Vertical farming is being used to grow mostly fruits and vegetables. In a world where some nations are facing acute hunger and malnutrition, can this be an alternative for producing other important global commodities, such as wheat?
Wheat is the main source of plant protein. It is said to account for 20% of calories in the average human diet. Also, wheat is the second most-produced crop globally, but several factors influence yield variability, including soil quality, and weather.
But a recent study modeled wheat growth in an indoor vertical farm. The model used a 10-layer, indoor vertical farm in which the wheat was provided with 2,000 μmol/m2/s of light for 24 h/d. The model was based on data obtained from an earlier study. It predicted that an indoor vertical farm could produce an enormous 1,940 t/ha/y of wheat. This means the potential yield could be up to 600 times greater per hectare than current farming methods. The research examined the efficiency of vertical farming methods to grow wheat.
The researchers found that yields for wheat grown in “indoor vertical farms under optimized growing conditions would be several hundred times higher than yields in the field due to higher yields, several harvests per year, and vertically stacked layers. Wheat grown indoors would use less land than field-grown wheat, be independent of climate, reuse most water, exclude pests and diseases, and have no nutrient losses to the environment”.
However, they also added that “given the high energy costs for artificial lighting and capital costs, it is unlikely to be economically competitive with current market prices”.
The study noted, “Although it is unlikely that indoor wheat farming will be economically competitive with current market prices in the near future, it could play an essential role in hedging against future climate or other unexpected disruptions to the food system. Nevertheless, maximum production potential remains to be confirmed experimentally, and further tech
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"Wheat yield potential in controlled-environment vertical farms" by
Senthold Asseng, Jose R. Guarin, Mahadev Raman, Oscar Monje, Gregory Kiss, Dickson D. Despommier, Forrest M. Meggers, Paul P. G. Gauthier, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Aug 2020, 117 (32) 19131-19135; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2002655117