Irrespective of how rapidly we make progress in various fields of science and technology, agriculture remains the single most important aspect of human existence. Beyond the elements that help sustain our lives on the planet, it is food that becomes our primary concern. Quite simply put; if you stop putting fuel in to your engine, your engine dies. It is to avoid exactly that scenario that each year we try and make sure the agricultural industry is healthy and doing well. Yet all is not well with world food production.
With the growing rate of population across the planet and with the amount of land available for agriculture shrinking with each passing year, it seems almost impossible to increase the global yield of crops any further. Let’s face it; there is not much land available for us to bring under cultivation and with the last green revolution well past us, there is not much we can do about crop yield as well. So what is the way forward for the planet in regards to its food needs?
For more than a decade, Columbia University professor Dickson Despommier has argued that agriculture needs to expand upwards, not outwards. Yes, you got that right. According to professor Dickson, farms need to grow not on earth, but towards the skies. This is called ‘Vertical Farming’ and the idea seems to have enough merit in it for the world to take a look at it. While traditionally one would not see agriculture in buildings as a very lucrative or even possible idea, modern technology has changed all that. According to Dickson, these structures are the future of agriculture and knowing the direction in which the world is headed, it may be hard to argue with him.
Feeding the growing population of world, especially the ones in developing nations is still one of the most serious problems the world faces. With land being so scarce for us to expand our farming sector, these might sky scrapers might be the answer. They use solar energy and create an atmosphere for crops to grow inside them. They seem economically viable and they sound like a bright idea indeed! While many might dismiss the idea as being crazy (which is what the world does most often as it is the easiest thing to do), the whole concept surely has a lot of merit in it. The best part about it is that when these sky scrapers are tall enough and abundant enough to grow all the food the world needs, then we can convert the traditional farms in to “oxygen farms” by just allowing them to grow tall trees.
The new innovation surely seems to be a winner in every regards and one hopes that the project gets enough funding to move ahead. Come to think of it, is the idea really that crazy? Are we not growing crops on mountains? These are man made mountains that grow crops, I suppose. Every great idea is surely inspired by nature!
Via: Wired
