Plant Skyscrapers

Giant greenhouses in city centres to herald a new age of farming, the Plant scrapers.

Crops could soon be grown in greenhouses the size of skyscrapers in city centres across the country.

Birds Eye and other food producers are investigating building ‘plant scrapers’, which could accommodate hundreds of storeys worth of crops, in a bit to make farming more economical, sustainable and meet increasing demand.

The vertical farms would use an innovative feeding system which nourishes plants with enriched water, therefore cancelling out the need for soil and the need for food to be grown and harvested in the countryside.

The climate inside them can be controlled and the farms will dramatically increase crop yields because growing can occur all year round, while the plants would be under cover, so no pesticides would be needed.

There are sophisticated plant scrapers planned or under construction in Sweden, Japan, China, Singapore and Chicago in the US.

The plant scraper will grow and supply fresh vegetables while creating solutions to some of the most vexing city pollution issues.

Scientists want the vertical farm to not only grow food but also help in developing sustainable solutions for energy, heat, waste, and water issues of daily city life.

Plant Chicago is a vertical farm started in 2010 and was fully operational by 2016. The plant is pumping out greens, mushrooms, bread and kombucha.

The zero-energy facility relies on an on-site CHP system fueled by methane produced in-house by an aerobic digester.

Currently, we use 80% of the arable land we have access to globally. In the future, without significant change in today’s food production, it is estimated that at least 10-15% of the global vegetable production must take place inside cities by 2050 in order to maintain our current growth and consumption patterns.

Due to the demographic and environmental factor, significant changes are taking place within the Agricultural sector.

Vertical farming is part of an answer to cutting global energy emissions, tackling water shortages and dealing with the demands of an ever increasing population.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2255494/The-plant-skyscrapers-Giant-greenhouses-city-centres-herald-new-age-farming.html

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