According to British media, with the development of science and technology, it is expected to turn vertical farms into efficient "plant factories", and investor interest is also increasing. However, what are the advantages of vertical farms compared to traditional greenhouses?
Vertical farms are close to urban areas and are able to sell fresh produce to city dwellers, eliminating much of the cost of intermediate transportation. But this advantage also brings huge costs to the normal operation of vertical farms. The light and most of the heat needed for plant growth basically comes from the sun, while vertical farms in greenhouses, the source of this light and heat is LED lights or other electrical support. The huge electricity consumption costs caused by this are an important reason for the hesitation of many investors and the unsustainability of vertical farms.
Louis Aulbright, an emeritus professor of biological and environmental engineering at Cornell University, calculated in 2014 that a loaf of bread made from wheat grown on vertical farms could cost $23. Nevertheless, many countries are still keen on investment and development in vertical agriculture.
1. What is a vertical farm
The concept of vertical farm originates from vertical agriculture, vertical agriculture refers to indoor, using soilless cultivation, with bio-organic fertilizer, to maximize the yield benefits of mu within the specified area. It can convert sewage into electricity, greatly reducing energy costs while being able to provide more food.
In 2007, Dixon Depole, a professor at Columbia University in the United States, first proposed the concept of "vertical farms". Vertical farms are a new agricultural development model that takes the city as the core, simulates the growth environment such as water, sunlight and temperature required by agricultural organisms through technical means in skyscrapers, promotes the growth of crops, makes full use of renewable resources and greenhouse technology, and greatly improves agricultural yield and land utilization.
2. Why vertical farms can attract the attention of capital
According to the Update of the World Urbanization Outlook by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, more than 4 billion people will live in cities and towns in the future. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the total world population is expected to reach 8.5 billion by 2030 and 9.7 billion by 2050. It is estimated that to feed this large population, global food production must increase by 70 percent. At the same time, as urbanization continues to accelerate, so will the urban population – by 2050 the global urban population will increase by another 2.5 billion, two-thirds of the world's people will live in cities, and contradictions such as the availability and security of vegetables and food will arise accordingly.
To solve the problem of feeding such a large population, we need a new model of food production – vertical farms that grow food and vegetables in skyscrapers. Cities no longer unilaterally depend on the supply of grain and vegetables from the countryside, and cities can "feed" themselves. Moreover, the crops grown are no longer subject to the influence of weather such as drought or flood, and there is no longer a need to worry about soil pollution and insect pests, and agricultural production will be more efficient.
3. How to make a profitable vertical farm
This is the most important question for every investor, in addition to growing high-value, perishable agricultural products, such as raw leafy vegetables and vanilla, how can vertical agriculture achieve the fastest profitability? Currently, the world's most successful case is the American vertical farm Crop One. Compared to other vertical farms, it uses a container model that doesn't have to wait for the entire farm to be built and can start generating income. Also because of the modular setup, the cost is about 1/4 of the cost of other types of vertical farms. This cost reduction is mainly due to the fact that the construction materials are cheap, but the yield can be 20%-60% higher than the competitors, and in an area of 1 acre, it is enough to produce the equivalent of 400 acres of farmland in the past.
Reducing costs and improving efficiency is an eternal topic. Vertical agriculture is indeed promising in the future, but how to solve the pain point problem on the road of development is the most realistic problem we need to think about.
4. Portable vertical farm case
In 2019, Berlin-based portable vertical farm startup InFarm completed a huge $100 million Series B funding round led by Atomico and followed by Balderton Capital, Astanor Ventures, Cherry Ventures, and TriplePoint Capital.
Atomico is proud to announce its partnership with InFarm:
"Infarm's vertical farming units are unique in that they are independent of the ecological environment and are more efficient than soil agriculture, data-driven and biodiversity. In addition, the consumption of fresh produce is a huge environmental burden. Long transport routes and overused soils can have a serious impact not only on the environment, but also on taste and nutrition. Food has a CARBON dioxide footprint of 17% of global emissions, and 45% of plant nutrients are lost when they reach supermarkets. ”
Currently, InFarm works with 25 major food retailers such as Edeka, Metro, Migros, Casino, Intermarche, Auchan, Selgros and Amazon Fresh to install nearly 300 farms in 150 stores in Germany, Switzerland, France, and produces around 500,000 plants. So what is the reason why InFarm's portable vertical farms are so popular?
The pursuit of "good" quality, let the "fresh" return to life
"When I walk around the food markets of the city, I can't imagine how poor the quality of the produce is, the food in the city has lost its original freshness and taste," said Erez Galonska, one of the founders of InFarm, who has been asking myself "is there a way to bring farms into the city, fresh and taste back into our lives?" ”
In 2014, InFarm founders Osnat Michaeli, Erez Galonska and Guy Galonska opened the door to the world's first mobile vertical farm. They transformed the 1955 Airstream trailer into a vertical farm and created an interactive installation and held workshops with the aim of understanding why urban agriculture did not grow rapidly, the trailer farm became their research station and laboratory, and the various "sounds" formed the beginning of INFARM.
Multi-scenario application, "module" free combination
InFarm's main product is the "indoor vertical farming system", which has great scalability in terms of crop types and planting quantities. The system uses "modules" of the same size as the planting unit – usually occupying one floor of a vertical floor cabinet, in which different plants can be grown. The user can determine the number of modules according to their needs and combine them freely. As a result, InFarm can serve multiple scenarios, not just stores and restaurants.
Each planting module is equipped with sensors, using the blockchain technology app developed by InFarm to monitor the growth of plants, in addition to various parameters in each layer can be controlled, including temperature, pH, oxygen content, etc., using big data to predict when the plant will mature. InFarm can also construct extreme weather to accommodate the growth of rare plants.
In 2019, 65 plant species were planted in InFarm, all of which were pesticide-free. What's more, InFarm claims to be more than 400 times more efficient than soil agriculture. InFarm aims to enter 10,000 supermarkets by 2022, serve 350 million people, and by 2050, become a leading supplier of fresh produce in the heart of the city.
(Source: Agricultural Big Data Information)