Santiago 1
Christian Santiago
Hansen
AP Lang
15 April. 2019
Vertical Farming and its Wonders
Throughout the cultivation of the human race, individuals have found different methods
of fulfilling the nutrient-craving stomachs of the people surrounding them; ranging from mere
infants to well established adults. With the success of providing and sustaining a feasible source
of nourishment came with it the significantly powerful emotion of appetite which has broadened
relations amongst different lands. Crops become scarce unless given a country source that has
appropriate weather and soil conditions, however, optimal solutions have appeared. Vertical
farming is both the necessity and the solution this country needs in order to strengthen the
population, increase efficiency, and drastically improve the economy starting with slowly
migrating away from traditional “bulk” farming.
The farming that is used in today's society has become so traditional that the grand mass
of people and the application to provide food has become less focused on quality and more on
quantity. This malevolent altering of small scale traditional production of crops ultimately has
led to the development of new approaches to the act. Inclusion of special fertilizers and
genetically modified crops has taken a toll on the unnatural aspects of the nutrients that are
available along with inducing into bodies different chemicals from pesticides that would not
have appeared had farmers taken more specialization on the care over numeric outcomes.
Vertical farming both can grow mass produce while at the same time keeping the all natural
nutrients being able to benefit many consumers in digesting healthier foods. Not only does the
Santiago 2
consumer intake differing unnaturalities but at the same time the earth is engulfing in large
quantities the excess amounts of bacteria-killing chemicals(Miller, Jeanne).
Soil is the fundamental requirement for crop life and with the progressive and cyclical
actions of plowing, planting, and fertilizing; it cannot be expected to hold pure form along with
contain the most nutrient characteristics when any outsource nutrients end up diminishing soil
due to excess application and depravity. A plant that gets excess calcium, due to being treated to
in great quantities, may result in deformed stems or ,if given excess water, it may decline its
growth rate along with lifetime (Hall). Controlling such variable factors is extremely accessible
with the practice of growing vertically. Not only can soil be preserved since the soil taken would
be in the sample and extremely well maintained, but the proficiency and the rate at which the
production is in an environmentally responsible and sustainable way provides higher nutrient
product, and drastically reduces water usage along with runoff (Vertical Farming for the Future).
This concurrence between providing richer plants and preserving water is an optimal solution
with no drawbacks being able to succor towards the protection of water throughout the United
States, abilitizing the action of helping with droughts, and provide for an ever demanding
economy.
In today’s society more than 400 million acres of land are planted with fruits and
vegetables, with an ever growing population demanding more and more land. While still being
plentiful of free space it is not a bad idea to go ahead and consider solutions to overpopulation
given the variable that can be changed: farmland. Vertical farms both provides for increasing
populations and less consumption of horizontal land. While taking up less space than farms, they
produce more food per square foot compared to traditional farming. This is due to the controlling
of light, temperature, and nutrients, which are the necessities to plant growth. (Kurzius).
Santiago 3
FarmedHere, located in Chicago, Illinois, is the largest vertical farm to date and has been
growing lettuce and herbs in an old warehouse since 2011. Being stacked relatively twenty feet
high in the 5,000 square foot space can yield the same margin amount (in excess) as the
production of four acres of land. While having many benefits, there is a drawback to those
inclined and extremely beneficial use of growth: price. Vertical Farms can be costly to build,
since not everything can be a benefit without a cost. The technology used to control factors such
as light levels can be expensive along with installations, however it is a small price to pay for
such a great benefit, especially since it is year-round.
Seasonal changes take drastic effects on farmers today, giving way to only being able to
grow during certain times of the year due to the ferocious weather that can deprive plants of life.
However, if grown and controlled inside there would be no need to wait on a specific instance of
time during the year to be able to work and provide produce. This year-round action can benefit
both the standard of living of farmers and the economy, diminishing elusive want to work,
lowering the unemployment rate, and providing more for the exponentially growing population.
The money farmers put into growing their crops would no longer be seen as a lottery chance, but
as a definitive investment no longer relying on the good grace of the outer elements but relying
on the technology that is present in today's advanced culture. Vertical farms can imitate
extremely well the most beautiful seasonal days of the year ultimately leading to perfect produce.
This opens up new doors for people to be able to intake a lot healthier foods being able to have a
lot healthier population and a lot happier general citizen pool.
The sole goal is to be able to produce good food at a good rate for good people. When it comes
to the task of getting the job done, there is no opposition to the practice of vertical farming since
it achieves all three of these goals and does it at a very good rate with very good outcomes. By
Santiago 4
2050, there may be more than 9 billion people living on this planet. Thats plenty of mouths that
need to be cared for and fed. In order to be able to provide for all those people the yearly product
needs to be incremented by 70% by this time period and vertical farming may very well be the
optimal solution (Miller, Gary). The science behind it also revolves around the turning of the
plants in order for all of them to get equal air flow and nutrients. This turning is done with the
same power that is used to power a 60 watt light bulb, gravity being the main executioner of
actions. So while being high cost of building it still has some low costs of processing being able
to use natural elements in the world today to do the same work that the entire plantation is based
off of. Providing more food, for more people, hurting the earth less, all at a higher rate. What
would be a better combination?
Not only do most vertical farms have the ability to become super farms, but they also coincide
with other farming in different areas, such as fish farming. A lot of vertical farms could use soil,
however, most use a method called Aquaponics. Aquaponics is the cyclical and ultimately
natural perfect method to grow plants. Using a tenth of the water, soil-based gardening may use,
aquaponics uses water-rich nutrients from fish to provide rich food for the plants. In turn the
plants are able to grow more efficiently at a much lower water cost. Countries such as Mexico
and China have adopted Aquaponics that works off of purification through the idling of fish. The
excess waste created by marine animals becomes feasible food for crops which outcomes a
purified water source. It’s the perfect combination of a scalable and evermoving process with no
harmful petrochemicals. While simultaneously growing and aging fish, plants can be grown
using their natural filtering abilities, providing for two more demanding industries, purification,
and produce.
Santiago 5
Society would be mistaken if it believes it can survive without vertical farming and time
will ensure that. Vertical farming benefits the economy in so many different ways from the
process of being able to potentially a solution to the population, to the well being health of the
soil that this earth relies on, to even the conservation of water for world problems. General minds
in opposition of the thought processes of individuals such as Elon Musk instigate the pursuance
of solutions for individual problems, however vertical farming tackles multiple problems with
one big leap. It takes up an incrementally less amount of space than normal farming, allows for
perfect care of plants, and can be a year round application to better benefit the economy along
with the stomachs that populate it. Not using soil and instead using rich water that would be seen
as useless to provide purification is a whole new solution itself. So when in question of what this
world needs as it progresses forward with incrementally growing population, vertical farming is
the answer, it's about growing more in a more advanced and beneficial method, it's what the
people deserve.