“Vertical Farming”: Strawberries that grow into the sky

The idea of ​​vertical farming, i.e. growing fruit and vegetables upwards, originally came from the USA and is spreading worldwide. A particularly large farm is near New York.

“Do you hear that?” asks Henry Sztul. A farm can sound like nature. But it can also sound like an air conditioner. The Bowery Farm at the gates of the metropolis New York is not only to be heard, says chief scientist Sztul. “The first thing you notice is the smell. You realize this is a farm.” However, you can only smell it when you step outside into the large hall in which Bowery Farm extends on the edge of an industrial area: upwards.

Strawberries, lettuce and herbs grow up to the ceiling, under a sky of LED lights, carefully ventilated – in the tiered bed. The mobile storage racks are controlled by artificial intelligence, explains Sztul. “Where do you grow the lettuce, where the arugula? At what height does the basil grow best? That’s where our technology comes into play – and helps us to make these decisions.”

Less space, less water – but more energy

The seedlings are tended and harvested by people in lab coats, with rubber gloves and hoods. Because such a raised bed farm must be germ-free. It does not require any pesticides. The organic greens get their nutrients vertically from the water. It takes 90 percent less than in the field. “In this vertical farm, we can be 100 times more productive in the same area of ​​land than a conventional farm,” says Sztul. “Our water consumption is also much lower than on an outdoor farm.”

Producing more with less – that’s the goal of a vertical farm, says the chief researcher. Harvest cycles are completely nullified: “In a traditional field, you might have three or four cycles a year. We plant and harvest here every day. In a way, we’re more of a factory than a farm,” says Sztul. The soon to be five farms that Bowery already has on the east coast produce more than five and a half tons of vegetables a day.

One problem: Vertical farming is energy-intensive. Here on the outskirts of New York, however, the electricity usually comes from renewable energy: an unbeatable ecological footprint, says Sztul. The produce ended up in a nearby New York grocery store just hours after it was harvested. “Our products make it to our customers’ refrigerators on the day they are harvested. This cuts the supply chain by weeks.” 90 percent of the lettuce would normally be trucked in from California, Arizona and New Mexico. This one is bred right on New Yorkers’ doorstep.

A future concept for more self-sufficiency

Bowery isn’t the first vertical farm in the US – but in its seven years of existence it has grown to be the largest. Their products end up in more than 1,400 stores along the east coast. The market has been picking up speed in Europe and Asia for the past three years, says Christine Zimmermann-Lössl, Chairwoman of the Global Association for Vertical Farming. “Now you can understand it a lot more and understand how unsafe our supply chains are and now you want local production,” she explains.

Farm factories instead of farms – in 1935 there were almost seven million farms in the USA. Two years ago it was two million. For some, this is a spooky prospect. But indoor farms could never completely replace the regular ones anyway, says Zimmermann-Lössl from Munich. “It’s part of the future of agriculture, and not just in cities with over a million inhabitants. Also in areas with a harsh climate,” she says, citing Dubai and Singapore as examples. There is simply not much growth there and there is far too little land for agricultural production to become independent. “A radical change,” says scientist Sztul. He can taste the difference. “Super crispy, delicious salad!”