The debate has raged on for weeks and while the initial thoughts were that we were heading towards something that was a substantial concept that would feed millions of hungry mouths across the planet, it seems the concept has only lost out with time as many doubt both its economic viability and also its environmental sustainability. Vertical Farming is a concept that is drenched in as much controversy as fame and while it has its staunch supporters; it also has people who believe it is a figment of imagination of those who cannot see the sensible path forward. So is vertical farming a fancy concept that would actually never amount to anything substantial or would it actually be the idea that provides the majority of world food five decades from now?
Dickson Despommier, a professor of public health at Columbia University, hopes to make these zucchini-in-the-sky visions a reality. Dr. Despommier’s pet project is the “vertical farm,” a concept he created in 1999 with graduate students in his class on medical ecology, the study of how the environment and human health interact. The idea, which has captured the imagination of several architects in the United States and Europe in the past several years, just caught the eye of another big city dreamer: Scott M. Stringer, the Manhattan borough president. The concept is being sketched in to reality as we speak and the hurdles are being slowly overcome.
While there are many who feel that it is neither sustainable in an urban ecosystem for a considerable amount of time due to utter lack of natural resources nor is it economically viable as it demands more energy and cost input that it actually produce. The detractors believe that the structure with the required lighting, soil requirements and other needs for agriculture make it an almost impossible task to grow crop in buildings. Moreover they point out that this would hamper and harm the existing urban infrastructure leaving it neither good for business needs for the imaginative concept of urban farming.
All one can say to the skeptics though is that when man though he could land on moon people believed we were insane to even try (And some still believe that we never did!), when we thought about flying many believed the designers of first flying machine were mad. All that did not stop us from achieving the impossible and breaking the conventions. If a concept has a potential to feed millions who are hungry then I am all out in support for it, even if it is a concept. Give it a shot- an initial try. It would surely not hurt to see how it works!
Via: worldchanging
