Vertical Farming: A Sustainable And Technological Revolution In Modern Agriculture

With global populations expanding and undernutrition still remaining a worldwide concern, meeting food security, as well as food security through sustainable means, has become urgent. Vertical farming (VF) systems are a new paradigm that can account for the inefficiencies of conventional agriculture while providing space-efficient, high-yield, and environmentally controlled food systems. Conceptually introduced by Gilbert Ellis Bailey in 1915, in conjunction with recent developments in hydroponics, aeroponics, and aquaponics, VF systems allow for crop production in vertically stacked tiers with often upcycled urban infrastructure. This paper will consider the working principles, types of systems, types of crops, quality of products, and possible applications of vertical farming. VF substantially reduces the amount of water that is consumed, facilitates more efficient resource use, and allows for the year-to-year production of high-value crops, e.g., leafy greens, herbs, and fruits. VF systems have limitations, primarily the amount of capital needed, limited variety of crops, and scalability. The future of VF systems lies not only in development with smart city initiatives but also in smart city initiatives, applying artificial intelligence, and advancing controlled environment agriculture (CEA) technologies to maximise farm productivity and sustainability. Cities are becoming larger, i.e., urbanisation, and arable land and natural resources are being placed in scarcity; VF is a possible sustainable, future-orientated, and long-term approach to help secure the global food supply while minimising adverse externalities and ecological footprints.