A team of scientists in Singapore has uncovered powerful new evidence that vertical farming — growing food in stacked and often indoor, controlled environments — could radically change how we feed the planet while also helping restore it.
The study, led by Dr. Vanesa Calvo-Baltanás and published in the journal PNAS Nexus, examined how six food groups — crops, algae, mushrooms, insects, fish, and cultivated meat — performed in the controlled environmental agriculture of a 10-layer vertical farming system.
The results were summarized in a report from the Technical University of Munich, shared by Phys.org. The foods not only dramatically outperformed traditional crop yields, but they also came with significantly lower environmental costs.
For example, mushrooms and insects grown in vertical farms could produce up to 6,000 times more protein per acre than traditional farming. They also processed agricultural waste into edible, nutritious food, required very little light, and helped close resource loops that typically lead to pollution or emissions, which have damaging long-term effects on human health.
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