Have you ever sat down and wondered about the uncertainty of our future? With the world population growing and expanding each day, will we reach a point where we might face a scarcity of food? It has been speculated that three decades later, our world population will reach nearly 10 billion people, and 11 billion people by 2100. And feeding such a massive population is nothing less than a challenge.

Due to urbanization and enormous industrial development, we are losing our natural sources and farming land each year, bit by bit. As a matter of fact, according to a report published in 2015, our planet has lost 1/3 of its cultivable lands, which is quite alarming given the fact that our population is expanding each year.

That said, nothing can be predicted for sure about how much more arable land humanity will lose in the upcoming decades. Nonetheless, food demands will continue to grow proportionally to the growth of the world population. Many believe that vertical farming and indoor vertical farming software installation is the ultimate solution to our potential world hunger problems. Some projects are going so far as to grow food on the moon to see if it will work. 

Read on to find out more about vertical farming and the future of our agriculture. Let us cover the basics first:

What is Vertical Farming?

You might have already figured out that vertical farming is all about producing and cultivating food on specifically vertically inclined surfaces. Instead of the traditional food cultivation methods of farming veggies and other food items on horizontally inclined surfaces, such as greenhouses and agriculture fields, the method of vertical farming intends to produce foods in vertically established layers with structures resembling a skyscraper. Nonetheless, the structures can also identify a shipping container and a warehouse.

For the effective production of foods in the vertical farming method, the integration of technology is mandatory. This is where the indoor vertical farming software comes in. With the integration of CEA (Controlled Environment Agriculture) technology, indoor vertical farming has been made possible.

 The integration of the technology includes induced control of humidity, light, climate, temperature, and artificial gases that contribute to the possibility of growing indoor foods, herbs, and medicine. In this way, you can think of vertical farming in terms of a greenhouse where natural sunlight is induced with the help of metal reflectors and artificial light sources.

Nonetheless, indoor vertical farming’s primary goal is the optimization of food production within a limited space. 

Why we need Indoor Vertical Farming software?

Vertical farming is the ultimate solution that can save us from hunger and starvation in the long run. Vertical farming allows more output and food production while using a small area of cultivation. The below-given list includes the essential benefits of vertical farming:

As we mentioned earlier, four decades from now, our world population is more likely to expand to 10 billion. Not to mention that nearly 70% of the world population is expected to live in industrialized and urbanized areas, which will also peak food demand. The proficient use of vertical farming will prepare us for any upcoming challenges related to food scarcity.

All-Season Crop Production

Vertical farming enables us to produce more crops while using the limited square footage of the production area. If we were to make a rough estimation about the potential crop production, you could think of it in the following ways. For example, one acre of the indoor vertical farming area will allow you to produce crops worth four to six acres of outdoor capacity. Suppose you are running an indoor vertical farm inside a 30-story skyscraper that includes a basal area of five acres. With the integration of vertical farming software, you will produce food/ crops worth 2500 acres. 

Unaffected by Weather and Climate Issues

Amongst the top benefits of indoor vertical farming is that this farming method is explicitly unaffected by unfavorable outside temperatures and weather conditions. Since everything is controlled and monitored inside, the crops and foods cultivated with indoor vertical farming are least affected by natural calamities. That said, indoor vertical farming allows you to produce food throughout the year without worrying about favorable weather conditions.

Indoor vertical farming is also good for biodiversity. This method is essentially environment friendly and exposes farmers to lesser risks and diseases.

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The number of food insecure people in Yemen has risen by 3 million in seven months, with an estimated 17.1 million people now struggling to feed themselves, according to a joint assessment by three UN agencies.

Of the 17.1 million food insecure people, about 7.3 million are considered to be in need of emergency food assistance.

The preliminary results of the Emergency Food Security and Nutrition Assessment, created by the UN, show that food security and nutrition conditions are deteriorating rapidly due to the ongoing conflict.

More than two-thirds of Yemen’s population of 27.4 million people now lack access to food and consume an inadequate diet. Another Syria-style crisis may be on our way, and climate change and lack of water is making it worse.

Rates of acute malnutrition were found to have passed the “critical” threshold in four governorates, while agricultural production is falling across the country.

“The speed at which the situation is deteriorating and the huge jump in food insecure people is extremely worrying,” said Salah Hajj Hassan, FAO Representative in Yemen. “Bearing in mind that agriculture is the main source of livelihood for the majority of the population, FAO is urgently calling for funds to scale up its agricultural livelihoods support to farmers, herders and fishing communities to improve their access to food in 2017 and prevent the dire food and livelihood security situation from deteriorating further.”

“We are witnessing some of the highest numbers of malnutrition amongst children in Yemen in recent times. Children who are severely and acutely malnourished are 11 times more at risk of death as compared to their healthy peers, if not treated on time. Even if they survive, these children risk not fulfilling their developmental potentials, posing a serious threat to an entire generation in Yemen and keeping the country mired in the vicious cycle of poverty and under development,” said Dr Meritxell Relano, UNICEF Representative in Yemen.

“The current level of hunger in Yemen is unprecedented, which is translating into severe hardship and negative humanitarian consequences for millions of Yemenis, particularly affecting vulnerable groups,” said Stephen Anderson, WFP Country Director in Yemen. “Tragically, we see more and more families skipping meals or going to bed hungry, while children and mothers are slipping away with little to sustain themselves. WFP is urgently calling for support to provide food for the seven million people who are severely food insecure and may not survive this situation for much longer.”

Food Security

The severe food insecurity situation in the country has worsened sharply in recent months, with an estimated 65 percent of households now food insecure.

In addition, three-quarters of all households indicate that their economic situation is worse now than before the crisis. Incomes have fallen and many public-sector workers have gone for months without being paid. As a result, 80 percent of Yemenis are in now in debt, and more than half of all households have had to buy food on credit.

Many households – 60 percent – have resorted to negative coping mechanisms such as eating less preferred foods, reducing portions or skipping meals altogether.

Malnutrition

The EFSNA results show that over 2 million children are acutely malnourished.

In four governorates – Abyan, Al Hudaydah, Hadramaut, and Taizz, – malnutrition rates have passed the “emergency” threshold, meaning an acute malnutrition rate of more than 15 percent. In seven governorates – namely Aden, Al Dhale’e, Al Jawf, Al Mahwit, Hajjah, Lahj, and Shabwah – rates now exceed the “serious” threshold, which indicates an acute malnutrition rate of more than 10 percent.

Agriculture

The agriculture sector is the main source of livelihood for at least 60 percent of Yemeni households. The livelihoods of this critical segment of the population have been hit hard with agricultural production falling drastically in 2016, compared to pre-crisis levels.

Up to 1.5 million households engaged in agriculture now lack access to critical agricultural inputs (including seeds, fertiliser, fuel for irrigation) and are in urgent need of emergency agricultural support. Of these, 860 000 households engaged in livestock production lack access to animal feed (fodder, concentrate, mineral blocks) and many livestock-dependent households have been forced to sell their herds to cater for other household needs.

Meanwhile, inadequate control of crop and livestock disease further erodes an already struggling agricultural sector and requires emergency protection and safeguarding of assets.

Related: hydroponic robot Eddy could feed the world

FAO’s emergency work in 2017 focuses on four main areas of activity: providing agriculture kits and tools, as well as vegetable kits and irrigation systems to vulnerable households to improve families’ access to food; emergency protection of livestock by vaccinating millions of animals; providing emergency support to improve and diversify income and livelihoods with cash-for-work programmes, poultry, bee keeping, and fishing; and strengthening the coordination of institutional food security and agriculture responses while building resilience.

FAO is urgently requesting $48.4 million to scale up its response and assist 3 million of the most vulnerable people in Yemen in 2017.

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“I think of Burning Man as the modern version of the world’s fair,” said project co-founder Ryan Hooks. “You have Google, Facebook, Elon Musk out there, and investors. It’s where all the innovators go to play. I know that people will be inspired by Isabel, and the message can disseminate from there.” The team will demonstrate how vertical (and indoor) farming uses 95% less water with no pesticides, and grows twice as fast as traditional plantings.

What’s not to love about vertical farms?  They bring fresh food production to unlikely urban settings, tap into radical advances in agri-tech (such as vertical farm operating system “flux”) and – whether climbing soaring skyscraper facades or housed within bespoke buildings – they are more photogenic than supermodel Gigi Hadid. Green Prophet’s brought you dozens of examples, each one offering up as much eye candy as belly food!

Hooks had worked for nearly a decade on food documentaries and for organizations like UNICEF, but he wanted to get more directly involved. “I was becoming more and more concerned over time that these solutions that are available aren’t being deployed as fast as they should,” he says.

Partnering with vertical farmer Eric Hager and designer Ruben Santa, the trio set up a small farm in East Bay, near San Francisco, to experiment with alternative crop production responsive to California’s water crisis. In addition to water efficiency, they also tackled alternative fertilizers and transportation impacts. They factored in global issues like climate change and biodiversity.  The conclusion was that going vertical could solve many more issues than scarce hydration.

They’ve developed and selected the systems to sustain their vertical micro-farm.  With Isabel now fully running in the East Bay facility, they are moving forward to acquire the vehicular components of the project via a crowdfunding campaign to complete construction of the Airstream greenhouse. On that trailer, beneath a plexiglas dome, kale, cucumbers and tomatoes will thrive – awaiting harvest to feed hungry audiences at Burning Man, universities and organizations around the world.

“People can come see it, get free salad, and they can ask us any questions,” said Hooks. They plan to follow up this exhibit with more modular vertical farms – affordable and more productive than what’s currently commercially available – for installation everywhere.

“We’d like to collaborate with someone like Ikea,” he says. “If Ikea can sell vertical farming systems, it would make it so affordable that more and more people can use it, and become more and more efficient.”

Check out their Indiegogo campaing (link here) to learn more about Isabel.  See your donations truly grow something.

Images from Indiegogo

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