Farming and its environmental impacts: is vertical farming the solution?
The food and agriculture industry often has a negative impact on the environment due to greenhouse gas emissions and other pollutants that are used at almost every stage of production. There is also the strain that growing food puts on our precious natural resources such as water.
In this article, we will delve into the challenges posed by food production on the climate and explore the importance of sustainable alternatives like vertical farming. From soil degradation and water irrigation to greenhouse gas emissions, we will examine the interconnectedness of these issues and their implications for food security. We will also explore how vertical farming presents an innovative solution to mitigate the environmental footprint of agriculture while enhancing food production and sustainability.
Why does food production contribute to climate change?
The food and agriculture industry is a serious contributor to climate change for a wide range of reasons. We’ve outlined how greenhouse gases and other emissions are produced at almost all stages of production; plus, other ways farming affects the climate.
Impact on soil quality
Soil is a non-renewable resource that provides us with essential food and resources, but the arable land that the world needs for food production is decreasing, and a third of the world's soil is found to be moderate to highly degraded.
Soil erosion and degradation are caused by the loss of soil quality which diminishes its capacity to support animals and plants. It's a natural process, but it's accelerated because of human activity on the soil through practices like intensive agriculture, deforestation, and overgrazing and the use of man-made chemicals to fertilise the soil.
When natural land is converted into farmland, important nutrients are removed, and the natural soil cycle of recycling and replenishment is stunted. This also reduces the amounts of carbon the soil can store by up to 75%.
Water irrigation
The agriculture industry uses a lot of water. Worldwide, this accounts for around 70% of freshwater withdrawn for human use. This water is then redirected onto farmland through irrigation systems. Our demand for water is also expected to rise by 55% by 2050 due to increasing population and industrial growth.
The long-term effects of large-scale water division are becoming known. Areas with too much irrigation can become waterlogged, poisoning plants through a process called anaerobic decomposition, which is where microbes decompose organic material in the absence of oxygen. In areas where water has been diverted because of irrigation, soils can build up too much salt, damaging plant growth.
Irrigation can also cause increases in water evaporation, which can change surface air temperature and pressures, and affect atmospheric moisture conditions. This may also affect rainfall patterns not only over irrigated areas but thousands of miles away. Water irrigation also depletes river systems, aquifers, and downstream groundwater.
Agriculture's greenhouse gas emissions
The agricultural industry emits significant amounts of methane and nitrous oxide emissions, making up 10% of the EU's total greenhouse-gas emissions in 2012. Worldwide, these emissions jump to 18.4%.
Thankfully, some progress is being made. The EU reduced its emissions by 24% between 1990 and 2012 by decreasing livestock numbers, improving fertiliser application efficiency, and enhancing manure management.
Unfortunately, agriculture in the rest of the world is heading in the opposite direction. Global emissions from crop and livestock production grew by 14% between 2001 and 2011. There is potential to reduce these emissions with new techniques, such as vertical farming.
Climate change and food insecurity
Our current farming practices also contribute significantly to food security challenges, such as crop failures, disrupted food production systems, and increased vulnerability to extreme weather events which will only worsen in the future. As well as rising temperatures, changing rainfall patterns and the spread of pests and diseases affect crop yields and livelihoods, leading to decreased availability, lower quality and higher prices of food. To address these challenges, more sustainable agricultural practices are needed.
Food may also become more expensive to the consumer because of increased energy prices, the cost of production, labour, and raw materials, or as new climate mitigation laws are introduced. In addition, extreme weather events may cause severe reductions in productivity, causing dramatic rises in food prices.
What is a vertical farming environment?
Vertical farming is the process of growing upwards, similar to a multi-level car park, rather than horizontally along the ground, like traditional agricultural production. This farming system is an essential part of the solution to global challenges currently faced because of climate change.
IGS' vertical farms are called Growth Towers, which are essentially giant vending machines for growing crops and plants which can be built on vacant urban land or retrofitted in warehouses. They can be built in rural locations where greenhouse or open-field farming is impossible because of a lack of arable land, inclement weather or water scarcity.
Climate change is making traditional agriculture increasingly challenging, inefficient and non-sustainable. Here at IGS, we're currently deploying our vertical farming infrastructure around the world, empowering our customers to sustainably grow high-quality, profitable, and nutritious food.
Our Growth Towers empower our customers to grow various crops, including leafy greens, salads and herbs. IGS has successfully trialled plants including strawberry plants, tuber crops (seed potatoes and radishes), broccoli, and even trees. Perennial crops include chillies and cherry tomatoes.
Our vertical farming technology can complement traditional farming and reduce emissions and waste in food supply chains.
How can vertical farming reduce greenhouse gas emissions?
Vertical farms produce fewer greenhouse gases than traditional open-field farming. This is because this system emits fewer carbon emissions as it uses less land, employs innovative crop production techniques, and due to collocation options, can support shorter distribution times.
If vertical farming reduces our need for some open-field farms, it could also help to create green spaces, which aid in oxygen production and carbon storage.
One of the biggest criticisms around vertical farming is its energy use. Whilst vertical farming takes a large amount of energy to grow crops, there are many opportunities for vertical farms to run on renewable energy sources. Research is being undertaken to discover if renewable energies are a viable option.
Another way IGS vertical farms optimise energy usage is our patented three-phase power and control platform. The IGS systems allow you to dynamically control LED usage, which means you can deliver only the light the plants need when they need it. This process of photon optimisation can reduce power requirements by up to 50%.
Vertical farming practices also offer a wide range of environmental benefits, including:
- Reduced food wastage—crops are grown closer to consumption or distribution centres, significantly extending the shelf-life of the crop and can be supplied to meet local demand. Growth Towers can also grow crops with greater uniformity and shorter growing cycles, leading to less wastage at harvest and delivery to meet fluctuating market demand.
- Water recycling—closed-loop fertigation and UV water filtering means that a majority of the water consumed is in the crops themselves. All the wastewater is flushed every six months depending on the crop. This wastewater can be recycled, e.g. open field crop irrigation.
- Less CO2—Our patented HVAC and fertigation systems deliver uniform crop growth. Our Growth Recipes can achieve 2-3x greater yields (kg per square metre) than in a glasshouse environment. Unlike glasshouses, Growth Towers do not require gas, protective chemicals or high levels of CO2.
- Zero protective chemicals—Vertical farming allows you to grow crops in clean and bio-secure environments without pesticides, herbicides, or fungicides. This method also reduces the emissions of greenhouse gases from methane and nitrous oxide.
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The agricultural industry has significant environmental impacts, including contributing to climate change, soil degradation, and water depletion. Traditional open-field farming methods exacerbate these issues, which is where vertical farming comes in as part of the solution. Vertical farming has the potential to support a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, minimise waste, and provide more efficient use of resources, all while growing high-quality, nutritious food.
However, it is important to address the energy use concerns associated with vertical farming and find ways to run these farms on renewable energy sources. With the potential to complement traditional farming and reduce emissions and waste in food supply chains, vertical farming is a promising solution to some of the environmental challenges we face today.
Want to understand how vertical farming can work for your business? Then book a tour of our facility or a demo to see the towers in action.
1 https://grantham.sheffield.ac.uk/soil-loss-an-unfolding-global-disaster/
2 https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/soil-degradation.html
3 http://assets.wwf.org.uk/downloads/thirstycrops.pdf
4 https://news.un.org/en/story/2015/04/495792
5 https://www.epa.gov/agstar/how-does-anaerobic-digestion-work
7 https://www.eea.europa.eu/signals/signals-2015/articles/agriculture-and-climate-change
8 https://ourworldindata.org/emissions-by-sector#agriculture-forestry-and-land-use-18-4
9 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2210670715000700
