Vertical Farms to Shape Future Agriculture Supply Chains

• New Straits Times
• 3 May 2017
• The writer is founder and CEO of LBB International, the logistics consulting and research firm that specialises in agri-food supply chains, industrial logistics and third-party logistics. LBB provides logistics diagnostics, supply chain design and solutio

BY 2040 the world will have nine billion inhabitants, of which the majority of which will live in cities. With a growing population and high urbanisation figures many countries, including Malaysia, have become highly dependent on imports for basic agriculture commodities.

This has created very long agriculture supply chains, with the agriculture produce section in our supermarkets today featuring food from all over the world!

As agriculture produce is living matter, the moment it is harvested or slaughtered it becomes a highly sensitive product that requires a specific environment, handling and has limited shelflife.

Long agriculture supply chains, therefore, means higher risks of diseases, reduction of quality, higher wastage, and high logistics costs.

Food miles, the distance food needs to travel to the point of consumer purchase, have exploded over the past 25 years.

Research shows that systematic long food miles are not sustainable.

High dependence on imports comes with high risks for countries, as food prices become highly dependent on the availability of excess of agriculture produce by agriculture exporters.

Is there a way back to where we have shorter supply chains for our basic fresh produce?

To significantly increase local production of basic agriculture commodities in Malaysia, there are two solutions: agriculture food parks and integrating farming in urban environments.

Agriculture food parks produce agriculture products in bulk and are located in rural areas.

These parks are also involved in processing, ranging from washing, cutting, packing up to advanced food processing into ready meals and ultra-processed foods.

These agriculture food parks then transport these products by truck to retail outlets and restaurants.

However, as land becomes more scarce, the necessary land is often not available for this kind of bulk agriculture production. Therefore, the integration of farming in urban environments becomes a necessity in order to feed our growing population in combination with high urbanisation.

The Netherlands has more than 100 years of experience in indoor farming, and is today the example of producing agriculture products in situations where land is scarce or not suitable for farming due to climate conditions.

All over the world, countries are looking at initiatives in vertical farming.

Vertical farms are high-rise multi-functional buildings producing food in a vertical system. This can be integrated in an office building, flat, or condominium.

These buildings need to plan the necessary water, energy, and nutrient requirements needed to farm. Water can come from rainfall.

Energy can be supplied from solar energy and by making use of specialised light-emitting diode lights, where vegetables, herbs and soft fruits can be produced in climate chambers, through environmentally friendly closed systems.

These farms can be even be integrated with fish farming.

Nutrients can be gathered from used coffee grounds from coffee shops and waste from restaurants, supermarkets, and households.

Vertical farming reduces the agriculture supply chain distances dramatically, bringing down transportation costs.

However, this requires food production to be integrated in city planning.

City planners will need to force real estate developers to integrate farming in buildings.

Food sovereignty, safety, security and sustainability can thus be solved by the introduction of vertical farming.

Vertical farms dramatically reduce agriculture supply chains, cutting transportation costs and enhancing freshness.

This allows countries to restore the ecological balance in the urban jungle.