Nov 10, 2020
Written by: Montel
Indoor vertical farming has piqued the interest and curiosity of everyone from farmers to venture capitalists to scientists. And the future is looking even brighter for agtech in this burgeoning market. So what’s driving food production indoors?
Reducing carbon emissions in transportation
Image sourced from GoodLeaf Farms
Transporting fresh produce to supermarkets in a timely manner takes a massive and responsive international logistical network. One-fourth of global greenhouse gas emissions come from food production, and 18 percent of food production emissions come from the supply chain. And food waste is mostly to blame.
The popularity of indoor farming can help reduce these emissions and food waste. Growers can build indoor farming facilities practically anywhere, thus supplying their immediate communities with year-round access to fresh produce that will last longer on the shelf and greatly reduce the pollution created to get it there. And by cutting costs in food transportation, growers can provide fresh produce at lower costs, making foods like leafy greens and tomatoes competitive economically with less nutritious options.
Bigger, more reliable yields to meet rising demand
Image sourced from GoodLeaf Farms
Without intervention, access to affordable and healthy food will continue to be a global challenge. In 2019, 690 million people around the world went hungry, a figure that is projected to rise in no small part because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
But indoor farms constantly produce abundant yields with virtually no waste. Did you know that a single acre of indoor vertical farming has the potential to yield the equivalent of ten and twenty acres of produce grown traditionally? It helps that indoor farming removes variables such as extreme weather, droughts, and pests, which can negatively impact the net yield of a given outdoor crop. They are also not subject to the availability of arable land, an issue exacerbated by climate change.
Data-driven crop control
Image sourced from GoodLeaf Farms
It’s worth focusing on not only the negative variables indoor farming functionally avoids, but the sorts of control growers can achieve over their crops. With the right vertical indoor farming solutions, these facilities can take advantage of soil or hydroponic growing with precision in irrigation, humidity, ventilation, nutrients, light, and more—again, all things that would be impossible if farming stayed outside.
Plants can also receive individual attention, and growers can experiment with different nutrient combinations in laboratory conditions to find the best resources for their crops. Agriculture has always been a scientific undertaking, but with indoor farming more informed growers can deliver on the promise with high-caliber food production that will feed the world.
Are you interested in maximizing the potential of your indoor grow? Grow more with less space with Montel’s mobile vertical grow rack systems and solutions. Check out Montel’s vertical indoor farming solutions and join the future of food production today.
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