Farming on the Up and Up

After reading a little piece by Alan Smith of "Living the American Green," this eco-nerd has become slightly obsessed with the notion of vertical farming. Dickson Despommier, of Columbia University, has launched the Vertical Farm Project, an effort to promote the use of climate-controlled, + green sky scrapers within urban centers. The positives in the Vertical Farming checklist are off the charts: year-round growth, weather-independent quality, local transport options, disease-free food, and so on. But the hippie-bred upstate New Yorker in me is still a little concerned. Do we really want all of our food coming from glass factories, where every tomato is perfectly spherical, every berry the size of a baseball? There seems something artificial and slightly creepy about scientifically-grown meals.

After delving into the science behind these vertical farms, however, I quickly decided that I must brush my Aldous Huxley-esque visions to the side, as the advantages of this new farming technique greatly outweigh any feelings of fictional dystopia I may have. Some simple math:

+ Population Explosion
+ Environmental Changes which are making weather harsher and less predictable
+ The fact that the vast majority of farmable land is already in use
+ The urgent need for a new world-wide farming technique.

Vertical Farming provides this much-needed solution to the farming crisis going on in the world. It is interesting that while virtually all aspects of human life have evolved with time and technology, we still are largely using agricultural methods that date back thousands of years. The people at VFP have made great steps in promoting this alternative growing method, ushering us into the real 21st century: one in which we take responsibility for the earth and the health of the world population. And further, as Mr. Smith stated, "this is the technology that we are going to have to get right if we ever want humans to explore space. And, frankly, considering the number we are currently doing on the globe… we do. " So donors: be alert for these green-scraper architectural projects that are beginning to flood the blogosphere, and help support some urban greenery.

Dana Variano