A decade ago, vertical farming was seen as the future of agriculture. Investors poured billions into indoor farms and new technologies with the hopes of producing food more efficiently and with fewer resources and environmental consequences. It hasn't worked out that way, as a recent report from The New York Times detailed.
Nevertheless, there are a number of vertical farms thriving in Wisconsin. Robert Carlson started Grow Space Vertical Farms in Kenosha with his family about three years ago. The farm sells a variety of leafy greens, microgreens and herbs directly to individuals and restaurants. Carlson told "Wisconsin Today" that they've learned from the mistakes of vertical farms that have failed.
"We are really lucky, because we got to watch all those big vertical farms fail," Carlson said. "We started in the past three years. So we noticed, 'OK, this is what they're doing wrong. Here's what we're going to do right now that we can see exactly what doesn't work.'"
Carlson started tinkering around growing food in their basement "and it kind of snowballed from there." The family then converted an old furniture store into a full-scale farm operation.
Read more at Wisconsin Public Radio
