"Are you kidding me with your f-ing farm skyscraper?"

DIRECTIONS Horizontal versus Vertical

A couple of weeks ago, I watched a panel discussion off MASNYC on the viability of commercial-scale organic food production in fully-equipped hydroponic skyscrapers aka vertical farming. And my thoughts exactly: "Are you kidding me with your f-ing farm skyscraper?"

Okay - the buildings - they look ridiculously beautiful and they'd be built to support local, organic food production in urban areas. Thumbs up! But how much are these vegetables going to cost? And what about the thousands of existing urban acres brimming with the products of neglect: hot cracked asphalt, trash piles, crack addicts galore. I think it'd be way more cost-efficient to kill a bunch of birds with just a couple of existing stones; invest in urban agriculture on the ground to beautify and clean up neighborhoods while providing local produce. Kids might even get the chance to figure out how carrots grow from the ground and not from expensive fancy eco-friendly platinum starred skyscrapers.

"Why re-invent the wheel?" outside of fun & excitement. I really think that the infrastructure is already there for the horizontal:

LAND - lots of neglected urban land, ugly & wasted.
LABOR - lots of unemployed laborers looking for work.
DEMAND - local food is all the rage, people are hungry, and obesity sucks.
KNOWLEDGE - lots of people know how, especially immigrants, your grandma probably knows how.
CAPITAL - minimal start-up costs compared to those skyscrapers. though i'd like to learn more about this.
POLITICS - again, local, healthy, sustainable, [more buzz words] foods are all the rage. politicians & michelle obama love this stuff.

SOME BIRDS TO KILL - neglected urban space, unemployment, hunger, obesity, incompetency

When the above has been addressed, then sure, let's go for the vertical option if we still need it. I think Despommier is probably a really well-intentioned, smart man, but I think as a prof. of medicine and public health, he may need to study up on his "traditional farming" before trying to one-up it. Maybe I'm missing something, too.

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More technical arguments: "Advantages of Vertical Farming" (from website, response in color)

Year-round crop production; 1 indoor acre is equivalent to 4-6 outdoor acres or more, depending upon the crop (e.g., strawberries: 1 indoor acre = 30 outdoor acres) Seasonality?; horizontal organic intensive techniques exist.

No weather-related crop failures due to droughts, floods, pests Rather, it would be energy & input-dependent.

All VF food is grown organically: no herbicides, pesticides, or fertilizers All farming was organic until recently.

VF virtually eliminates agricultural runoff by recycling black water Energy-dependence -> coal, oil ->runoff.

VF returns farmland to nature, restoring ecosystem functions and services What is "nature?"

VF greatly reduces the incidence of many infectious diseases that are acquired at the agricultural interface

VF converts black and gray water into potable water by collecting the water of evapotranspiration Energy-dependence -> black & gray water.

VF adds energy back to the grid via methane generation from composting non-edible parts of plants and animals How will plants be fertilized if not from composting or fertilizers? Also possible in horizontal.

VF dramatically reduces fossil fuel use (no tractors, plows, shipping.) How do you make steel, glass, & plastic?

VF converts abandoned urban properties into food production centers Horizontal does, too, w/greater accessibility.

VF creates sustainable environments for urban centers Horizontal does, too, but improves on the existing ecosystem.

VF creates new employment opportunities Horizontal does too, with more opps for entrepreneurs & small business.

We cannot go to the moon, Mars, or beyond without first learning to farm indoors on earth Is giving up on the earth a practical approach?

VF may prove to be useful for integrating into refugee camps

VF offers the promise of measurable economic improvement for tropical and subtropical LDCs. If this should prove to be the case, then VF may be a catalyst in helping to reduce or even reverse the population growth of LDCs as they adopt urban agriculture as a strategy for sustainable food production.

VF could reduce the incidence of armed conflict over natural resources, such as water and land for agriculture The political nature/root causes of those conflicts may manifest in other forms.