.bbc.com › future › article

https://www.mdpi.com ›

https://nuffieldinternational.org ›