If you have developed an interest in vertical farming, you have made the right choice!
Many people define it as the practice of producing fresh green vegetables and other food on a vertically inclined surface.
In other words, it is different from single-level farming of fruits and vegetables such as a greenhouse or a field. This is a great method for producing even day-to-day staples when space is at a premium. This technique produces various grow-able food items in multiple layers that are stacked vertically. These structures are usually integrated into other structures such as a shipping container, a repurposed warehouse, or even a skyscraper.
CEA (Controlled Environment Agriculture) technology along with advanced grow LED light techniques makes it all possible. This modern and state-of-the-art idea uses cutting-edge indoor farming methods.
This includes the artificial control of light via advanced LED lighting systems as well as humidity and temperature. Once properly controlled, these factors can help produce both medicine and foodstuff in an indoor environment.
Think of your average vertical garden as being roughly similar to an outdoor greenhouse. But one where artificial LED light does the job of natural sunlight. The main purpose here is to maximize yields in as confined a space as possible, with the help of LED lights.
o LED Grow Lights and Vertical Farming
The vertical farming revolution has only been made possible with the help of highly sophisticated and state-of-the-art indoor LED lights.
Many industry experts firmly believe that the current explosive growth of vertical farming (VF) has been driven (to a large extent) by unprecedented advances in light-emitting diode (LED) technology. This is particularly true in the past few years or so. Before these LED lamps came to the fore, indoor growing facilities had heavily relied on extremely expensive artificial lights.
This meant that the crops grown were correspondingly expensive as well. However, today’s cutting-edge LED grow lights are now much more affordable. Moreover, they are also very efficient. So much so that they have successfully redefined the costing and economics of indoor farming. In the last decade alone, the price of high-quality LEDs dropped by 90 percent as per the US Department of Energy (DOE) statistics. On the other hand, both their efficiency as well as life span increased by over 100 percent.
We can confidently state that it is largely due to the advances in indoor lighting technology that vertical farms are now really taking off.
o The Key Advantages of Vertical Farming
Today, more and more communities all over the world are relying on vertical farming to feed their members. As human populations increase and urban areas become more widespread, food demand will increase. Since vertical farming does not depend on excessive land resources, it is ideal for an urban environment- provided you use the right LED grow lights for this purpose.
o Full Year-Round Crop Production and Increased Yields
Vertical farming also allows us to produce higher yields per square yard of growing area. Here, one acre of an indoor space tends to be equal to around 4 to 6 acres or so, of production capacity. Many experts estimate that a thirty-story building raised on a base area of five acres (approx.) can potentially yield up to 2,400 acres. This is 2,400 acres of conventional horizontal farming set up in a single LED grow light-equipped structure!
Apart from such a massively boosted yield, there is also the fact that you can conduct farming activities in a completely controlled environment. This is because there is no need to depend upon the seasons of the year and you can easily grow your crops via artificial lighting all year round. Of course, you will have to find the perfect LED lighting solutions to ensure optimal yield.
o Low Water Requirements in the Cultivation Process
Thanks to the miracle of vertical farming, we can now produce cash crops while using 70 percent to 95 percent less water. That is when compared to the amount used in a normal farm cultivation cycle.
o Impervious to Weather Conditions
Crops in a field are vulnerable 24/7 to all kinds of adverse environmental conditions. These can include full-on natural calamities such as cyclones, snowstorms, torrential rains, flooding of the area, or even severe drought. All of these extreme events are now becoming increasingly more common due to global warming. As long as your LED grow lights are working fine, your vertical farms will continue to work and produce more crops.
However, you can rest assured that your indoor vertical farm will be safe from unfavorable weather conditions. In the long run, it will provide you with much greater certainty of a rich harvest all year long, year after year, especially if you use high-quality LED grow lamps.
o Production of Organic Crops
Since everything from water to light is artificially controlled, there is little( if any) use of chemical pesticides. This is why vertical farming enables us to grow organic crops with little to minimal use of artificial fertilizers and pesticides.
o An Environmentally Friendly Alternative
Your indoor vertical farming will be much less of an occupational hazard than a traditional farm. In this way, you will not be exposed to various dangerous health hazards often caused by heavy farming equipment.
Moreover, you will also be safe from various diseases such as dengue and malaria. Not to mention highly poisonous chemicals, insect and spider bites, and so on. Finally, it does not affect the flora and fauna of an inland area. This makes it an excellent choice if you want biodiversity in your immediate environment.
o Conclusion
In light of the above, we can conclusively state that vertical farming is the wave of the future. Thanks to today’s innovative LED grow lights revolution, we can effectively ensure that we will grow high-quality crops in the future. This is regardless of the scarcity of growing space.
Ultimately, it is only thanks to the easy accessibility of LED grow lamps that it is now possible for vertical farms to produce an ever-increasing range of crops at highly profitable rates.
