Vertical Farming Through The Ages

Let's take a little look at the history of Vertical Farming!

Vertical Farming has been around for longer than most would assume, the first known instance of Vertical Farming was way back in 605 BCE with the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. The Gardens consisted of a series of terraces, stacked on one another with a rudimentary irrigation system.

It wasn't until 1150 CE that another form of Vertical Farming was utilized by the Aztecs, a hydroponic method known as "Chinampas". The Aztec people needed a way to grow in marshy areas where the soil was unsuitable for planting; reed rafts were constructed and covered with mud and soil before being drifted onto the water.

The first published theory of hydroponics appeared in the book "Sylva Sylvarum" by Sir Francis Bacon in 1627 where he pondered the possibilities of soilless growing.

In 1909 "Life" magazine published an early concept drawing of what a "modern" vertical farm could look like - open layers of vertically stacked homes. Not too far from the reality!

1915 brought the arrival of the term "Vertical Farming" by American geologist Gilbert Ellis Bailey. Interestingly, in his book (also called "Vertical Farming") he proposed farming downward, instead of the more common "upwards" method we know of today.

Agronomist William F. Gericke published his article "Aquaculture: A Means of Crop-production" in 1929 which highlighted the process of growing plants without soil.

1940 - World War II was the first instance that a hydroponic growing system was used on a larger scale in modern times. More than 8,000 tons of produce was grown in the South Pacific to feed the Allied forces.

The first iteration of a true Vertical Farm came to life in Armenia in 1951 with the construction of tower hydroponic units, but it was primarily used for research and development.

Between 1991 and 1999, Columbia University Professor Dr. Dickson Despommier challenged his students to develop a sustainable way to feed the population of New York using only rooftop agriculture. After nine years of work, they succeeded in developing the concept of growing in a multi-story building. Despommier is now credited as the World's leading expert on Vertical Farming.

In 2004 Aero Farms was founded, one of the first large-scale modern Vertical Farms. Now other large Vertical Farms like Bowery Farming, Freight Farms, Upward Farms, Plenty, and Cubic Farms all grow successfully and sustainably as well!

Sky Greens Vertical Farm in Singapore began operations in 2012 and is credited with being the first "low-carbon" hydraulic-driven Vertical Farm.

And then in 2022, the AdeptAg family of experts was founded! AdeptAg strives to provide Vertical Farming and CEA (controlled environment agriculture) solutions to all of our customers to help the World grow more sustainably.

With such an illustrious and varied history, the future of Vertical Farming looks bright! At AdeptAg, we hope that we can make a large and positive impact on that future.

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Sources: Mark Crumpacker, "A Look at the History of Vertical Farming", Oct 19 2018, https://medium.com/@MarkCrumpacker/a-look-at-the-history-of-vertical-farming-f4338df5d0f4. Mateusz Piechowiak, "The Full History of Vertical Farming: When Did It All Start?", https://verticalfarmingplanet.com/the-full-history-of-vertical-farming-when-did-it-all-start/