Vertical farming, the practice of planting crops in vertically stacked layers, is gaining traction worldwide as the world’s population continues to grow. According to a recent United Nations report, the global population is expected to be around 8.5 billion in 2030 and 9.7 billion in 2050.
Hydroponics, defined as growing plants in nutrient-rich water with or without supporting media such as sand and gravel, has a history as long as traditional agricultural practices.
Recently, in the 1990s, microbiologist Dickson Despommier, a public health professor at Columbia University, and his students proposed a 30-story skyscraper where 100 different fruits and vegetables would grow in vertical farms, as well as housing fish and chicken in an integrated operation.
According to India-based Allied Market Research, vertical farming’s global market cap was $3.24 billion in 2020 and is expected to reach $24.11 billion by 2030. Though hydroponics has the largest market share, the aeroponics segment of the industry will see the most growth in the coming years.
Vertical farming is done in a controlled environment and can be hydroponics, aquaponics, or aeroponics, each with its own set of advantages and disadvantages.
Plants can be grown in six ways in a hydroponic or soilless environment, ranging from deep water culture systems to the aeroponic technique, which suspends plants in the air and exposes their roots to a nutrient-rich mist.
Moreover, the drip system, which constantly pumps nutrient solution through tubes serving individual plants, is the most widely used globally and in Pakistan. Excess water can be re-circulated or drained from the system depending on your business needs. Still, this design has an advantage over others due to the wide range of plants available and the ease with which it can be scaled to support more extensive operations.
Agriculture land is rapidly disappearing due to urbanization, as are water resources, rising dry lands, and other disastrous effects of climate change. According to a UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) report, per capita arable land will be reduced to 0.15 hectares by 2050, down from 0.38 hectares in 1970.