With the world population expected to be 11 billion by 2100, how are we going to feed more of these hungry mouths?
A new trend is expected to assist on that front vertical farming.
Vertical farming doesn’t promise to radically change the way we farm, only make it more efficient, productive, and take up less space.
An example is Urban Crops, a new startup that grows plants using a mixture of indoor farming techniques and hydroponics.
The whole system can turn a 50 square meter space into 500 square meters of usable farm space.
Their 30 square meter facility is able to produce 220 lettuce plants every day, using only 5% of the water needed in traditional farming.
Urban Crops is not alone in this farming revolution.
More and more companies are investing in facilities that try to do the same thing.
The biggest facility right now is a 14,164 square meter facility in Newark, New Jersey, run by Aerofarms.
This facility can produce up to 2 million pounds of fresh, leafy greens a year, and is equivalent to 139,931 square meters of actual farmland.
Target has revealed a partnership with MIT to bring vertical farming techniques to stores.
The partnership wants in-store vertical farms, that will make supermarket-bought produce fresher and, possibly, healthier.
