Social Sustainability
Vertical Farming
Definition
Vertical farming is the production of crops in vertically stacked layers within controlled-environment buildings — hydroponic or aeroponic systems under LED lighting, with climate, nutrients and water precisely managed. It achieves extreme land and water efficiency (yielding many times more per square metre, using up to 95% less water than field production), year-round output, no pesticides and city-adjacent location; its binding constraint is energy for lighting, which dominates both cost and carbon footprint.
References
This reference provides supporting context for how “Vertical Farming” is defined and used.
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Overview
How it is used
The model structures urban food production investment, controlled-environment agriculture R&D, food security planning in import-dependent states (Gulf, Singapore), and the energy-agriculture nexus debate.
Why it matters
Vertical farming is agriculture's laboratory for the post-land future — proving what controlled growing can do while learning what it should not try to.