Vertical farming offers a much-needed opportunity to secure food production in the face of climate change, but can it truly deliver a sustainable alternative to field-grown crops? A new study led by the University of Surrey has found that while vertical farms dramatically increase lettuce yields and use far less water, the carbon footprint still exceeds traditional lettuce farming—raising important questions about how the U.K. can balance food security with environmental responsibility.
The study, published in Food and Energy Security, is believed to be the first to fully account for soil emissions from field farming while comparing them to crops grown in a commercial vertical farm in the U.K.
Taking a cradle-to-store view of lettuce production, researchers analyzed two U.K. farms—one on mineral soil and one on peat-based soil—and a farm in Spain, which together supply most of the U.K.'s lettuce. They then compared these with the vertical farm.
Results showed that vertical farms can deliver more than 20 times the yield of field farms—about 97 kilograms per square meter compared with just 3.3 kilograms. Water use is also around eight times lower compared to Spanish land farms, where irrigation demands are high (0.9 m³/kg lettuce in vertical farms compared with up to 7.3 m³/kg in Spain).
Read more at Phys.Org
