Vertical Farming: Creating an Accessible and Sustainable Future

Abstract

Vertical farming is becoming an increasingly prominent industry in today’s world of sustainability. With decreasing land availability, agriculturalists are looking to build farms upward to maximize efficient use of space. However, vertical farming is expensive and inaccessible to many people due to the dominance of urban lifestyles. This project explores the roles of the engineering and design process in manufacturing more accessible vertical farms in the US through sustainable practices. The vertical farming industry is becoming increasingly advanced through the use of methods such as controlled environment agriculture and technology to optimize growth factors such as lighting through data capture, real-time feedback, and automated farming systems. This paper considers many factors that will contribute to reducing the carbon footprint of vertical farms, making them more sustainable and accessible to the general public. This experiment uses easily accessible materials to design and create a practical at home hydroponic garden for growers in the United States, applying sustainable practices and technologies to enhance the farming process. The vertical garden, which will produce lettuce and strawberries, will generate a significantly lower carbon footprint than a conventional farm while still effectively producing edible food. This paper analyzes the cost and resource efficiency of an at-home vertical farm system and how this compares to conventional soil methods. The experiment considers factors in cost and environmental effects such as water and land usage, and it discusses how vertical farming will become more prominent in the future.