Gilbert Ellis Bailey published a book called "Vertical Farming" and created the phrase

"vertical farming" in 1915. At the University of California, Berkeley, William Frederick

Gerick invented hydroponics in the early 1930s. A Swedish ecological farmer named
Ake Olsson proposed vertical farming as a way to raise vegetables in cities in the
1980s. He created a spiral-shaped rail system for growing plants. The vertical farm
could theoretically produce fish, poultry, fruit, and vegetables using cutting-edge
greenhouse technologies including hydroponics and aeroponics (Despommier, 2010)
Vertical farming could make it possible to produce food in an effective and sustainable
way, conserve energy and water, improve the economy, lessen pollution, provide new
job possibilities, restore ecosystems, and increase access to wholesome foods. In a
controlled environment, crops will be less subject to the infestation, the nutrient cycle,
crop rotation, polluted water runoff, pesticides and dust (Touliatos et al., 2016).
In order to test the hydroponics system using the nutrient film approach, Sparks and
Stwalley (2018) grew lettuce plants while keeping track of how much energy was used
during the growth process. All across the world, many experiments are being conducted
on vertical farming. It has already been made available in Singapore, Japan, Spain, the
US, and Europe. Tech-enabled vertical farms with a track record of success include
Aerofarms and Green Sense in the United States, Delicious in the Netherlands, Sharp's
strawberry farm in Dubai, Spread, Toshiba and more than 100 vertical farms in Japan,
Packet Greens in Singapore, and the EU-funded INFARM in Berlin. In Berlin's grocery
aisles, dining rooms, and distribution centers, INFARM currently runs more than 50
farms. Researchers from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
have observed hydroponics.
VERTICAL FARMING VS HORIZONTAL FARMING
In a study conducted by Ian C. Dodd. In which the study was to compare a vertical
column VFS and a conventional horizontal hydroponic system (HHS) with similar
fertigation regimes, root zone volumes, and planting densities to determine whether
VFS represents a viable alternative to HHS. Lettuce was used as a model plant as it is
widely grown in hydroponics as a rapidly growing leafy vegetable (Safaei et al. 2018)
thereby avoiding some of the complexities of changes in crop biomass allocation during
the reproductive process (Heller et al. 2018). The study was conducted indoors using
only artificial lighting, as this is the dominant approach found in most urban vertical
farming projects, especially in plant factory designs (Kang et al. 2014; He et al. 2019)
and allows more precise control of environmental conditions (Poorter et al. 2018). Our
results show that VFS increased lettuce yield per unit area compared to HHS and
suggest that variation in light intensity between cropping systems of different spatial
orientation could explain differences in crop yield.

In conclusion, By maximizing the use of growing space, vertical column-based VFS

offered a competitive alternative to traditional horizontal growth systems by increasing
crop production per unit area. By reducing the observed PPFD gradient using artificial
lighting inside the VFS, more yield gains may be made. Future research should look at
interactions between vertical columns and putative additional gradients within the VFS
in relation to competition for PPFD in large-scale vertical farming environments, such as
root and canopy zone temperature and nutrient concentration gradients.

CONTROLLED ENVIRONMENT AGRICULTURE

The so-called Sky Greens 'A-Go-Gro' technology used in Singapore is based on A-
shaped towers that are over six meters tall and have up to 26 tiers of rising levels. As
shown in Figure 5, these tiers revolve at a speed of one millimeter per second to give
uniform sun radiation (Krishnamurthy 2014). The system's six square meter footprint
makes it perfect for urban settings. To support the daily production of two tons of
veggies, 120 towers have already been built in Kranji, a neighborhood close to
Singapore's core business district, and another 300 are planned. The cost of vegetables
produced by these towers in Singapore is about 10% higher than imported product and
the system supplies 10% of the vegetable market in Singapore. It provides the city-state
with greater food security and CGG produce.
Sky Greens Vertical Farming System
Patented vertical farming system
Sky Greens patented vertical farming system consists of rotating tiers of growing
troughs mounted on a A-shape aluminium frame. The frame can be as high as 9 meter
tall with 38 tiers of growing troughs, which can accommodate the different growing
media of soil or hydroponics. The troughs rotate around the aluminium frame to ensure
that the plants receive uniform sunlight, irrigation and nutrients as they pass through
different points in the structure.

 High yield
When compare with traditional monolayer farms, the Sky Greens patented vertical
farming system intensifies land use and can result in at least 10 times more yield per
unit land area.

 High quality
The structures are housed in a controlled environment which enables stringent control
of input materials to bring about food supply, food safety, food security and food quality
assurances.
  High flexibility
Made of aluminium and steel, the modular structures are robust and yet highly
customisable and scalable. Structures can be tailor-made to suit different crops,
growing media and natural conditions, even allowing cultivation on originally non-arable
lands.

 Low energy use

With the harnessing of natural sunlight, there is no need for artificial lighting. Rotation is
powered by a unique patented hydraulic water-driven system which utilises the
momentum of flowing water and gravity to rotate the troughs. Only 40W electricity
(equivalent to one light bulb) is needed to power one 9m tall tower.

 Low water use

With the plants irrigated and fertilised using a flooding method, there is no need for a
sprinkler system thereby eliminating electricity wastage, as well as water wastage due
to run-offs. Only 0.5 litres of water is required to rotate the 1.7 ton vertical structure. The
water is contained in a enclosed underground reservoir system and is recycled and
reused.

 Low maintenance
Being housed in a protected environment ensures that the system can be relatively
maintenance-free and have low manpower dependency. The rotating troughs and
intensified plant to plot ratio also mean high manpower efficiency.

Valcent Company (North America)

The company Valcent Products (Verticrop 2016) has a technology that is a derivative of
vertical farming that is now in operation. The system involves multi-level stacked plastic
trays in a climate-controlled glasshouse enclosure (rather than multiple floors). The
racks are rotatable (mechanized) and provide solar exposure.

The Vancouver-based company claims its vertical hydroponic farming technology can
produce over an area of one standard residential lot (50 by 75 feet) the equivalent
output of a 16-acre farm (Laylin 2016). In contrast to a traditional farm, the vegetables
require only 8% of the water and 5% of the area. The produce is exported on a
worldwide basis.
Highly efficient LED illumination is used to augment natural light from the glasshouse
design. No harmful herbicides or pesticides are used. Three staff can oversee 4,000
square feet of plants and 2,000 square feet of space for germinating, harvesting, and
packing. They can process as many as 10,000 plants every three days (Laylin 2012).

Reference:
Carey, R., K. Larsen, and J. Sheridan. 2016. Melbourne’s Food Future: Planning a Resilient
City Foodbowl: A Summary Briefing from the Food-print Melbourne
Project. Melbourne: Victorian Eco-Innovation Lab, The University of Melbourne.
Cox, S. 2016. “Enough with the Vertical Farming Fantasies: There are Still Too Many
Unanswered Questions About the Trendy Practice.” Alternet, 4 October.

Frazier, I. 2017. “The Vertical Farm.” The New Yorker, 9 January.

Ian C. Dodd, Martin McAinsh, 2016, “Vertical farming increases lettuce yield per unit
area compared to conventional horizontal hydroponics” https://doi.org/10.1002/fes3.83
06 June 2016.