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Farming of the Future - The Sky’s The Limit.

By the year 2050 our population is on course to expand by 9.2 billion worldwide. A massive increase that will explode onto our already overcrowded horizon; the decline of the bee is of great concern to ecologists and our vegetables, fruit and grain will suffer greatly because of this.

Our farming land has already been used up to the value of 80%, and with the calculated population explosion, and the decrease in crop yield due to the decline of the bee, we have to discover alternative ways of farming.

An innovative new concept is being pioneered by Dickson Despommier, Professor of environmental sciences and microbiology at a Columbia University. His futuristic vision of ‘Living Skyscrapers’ could be the very answer that we are looking for.

These ‘Living Skyscrapers’ are designed for utilising the upward air space available on our planet. This new scheme is known as ‘Skyscraper Farming’ or ‘Vertical Farming’.

These vertical, giant greenhouses built high into the sky will not only help to reduce global warming, but they will also help to solve a potential world food shortage.

There is something very utopian about the visionary ideal of huge future advancement. By the year 2050 our planet as we know it will have no option other than to look to the future to aid age old methods of farming which will help to counteract Global Warming and the Greenhouse Effect.

As we look toward the future, it is becoming more and more evident that the way in which the world is evolving that we are looking increasingly set to burn to an ecological crisis;

It is obvious that in the not too distant future we may need to accept new methods for the production of our freshly produced vegetables, fruit and grain.

The Global Warming issue has caused us some very serious problems that are almost impossible to reverse. With the decrease in crop yield, due to the decline in the numbers of the all important bee, huge impacts will be felt, which will resound from production of crops and with prices increasing all round, we look set for a crop shortage which could have repercussions worldwide.

Mobile phone transmissions, unpredictable patterns in our weather conditions, global warming, are already severely affecting the bee population. “If this is true we have a huge problem because the weather is becoming more and more changeable. We cannot and should not deny and ignore the decrease of the bee population,” says Andrew Southwood of Fisher Capespan.

“Bees play an important part in growing almost any kind of fruits and vegetables. Andrew Southwood believes that a smaller bee population can influence the quality, availability, and price of fruits and vegetables. “The changing weather conditions will then cause a changeable production. And this in turn will cause the prices to fluctuate”.

Professor Despommier says: “Vertical farming practised on a large scale in urban centres has great potential to supply enough food in a sustainable fashion to comfortably feed all of humankind for the foreseeable future,” he said.

‘With the issue of Global Warming very prominently focused, and forward looking into the latter end of this Century, it seems all too apparent that we need to look at the way in which we produce our vegetables and try to expand into the 21st Century using a method which is very much in the news’.

As world food prices soar, the Skyscraper farms would be able to generate enough food to supply many millions of people. But there is already serious feeling that the cloning of food will be the way forward to food supply in the not too distant future.

The huge benefits of the method of Vertical Farming are the lack of pesticides and fertilizers needed, and also there would be no danger of crop failure, or animal borne diseases.

The farms would also incorporate a system to purify waste water and generate cleaner air energy, and as the world veers towards urbanisation, it does seem to be a viable answer to the worlds impending land farming shortage.

The environmentally friendly skyscrapers could be just the answer to the predicted food shortage that could be on the horizon in the not too distant future. Although simple on its concept, academics seem to have difficulty grasping and accepting this very realistic answer to the world needs.

Greenhouses encased within skyscrapers could, on a large scale in urban centres,” comfortably feed humankind for the foreseeable future”, Despommier said; an amazing claim and indeed entirely possible if his futuristic vision is realised.

These imposing structures containing sustenance are indeed a step forward for mankind. Ecological change is imminent in a self destructive world.

Professor Despommier’s vision looks set to be the way forward into the next phase on the ecological landscape, as vertical farming brings a simple, yet unique solution to the worlds needs.

Scientists and Governments should work hand in hand to support and make this simple, yet remarkable concept, a living and breathing reality. -

Christianna Garrett-Martin

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