2-Acre Vertical Farm Run by AI and Robots Out-Produces 720-Acre Flat Farm
So far, everyone growing vertically is growing crops that are almost entirely water because they're the only things that grow fast enough to turn a profit. They then sell them to rich people who pay 5x for taste and the feeling of eating local. It's a quality-differentiated product, not a solution to food scarcity or security.<p>Until someone can grow cash crops, vertical isn't gonna make a dent, and it's gonna be really hard when competing with the free rain, free sun, and insane automation available for field agriculture already. Even Plenty with SoftBank's extra 'nutrients' tops out at strawberries. See <a href="https://www.eater.com/2018/7/3/17531192/vertical-farming-agriculture-hydroponic-greens" rel="nofollow">https://www.eater.com/2018/7/3/17531192/vertical-farming-agr...</a> for some raw data on unit economics.<p>One application of vertical that does make sense to me is as a community hub or a public health initiative around healthy eating. See <a href="https://www.thegrowcer.ca/" rel="nofollow">https://www.thegrowcer.ca/</a> who makes container farms for isolated communities in northern Canada and measures success by community outcomes and entrepreneurs inspired, or <a href="https://farm.bot/" rel="nofollow">https://farm.bot/</a> which encourages hardware hacking and food supply awareness.