Analysis

October 20, 2020

Can vertical farming grow beyond herbs and leaves?

Growing crops indoors has taken a steady rise in the past several years, but is the system allergic to scaling up further?


Connor Bilboe

9 min read

Vertical farming startup Infarm co-founders. Credit: Robert Rieger, FvF Productions UG

In the early 20th century German scientist Fritz Haber and his colleague Carl Bosch worked out a way to synthesise ammonia, making it possible to create industrial amounts of fertiliser for the first time. It’s said that two out of five humans on the planet today owe their existence to the discovery, which led to an explosion in the amount of food the world could produce.

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Vertical farming crops
A vertical farm uses high-tech LEDs as an alternative light source to grow crops. Credit: diephotodesigner.de
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Jamie Burrows, CEO and founder of vertical farming startup Vertical Future
Jamie Burrows, chief executive and founder of Vertical Future
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