Maximum Yield Australia/New Zealand November/December 2018 | Page 41

One radical solution is to bring the farms indoors.
Controlled environment agriculture, also known as vertical
farming, doesn’t need any land — just a reclaimed building.
It can produce up to 350 times the amount of food per acre,
using just one per cent of the water, without pesticides,
every single day of the year.
Indoor food factories are now springing up, backed by
millions of investment dollars on every continent including
Antarctica. There’s even one on the International Space Station.
It is increasingly looking like this is the future of farming.
Here are 10 of the larger vertical farm companies from
around the globe:
AEROFARMS, New Jersey, USA
aerofarms.com
Environmentally responsible food production was the idea
behind America’s largest indoor farming enterprise. Now with
nine farms across the US, and more in development around the
world, AeroFarms deliberately chooses sites near major popu-
lation centres to break the old model of transporting food miles
before it arrives on the plate.
Watercress, kale, arugula, and around 20 other types of leafy
greens grow on fabric made from recycled pop bottles, their
roots extending into a water-and-nutrient mist. Stacked on
shelves seven storeys high, the farm produces 1.7 million
pounds of leafy greens each year.
GREEN SPIRIT FARMS, Michigan, USA
greenspiritfarms.com
Father and son team Milan and Dan Kluko watched
farmers struggling through the crippling droughts sweep-
ing the US from California to New York State, and decided
their family farm would be different. This farm wouldn’t
have to depend on the weather for results.
Water conservation is a daily preoccupation, and the
eight-acre farm now produces its food using 98 per cent
less water than conventional growing. Milan and Dan also
push the boundaries on crop varieties: as well as leafy
greens, their list includes peppers, tomatoes, and peas,
grown in stonewool on stacked trays.
BADIA FARMS, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
badiafarms.com
Food security is a hot issue in the Middle East. Supplies of
water and fertile land in these arid, desert countries are
limited, and the Gulf States rely on imports for
80 per cent of the food they eat.
So, governments are keeping a close watch on Badia
Farms (Badia is Arabic for oasis), the region’s first commer-
cial vertical farm which opened earlier this year. It offers a
viable solution to farming in the desert: the harvest, grown
in coir under LED lights, uses 90 per cent less water than
conventional farming. They’ve started with leafy greens
and herbs, but other vegetables are on the way.
Maximum Yield
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