VERTICAL FARMS

Abstract

The urbanized population is increasing year by year, leaving fewer and fewer inhabitants in the province. This inevitably leads to increased energy and resource consumption, leading to environmental problems. All this, combined with climate change, calls for a more holistic approach to the provision of raw materials and resources in future cities, both in the main aspects of sustainable development, social, environmental and economic. From this point of view, vertical farms can be an instrument that addresses these aspects.

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World Science
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2413-1032
e-ISSN
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PUBLISHER
RS Global Sp. z O.O., Poland
ARTICLE TITLE
VERTICAL FARMS
AUTHOR(S)
Veselin Rangelov, Daniela Staykova
ARTICLE INFO
Veselin Rangelov, Daniela Staykova. (2020) Vertical Farms.
World Science. 7(59).
doi: 10.31435/rsglobal_ws/30092020/7181
DOI
https://doi.org/10.31435/rsglobal_ws/30092020/7181
RECEIVED
20 July 2020
ACCEPTED
16 August 2020
PUBLISHED
22 August 2020
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution
4.0 International License.
© The author(s) 2020. This publication is an open access article.

World Science 7(59), 2020
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VERTICAL FARMS
Veselin Rangelov,
University of Forestry, Sofia, Bulgaria
Daniela Staykova,
University of Forestry, Sofia, Bulgaria
DOI: https://doi.org/10.31435/rsglobal_ws/30092020/7181
ARTICLE INFO
Received: 20 July 2020
Accepted: 16 August 2020
Published: 22 August 2020
ABSTRACT
The urbanized population is increasing year by year, leaving fewer and
fewer inhabitants in the province. This inevitably leads to increased
energy and resource consumption, leading to environmental problems.
All this, combined with climate change, calls for a more holistic
approach to the provision of raw materials and resources in future
cities, both in the main aspects of sustainable development, social,
environmental and economic. From this point of view, vertical farms
can be an instrument that addresses these aspects.
KEYWORDS
city, agriculture, landscape,
sustainability, resources.
Citation: Veselin Rangelov, Daniela Staykova. (2020) Vertical Farms. World Science. 7(59). doi:
10.31435/rsglobal_ws/30092020/7181
Copyright: © 2020 Veselin Rangelov, Daniela Staykova. This is an open-access article distributed
under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction
in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original
publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or
reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Today, we are increasingly aware of the serious impact of man on the environment, satisfying
basic needs such as nutrition-in the form of production costs, long-range deliveries and the associated
carbon footprint, and last but not least the limit of production resources. This is what requires the
search for a new, more rational approach in the field of agriculture and in particular the plant growing
in the agri-food industry.
Like modern cities, agriculture in the near future will grow not only as a volume, but also in
height (1). According to studies of Global Vertical Farming the world market of vertical farms was
estimated at 2.23 billion dollars in 2018 and is projected to reach 12.77 billion dollars by 2026,
increasing by 24.6% from 2019 to 2026 (9).
Vertical farming is a revolutionary approach used to produce food and medicinal plants in
vertically stacked layers with a theoretically limitless height, similar to a skyscraper. It facilitates the
production of huge quantities of quality fresh food without relying on favorable weather, large
quantities of water, skilled labor and favorable soil qualities. Moreover, it ensures a secure extraction
and consistency in the production of crops during the year, absolutely independent of external factors
such as intermittent climate, diseases, pest attacks, etc.
Vertical farms will continue their development on economic grounds, given the challenges
facing mankind in the future. For example, in the UK, the country's food security forecasts are not
positive-the UK population is growing by around 0.6% a year in parallel with the expectation that the
shortage of agricultural areas suitable for cultivation will be €2 million hectares to 2030 the situation is
similar in the larger European countries, and in Bulgaria the depopulation of the Bulgarian village will
still require the use of new, rational approaches.
In the next two years, the German starter Infarm will equip in the EU countries a network of
modular vertical leaf vegetable farms. The company has already discovered over 50 farms in Berlin,
including large retail chains. By the end of 2020, mini farms will appear in a number of cities in
Germany, and also in Paris, London and Copenhagen. Thanks to its modular construction, farms can
be installed in kitchens of restaurants, canteens, commercial halls and even small shops. Since the

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beginning of 2020, IKEA has published in its product catalog and portable, home vertical farm, with
the potential for production of 40-60 kg of vegetables and spices monthly.
Farms use the principle of aquaponics, where there is no need for soil-all the necessary
substances are obtained from a nutrient solution. Sunlight has been replaced by LEDs. The complete
absence of natural light inside the vertical farm is an opportunity for full control of the light spectrum
used. Current by GE have developed a lighting solution that ensures that each individual plant will
receive a personal dose of optimum light to ensure constant and even growth in intensive conditions.
They used three light spectrum for growth based on a combination of different wavelengths:
• Reproducing: To promote the growth of leaves and fruits (with a greater part of the
wavelength);
• Vegetative: To promote the structure of plants and leaf mass (with dominance of blue
wavelengths);
• Balanced: To promote overall presentation of growth (with a more balanced light spectrum).
The cost of powering LED grow lights is one of the biggest challenges that a vertical farm
must overcome in order for its production to be competitive with the fruits and vegetables from a
traditional farm. For this, solar panels can be built nearby to generate solar energy. Nowadays, many
experiments to grow the same plants with less light are currently underway. In Middle Eastern
countries, the transition to vertical farming is a no-brainer, for example, a vertical farm in Saudi
Arabia can use solar energy at a low cost. At present, most of the vegetables are imported from other
countries, so if there are local crops, there will be higher incomes at the regional level.
Jones Food Company LTD. Begins to offer a fully automated system for growing crops in
ideal, clean conditions.
Fig. 1. The fully automated vertical farms of Jones Food Company with individual, offers lighting.
The techniques used in their farm do not require the use of pesticides, chemicals, herbicides,
fungicides-natural or synthetic, as used in traditional agriculture. The plant model provides safe and
clean growth in a sealed and controlled environment in which there is practically no risk of diseases of
plants causing pathogens. In addition, Infarm technology allows the farm to be operated remotely.
Fig. 2. Fully automated and robotic cultivation of vegetables, allowing minimization of the costs
of resources and labour (8).

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The status of the crop is fed into the cloud, and company employees can regulate the degree of
illumination and other indicators remotely. Large databases help the company adapt the level of
illumination, temperature, pH and nutrient composition for each plant. All this helps monthly in one
module of area 2 sq. m. to be raised to 1200 plants.
In the beginning of 2019 the old man attracted 25 million. Dollars. Investors in the project became
Balderton Capital, TriplePoint Capital, Mons Investments, Cherry Ventures, QUADIA and LocalGlobe.
Earlier, the company received a grant of 2.5 million euro. Dollars by the European Commission.
Meanwhile, at the end of 2019 the largest vertical farm in the world was completed (10). It
was built by the American company Crop One Holdings together with Emirates. The vertical farm will
provide products to the customers of Emirates Flight Catering, as well as to the remaining 105 airlines
and 25 lounges at the Inter-National Airport in Dubai.
Fig. 3. Vertical farms of the American company Crop One Holdings.
Fig. 4. Vertical farms of Emirates Flight Catering.
Fig. 5. Warehouse areas of Emirates Flight Catering.
The joint venture is worth 40 million dollars. The area of the installation is 40 thousand sq. m,
and it is that the production of leafy vegetables is estimated at about 3000 tons per year, as the used
water will be 99% less than that in conventional greenhouses.

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Fig. 6.
The demand for a vertical agricultural industry is expected to grow rapidly in the next decade
due to the increasing popularity of organic food. In addition, the vertically arranged structure of these
farms reduces the need for additional construction work and land. Reduces the use of machines
necessary for traditional agriculture. On the face is the optimum use of the vertical space. A balanced
use of energy, mainly from renewable sources, contributes to the growth of the vertical agricultural
market. The technologies used in the sector allow to monitor the growth and harvesting of plants,
which further stimulates the interest in these markets market. However, large initial investments are
needed for proper construction, adjustment of the internal vertical installation, for the construction of
lighting and irrigation systems, software services, etc. However, the increase in urban population and
the development of technology in this field are expected to provide lucrative opportunities for growth
of the participants in the vertical agricultural market.
In Bulgaria there is enormous potential for development of vertical farming, especially in the
former urban industrial zones, where there are many abandoned production buildings and halls (6),
which have good opportunities for urban agriculture, not only as a building stock but also with its
infrastructure security. Such an initiative and the development of funding programmes from the
European funds would help revitalise these non-urban spaces, while stimulating the opening of new
jobs in an innovative and high-tech industry.
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