Vertical Farming

So, vertical farming, is it a science fiction “pie in the sky”, or a just around the corner reality? Well, just how does vertical farming stack up, so to speak?  Obviously, the technology needed to farm straight up already exists. We’ve been growing plants indoors in abundant quantities through the luxury of glass greenhouses for more than a century, and hydroponics, the method of growing plants in water using mineral nutrient solutions, also around for centuries, has proven that soil itself is not necessary for plant growth. Even with all this to back it up, is vertical farming financially feasible any time soon? That all depends on whether you live in the “Rockefellers’ neighborhood” or “Mr. Roger’s neighborhood”. The experts themselves admit the cost of research and development of towering vertical farms to grow the amount of crops needed to feed the population on a global scale would be well beyond the hundreds of millions of dollars range. So for now at least, like good ol’ Joe Hill would say, vertical farming remains a “pie in the sky”.