Cabbages in the sky: skyscraper farms the future of food?

This is one of the most amazing things I've ever seen.

After moving from Philadelphia to New York, the quality of New York produce isn't very good. If it could be grown locally and delivered straight to markets, that would just be an amazing quality of life improvement in so many ways.

Fresh food. Less transportation costs and oil consumption, Throw some trees on the balconies to get the whole cleaner air thing going.

I think this is the kind of thing that can take off easily.

Just because the only farms people have seen in cities are communal farms does not mean these need to or will be. Think bigger just like in the country side those farms are not owned by ma and pa families but agricultural corporations. I know people on here want there to be a less powerful corporate presence in our society and I support that, but we are not going to just get rid of this capitalist system the best we can hope to do is what our for fathers tried to do and that was keep a level playing field for all, don't let anyone control to much. So these vertical farms will be owned by farming corporations and this is where the funding will come from. The pollution will likely not be a consideration as this can all be done in an atmospherically sealed environment. Of course we should not use any excuse to not clean up our pollution and along those lines the idea of sequestering CO2 from coal power plants this can be scrubbed of all but the CO2 and used to feed the plants which in turn produce oxygen that can be trapped and released into the atmosphere. Also by having these farms in every major city and town we would need to worry less about possible climate change related droughts or floods because more foods could be grown in more diverse environments due to the controlled temperatures in a sealed building. Having these farms in the city will no doubt require a good deal of manual labor to operate there by creating many more jobs for the unemployed in all the cities of our nation. Also these facilities can be built adjacent to the bio-fuel refineries and the biomass brought directly in to the processing plant. At these farms you would not be growing anything people would consider edible instead you would grow something space saving and heavy in biomass like algae has been found to be and can be grown in clear plastic tubes hanging from over sized coat racks. This use of Vertical farming leads to the lessened need for slash and burn farming which is destroying our forests around the world regardless of first or third world status. It also reduces the amount of fuel of any type needed to transport these things around the world as we do now because these facilities can be built in any place or nation. This in turn lessens the upper hand many nations have held over other nations not blessed with the same lands or temperatures or even oil resources. These lands which we have striped of so much in all the years humanity has grown on them can be allowed to go back to native habitat. Imagine a Midwest devoid of the barbed wire again. Where we allow the prairie grass to take root again (another extent source of biomass) and reintroduce bison to the plains. We can pay land owners to develop their land to accommodate these new herds with tax from a new generation of bison hunters who would be able to supply a large quantity of the meat we eat. Thereby ending that most awful spectacle of the cattle ranch and the slaughter house. We could be eating meat from naturally feeding bison not owned by any one person but supported by the country it feeds and the men or women who chose to make providing it to us their profession. Anyway thats quite a trip away from the smaller thinking of some vertical communal farms. Its not about thinking 10 years from now but 100 years from now.

Vertical farming is such a a creative, greatly-needed innovation.

It's time to move on this concept. Growing crops in a controlled, entirely organic environment has so many ecological and health benefits that would substantially lessen our unnecessarily excessive impact on an already strained planet.

I think people should garden everywhere: in their back yards, on their front yards, , on their balconies, on their ' next to windows', and on their rooftops (if their rooftops already don't have solar panels).

I think it's a pretty rad idea, as long as they can figure out a way to prevent the smog and other pollutants from contaminating the produce.

In Seoul I've seen things growing on top of buildings. I don't know if they're in pots or what exactly they are, but if things can grow on top of buildings in Seoul, they can grow anywhere. Besides, as the population of the world increases, we need to start being creative with how we save space.

We cant even pull this off on flat ground, why would people be willing to garden in a skyscraper if we cant even get people to garden in their backyards? I know of public gardens that have more empty plots that full ones.

Yes, once we get the pollution off of the streets, this could work out... but we must have the seed to do it... without paying up the yangyang for it! That's why we have to watch and stop monopolies like Monsanto from controlling all of the seeds and their potentials by their genetically modified foods that they are patenting! Please research it young people,,, It is so important for your futures.

This is truly a great idea, although many people have responded about some doubts they have had, that only supports the fact that it is a truly innovative idea, like all great ideas in the past their have been obstacles to over come to reach the finale goal. If the question is about growing food in the city and how the pollution will affect it, why not try growing some basic crops on top of a few building that already exist in the cities.
Plus i really hate running to the store for just one or two things so i would much rather get then from the building i lived in

love the idea, and the aesthetic. my first impulse was definitely to be concerned about the pollution too, and then i wondered... which is worse, breathing the air directly, or eating food that was grown in this air?

hmmm...

By the time the towers are built we'll be polluting a lot less, probably driving cleaner energy cars, living heathier lives.

The idea of building upwards is great, its all about utilizing space now before our future generations are forced to, but growing food in a smoggy surrounding isnt good. they should be designed with air conditioning and purifying sytems to control the air quility, that would be nice.

this is truly an amazing concept. I just wonder if the money would be there to create it.

if the energy used to power the skyscraper is powered by solar energy, this could be an efficient way to feed a community... Thinking about it, if every major city had one of these, food would be a lot cheaper...

o ya.. it would be nice if they saved the top floor for growing ganja :)

Sounds good,... but,... hot air rises,... and cities are full of smog, acid rain and all things pollution. I don't even eat food grown near me; we're full of factories, freeways and litter. I commend the practical thinking, but I'm not eating foods grown in a poison-spewing metropolis. ^ Nice try, though. ^

How futuristic. How soon are they going to launch this project?