How Vertical Farms Could Be Ready To Take-Off

24 Jul 2020

Study identifies future research areas needed to accelerate growth of vertical farming using aeroponics.

A new interdisciplinary study combining biology and engineering sets down steps towards accelerating the growth of vertical farming, including the use of aeroponics which uses nutrient-enriched aerosols in place of soil, reports Science Daily.

Accelerate sustainable growth of vertical farming

The study was carried out by the John Innes Centre, the University of Bristol, and the aeroponic technology provider LettUs Grow. It identifies future research areas needed to accelerate the sustainable growth of vertical farming using aeroponic systems.

Dr. Antony Dodd, a group leader at the John Innes Centre and senior author of the study, says: “By bringing fundamental biological insights into the context of the physics of growing plants in an aerosol, we can help the vertical farming business become more productive more quickly while producing healthier food with less environmental impact.”

Vertical farming is a type of indoor agriculture where crops are cultivated in stacked systems with water, lighting, and nutrient sources carefully controlled.

Seven areas of future research

The study, which appears in the journal New Phytologist and is called Getting to the Roots of Aeroponic Indoor Farming, lays out seven steps – strategic areas of future research needed to underpin increased productivity and sustainability of aeroponic vertical farms.

These seek to understand:

1. Why aeroponic cultivation can be more productive than hydroponic or soil cultivation.

2. The relationship between aeroponic cultivation and 24-hour circadian rhythms of plants.

3. Root development of a range of crops in aeroponic conditions.

4. The relationship between aerosol droplet size and deposition and plant performance.

5. How we can establish frameworks for comparing vertical farming technologies for a range of crops.

6. How aeroponic methods affect microbial interactions with plant roots.

7. The nature of recycling of root exudates (fluids secreted by the roots of plants) within the nutrient solutions of closed aeroponic systems.

The report argues that a driver of technological innovation in vertical farms is minimizing operation costs whilst maximizing productivity – and that investment in fundamental biological research has a significant role.

Genetically tune crops to grow in vertical farms

John Innes Centre researchers have bred a line of broccoli adapted to grow indoors for a major supermarket and one of the aims of research will be to test how we can genetically tune more crops to grow in the controlled space of vertical farms.

Bethany Eldridge, a researcher at the University of Bristol studying root-environment interactions and first author of the study adds: “Given that 80% of agricultural land worldwide is reported to have moderate or severe erosion, the ability to grow crops in a soilless system with minimal fertilizers and pesticides is advantageous because it provides an opportunity to grow crops in areas facing soil erosion or other environmental issues such as algal blooms in local water bodies that may have been driven by traditional, soil-based, agriculture.”

View fullsize

Aeroponics is associated with very little water, automation, and high tech systems. But what is the current potential of aeroponics technology to grow food or cannabis crops economically?

Hugo Claver

Web editor for Future Farming

View fullsize

View fullsize

Lead Photo: - Photo: ThisIsEngineering

Vertical Farming Indoor Farming Aeroponics

OptimIA Free Indoor Ag Webinar - July 29, 2020 - 1 PM EST

View fullsize

By urbanagnews

July 6, 2020

OptimIA offers free indoor ag webinar on July 29, 2020

The OptimIA (Optimizing Indoor Agriculture) project team invites indoor farmers, allied trades, and professionals to their first annual meeting to share recent research results with leafy greens and discuss future activities. OptimIA is a USDA-supported Specialty Crop Research Initiative project to advance the emerging indoor farming industry to become more profitable and sustainable through critical research and extension activities. 

TENTATIVE AGENDA / TOPICS

• Promotion of lettuce growth under an increasing daily light integral depends on the light intensity and photoperiod

• Influence of light intensity and CO2 concentration on dill, parsley, and sage growth and development at harvest

• Major energy savings during production of baby greens

• Managing nutrient disorders of hydroponic leafy greens

• Improving air distribution and humidity management in vertical farming systems

• Critical elements of CEA economics

View the agenda and register at http://scri-optimia.org/stakeholder2020.php. The webinar is free, but space is limited and is on a first-come, first-served basis.

OptimIA Director and PIs

• Erik Runkle, Michigan State University (Project Director)

• Murat Kacira, University of Arizona

• Chieri Kubota, The Ohio State University

• Roberto Lopez, Michigan State University

• Cary Mitchell, Purdue University

• Simone Valle de Souza, Michigan State University

OptimIA Collaborators

• Jennifer Boldt, USDA ARS

• David Hamby, OSRAM

• H. Christopher Peterson, Michigan State University

• Nadia Sabeh, Dr. Greenhouse Inc.

TAGS Indoor Ag Sci Cafe Indoor Ag Technology Leafy Greens science webinar