Undeniably, industrialization and urbanization across the globe are reducing fertile land that would be utilized for crop production. On the other hand, rapid growth in the world’s population is accelerating the demand for food to a huge extent. Here, vertical farming does come as a savior.
Vertical farming, as the name implies, is a practice of crop cultivation in vertically stacked layers. It is very useful, especially in urban areas, for making more products within a small land. This farming method offers easy harvesting, high yield, minimal pesticide usage, and less area requirement. It is a sustainable agricultural process that needs 95% less water as compared to other agricultural methods. In fact, the used water can be recycled and saved in vertical farming. Also, there is no real dependency on the weather, in cases of high-tech farms.
Vertical farming needs major components such as computerized & monitoring systems, programmable LED lighting systems, remote control systems & software, automated racking & stacking systems, climate control system, and more. Though the initial capital costs for installing the vertical farming system is quite expensive, but the benefits offered by this farming method is increasing the demand of it in every part of the world.
Table of Contents
Vertical Farming Techniques: –
Hydroponics:
It is a type of horticulture in which crops are grown in water by using mineral nutrient solutions in an adequate solvent, without the use of soil. It is mostly preferred for the fact that it decreases water usage in agriculture.
Aeroponics:
It is an innovative way of growing plants in an air or mist environment, without soil. It requires very less space as the plants are tied to a tower like support. Very less water is used in this process to transmit nutrients.
Aquaponics:
The term aquaponics originates from two words, i.e. aquaculture and hydroponics. Aquaponics is a food production technique that involves the cultivation of fish & plants together in an assembled, recirculating environment. The process uses natural bacterial cycles to transform fish waste into plant nutrition.
Initiatives by the Key Market Players: –
To ensure efficient crop production technology, nothing can be better than upgraded IT and robotic solutions. For instance, the indoor farm by the renowned San Francisco based venture Plenty has recently incorporated advanced machine learning and climate control technologies with crop science, which in turn, has helped the organization cultivate healthy and tasty harvests with limited water usage and monitor energy.
In addition, usage of innovative technologies together can deliver a virtual environment to ensure quality growth of indoor crops. The fluctuating and mutable environment in the farming facility can be perfectly assessed with big data and Internet of Things (IoT) on board. Internet of Things can be considered the backbone of vertical farming. For instance, Bimantis, an Indian venture, has lately developed an excellent farming system with TheGreenSage, an ingenious solution driven by IoT. The solution tends to provide electronic monitoring of the external forces such as air quality, plant growth standards, light, and nutrients.
Meanwhile, the UK is leading the way in vertical farming. In June 2022, the Jones Food Company (JFCo), a British vertical farming startup, has announced to build the world’s largest vertical farm on the site of an old forge in Lydney, Gloucestershire.
Current Market Scenario of the Vertical Farming Industry: –
According to a report published by Allied Market Research, the global vertical farming crops market size is projected to reach $1.3 billion with a significant CAGR from 2021 to 2027. North America is currently holding the highest market share, due to certain factors like an increase in environmental concerns, alarming rate of water level depletion, and the presence of drought-stricken states.
Living Greens Farm is capable of producing more than three million heads of high-quality lettuce within 60,000 square feet of stacked growing space. Also, the fact that the majority of the top companies for the vertical farming crops industry are located in this region is driving the growth of the market even more in North America.
At the same time, the Asia-Pacific region is witnessing the fastest growth rate during the forecasted period. This is attributed to surge in demand for organic food in highly populated countries like India and China. More than three fourths of all vegetables in the world is consumed by the population of the Asia-Pacific region. Countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand, among others, are one of the top fresh produce importing countries. Also, Asian governments are providing subsidies and national policy initiatives to promote sustainable crop cultivation through urban farming.
COVID-19 Impact on the Market: –
However, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic led to hampering the global vertical farming market to some extent, owing to shortage of agricultural labor force and disruptions in the supply chain. Also, the pandemic halted the production facilities of electronics and the semiconductor industry. Due to this reason, electronics such as sensors, lighting, and so on which is necessary in vertical agriculture have not been provided. Along with that, the closure of corporate houses and shopping malls across several nations, especially during the initial phase, affected the global vertical farming market negatively. Nevertheless, as the global situation gets back to normalcy, the market is anticipated to recuperate from the loss it had incurred.
Furthermore, it has been noticed that the popularity of organic food across the world has increased even more after the pandemic as people became more health conscious. This factor is expected to drive the growth of the vertical farming market. The surge in the adoption of technology-driven agriculture is going to offer lucrative opportunities to the key market players. As urbanization is rapidly growing across the world, the concept of vertical farming is going to be more popular in the upcoming years, which in turn, is estimated to provide growth to the vertical farming market in more than one way.