Vertical Farming - Can It Feed the Growing Population?

Greetings from England - I'm back at our home office in Sheffield this week. 

I want to share a really interesting video that I saw on PBS, which is our US Public Broadcasting Service. The topic is vertical farming. Before you say, "that’s a bunch of rubbish (British for garbage), vertical farming will never feed the world." I encourage you to take a look – it’s really fascinating what they are doing.

Singapore has one of the highest population densities in the world. About 5 million people live on the wealthy island city. Singapore is home to one of the first commercial vertical farming operations - Sky Greens – which is nearly four stories high and designed to consume minimal energy. With only 250 acres of farmed fields available, Singapore grows just 7 per cent of its own fresh fruits and vegetables.

At Sky Greens, the plants are watered with a gravity-fed system using an ancient water wheel technology. The closed loop hydraulic system uses about the same amount of electricity as a 60 Watt light bulb, which costs about $3/month – yes, three US dollars month!

A Columbia University economist said that we are going to reach a “tipping point when traditional agriculture can no longer produce enough food” for our growing population. By 2050, he expects 80 per cent of the global population to be living in cities which will exacerbate the problem. He sees vertical farming as one solution.

Sky Greens say they are 10 times more productive per square foot than traditional farming and use less water, inputs and land. In Singapore, 90 percent of their food is imported from countries like China and Malaysia or as far away as Holland and the US.

As for my 2 cents, I think it's going to take lots of innovative ways to feed our expected population of 9+ billion by 2050. As farmers, we need to consider new ideas and views. To view the full video story, click here. 

Also in news… according to the HGCA, the Russian barley harvest has begun in southern regions 10 days ahead of normal, and early yields look good at 5.28t/ha, which is significantly higher than 2.98t/ha harvested in drought stricken 2012.

SovEcon have suggested the Russian government may step in earlier than usual to purchase wheat for government stockpiles, which have been depleted due to intervention selling into the interior.

USDA’s Crop Progress report shows soybean planting jumped 14 per cent to 85 per cent planted. This is well below year-ago levels of 98 per cent, but just under the five-year average of 91 per cent. Soybean emergence also saw a boost to 66 per cent from 48 per cent last week.

 Have a jolly good week!