leafy greens

Advantages of vertical farming

June 19, 2025 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Vertical farming has been increasingly used for leafy greens like lettuce and kale, as well as for herbs and a few fruits like strawberries and tomatoes. A recent study by the Technical University of Munich has investigated the use of vertical farming for a much broader range of foods. The study looked at the positive effects of vertical farming on both yield and environmental impact.

Traditional agriculture can reach its limits as a result of extreme weather events or in areas of high population density and resultant high demand. With vertical farming, food can be grown close to consumers independent of weather and can make very efficient use of space.

The Proteins4Singapore study investigated the potential of a 10-layer vertical farming system cultivating crops, algae, mushrooms, insects, fish, and cultivated meat. Many of these things are not currently part of many people’s diets. But these foods can increase the protein yield per cultivation area nearly three hundredfold for crops and 6,000-fold for mushrooms and insects.

Mushrooms and insects are examples of foods that require little light and cultivating them reduces energy consumption and, therefore, associated costs.

The biggest challenges for controlled environment agriculture – which is what vertical farming is – are the high energy demands for cultivation and the social acceptance. Some of the foods that are especially well-suited to vertical farming – such as algae and insects – are not generally accepted by many consumers. Controlled environment agriculture can revolutionize food production, but it will take a combination of technological advances, policy initiatives, and public engagement.

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Vertical Farming to increase yields and reduce environmental impact

Photo, posted October 21, 2022, courtesy of Fred Miller / University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Does vertically-grown food taste different?

January 2, 2024 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Vertical farming is a method of producing crops in vertically stacked layers or surfaces typically in a skyscraper, used warehouse, or shipping container. Modern vertical farming uses indoor farming techniques and controlled-environment agriculture technology.

Vertical farming has the potential to be one of the solutions to food insecurity in parts of the world where crop production is limited by climate change or other environmental factors. Vertical farming reduces water and land use, reduces nutrient emissions, and could eliminate the need for pesticides. It also allows more food to be grown locally and with higher yields.

But some critics of vertically-grown veggies say they look pale, artificial, and taste bland. In the first study of its kind, a research team led by scientists from the University of Copenhagen in Denmark sought to investigate whether these consumer prejudices hold true.

The research team asked 190 participants to blind taste test arugula, baby spinach, pea shoots, basil, and parsley grown in vertical farming and compare the taste and appearance to those same leafy greens grown organically in soil.

Overall, the organic greens grown traditionally narrowly beat out the vertically-grown ones in the study, but it was very close. For example, when asked to rate arugula on a scale of 1-9 with 9 being best, the participants gave both types a 6.6. There was no clear winner between basil, baby spinach, and pea shoots. The only clear winner was organically-grown parsley.

The study debunks some myths about vertically-grown food and should help pave the way for more widespread adoption of this efficient method to grow tasty and nutritious food.

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A delicious surprise: Vertically farmed greens taste as good as organic ones

Photo, posted May 11, 2009, courtesy of Cliff Johnson via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Giant Farming Robots | Earth Wise

April 20, 2023 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Farmers are perpetually engaged in a battle against weeds, which can strangle crops and destroy their yields. There are basically two ways to fight weeds: spraying herbicides that are bad for the environment and human health or using human labor to pull the weeds by hand.

Both choices are increasingly undesirable. Herbicide resistance is a growing problem facing farms around the world and widespread labor shortages in the agricultural sector are making it increasingly difficult to use human resources to combat weeds.

A startup company called FarmWise founded by an MIT engineering alumnus is providing a third option for farmers. The company has developed giant autonomous weeding robots that use artificial intelligence to cut out weeds without damaging crops.

The company’s first product is called the Titan. It looks like a large tractor without a driver’s seat. It uses machine vision to distinguish weeds from crop plants like leafy greens, cauliflower, artichokes, and tomatoes. It snips off the weeds with sub-inch precision.

Fifteen titan robots have been roaming the fields of 30 large farms in California and Arizona for several years. A newer robot, called the Vulcan, is more lightweight and is pulled by a tractor. FarmWise continues to add new crops to its database so that the robots can be used to fight weeds in more and more kinds of farms.

Weed problems are especially acute for farmers of specialty crops, which grow on smaller farms than corn and soybeans, and have unique growing practices, which limit the effectiveness of chemical and technical solutions.

The overall goal of FarmWise is to turn artificial intelligence into a tool that is as reliable and dependable as GPS is now in the farming industry.

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Titanic robots make farming more sustainable

Photo, posted August 23, 2021, courtesy of Carol VanHook via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio