I recently read “A Farm on Every Floor,” an opinion piece in the NY Times by Dickson Despommier. In the letter, the author attempts to make the case for what he calls urban “vertical farms.” The idea is that we’re running out of farmable land, farmer-applied chemicals are rendering our soil unusable, and the world population is booming so we need a new, soil-less way to farm. In particular, he suggests we can build these vertical farms in buildings in the middle of large cities.
Having a read a few things about growing food (e.g., Wendell Berry, Michael Pollan, Barbara Kingsolver (in progress), etc.), I’m really skeptical. In particular, the author mentions growing plants not in soil, but in “nutrient solutions.” Is it just in my head, or do significant nutritional and developmental benefits come from the subtleties of a cultured soil, developed over a long time of care and processes of recycling biomass? I believe this is one of Pollan’s arguments in In Defense of Food. I am familiar with the notion of hydroponic farming, but do we really know enough about the complex nutrient balance in soils and plants to fully simulate good topsoil?
Despommier says that vertical farming will also “finally put an end to agricultural runoff.” From what I understand, this polluting runoff is actually due to poor farming techniques in land unsuitable for row cropping. Furthermore, he suggests these farms should be run by “private sources, including groups controlling venture-capital funds.” Haven’t we suffered enough from handing over our food sources to corporations fed by disconnected shareholders? This funding model may be appropriate for Google, GE, and Ford, but not for food, again.
For the time being, I’d much rather see more urban buildings adopt rooftop gardens.
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I have to agree, we are not really getting to the basics of growing food ,not the way our ancestors did it anyway. Roof top gardens, not a bad idea.
—Bonnie