Guy Elitzur, CEO, Vertical Field notes: "Recently, we have been experiencing another phenomenon in the changes the world is going through. From severe climate changes, extreme natural disasters and fatal epidemics attacking everywhere, these permutations have an impact on the way we do business, the way we raise our children and the way we grow and consume food. There is no doubt that it challenges the food chain in many ways, and it forces agriculture and the food chain to reinvent the wheel and rethink about how food is grown, supplied and consumed. This is one of the reasons we experience the integration of many types of technologies in the agriculture industry aiming at improving its efficiency, lowering the risks attached and improving its quality and safety."
Within the agriculture industry there is one extremely interesting segment that is growing rapidly and is aiming to provide a solution to some of its problems. This segment is called vertical farming or urban farming. Indoor farming is not a new concept, as greenhouse-based agriculture has been in existence for some time. Numerous commercially viable crops (e.g., strawberries, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, herbs and spices) have seen their way to the world’s supermarkets via indoor farming in ever increasing amounts over the last few decades. Most of these operations are small when compared to factory farms, but unlike their outdoor counterparts, these facilities can produce crops year-round.
What is new in the vertical farming concept that differs radically from what currently exists under the indoor farming industry? The main issue is the availability to scale up the concept of indoor farming inside the urban ecosystem in a safer, more secure way that reduces the dependency of the traditional food chain, with the additional benefit of significantly less space required.
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