The Vertical Farming Opportunity

Over the next three decades, food production will need to double to meet the needs of a growing global population. But we will have to see a great many improvements in agriculture in order to meet that demand. This reality is driving growing interest in vertical indoor farming (VIF), which uses nutrient-delivery systems, artificial light and indoor controlled environments to grow crops efficiently and sustainably.

VIF has some attractive advantages, as several of my Accenture colleagues note in a recent blog. With certain crops, VIF can produce food faster while using significantly less water and acreage, compared to traditional methods. What’s more, VIF facilities can be placed near or even in cities, cutting supply chain costs, emissions and risk. The potential is great, but VIF is still in its early stages, and a number of challenges will have to be addressed before it has a widespread impact on food production.

For agrochemical and agribusiness companies, this represents potential opportunity. For example, only a small number of crops are suitable for indoor growth environments—a limitation that companies can address by investing in the development of more types of crop seeds and growing methodologies for use in VIF.

Innovations in the use of digital technology are also needed. To a great extent, effective VIF is data-driven, with technology such as analytics, artificial intelligence and robotics being used to track growth and deliver the optimal amounts of water, nutrients and light. The industry needs to find more effective ways to use this technology—and in particular, to consolidate and integrate today’s complicated array of agtech tools to create a common technology platform that can efficiently support VIF.

VIF is not a silver bullet. Meeting the world’s demand for food will require a variety of different approaches for increasing production and yield. But it promises to be a valuable piece of this very important puzzle.

You can find the full blog here. I think you’ll agree that it is an interesting and informative read.