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Last week, Stephen Colbert interviewed Columbia University professor, Dr. Dickson Despommier, about his “vertical farming” concept.  I was floored by the brilliance of the idea.  The interview left me wondering all night — why don’t we have something like this in place already?

  Architectural rendering of Vertical Farm designs (source: http://www.verticalfarm.com)

Having been a city dweller for almost my entire life, I admit that I know nothing about farming or growing food, perhaps with the small exception of some rosemary and tomatoes I grow for fun in the summer time.  But, as a city dweller, Vertical Farming seems to make so much sense in so many ways.  Here’s a short list that I gathered:

1.  If we keep going at the rate we’re going now, we’ll be running out of land to grow enough food for the Earth’s population.  Already, 80% of all land that is suitable for agriculture is in use, and we’re running into food shortages.  Where do you go when there’s no room to expand?  You go up.  Vertical.

2.  Vertical farms can be located inside city centers, since they do not take up such a large area.  Moving our food production into where we live just makes sense.  Besides the various benefits of cutting fossil fuel usage, we’d also get fresher food that is locally grown.  It could revive run-down urban areas, create more jobs for the city, etc.  The massive amounts of food consumed in the city can be grown in the city!  This approach makes our current ways — of having food trucked in from other places — seem archaic.

3.  The way we grow food now (i.e. outdoors) is totally dependant on weather.  Crops are subjected to drought, flood, pests, and other kinds of environmental catastrophe.  We as humans learned to protect ourselves from harsh elements a long time ago — why not shelter our food and make sure it gets produced under ideal conditions?

4.  Because the environment for these vertical farms can be totally controlled, VF food will be grown organically.  So, not only will we have locally grown produce, it will also be organic.  

The list actually goes on.  You can learn more about the Vertical Farming concept, benefits, and development of some early projects here:  http://www.verticalfarm.com.

This is definitely an idea that should be put on the desks of city mayors everywhere.