The Sky Greens System To Grow More Food In Less Space

Economics, Capacity Building and Technology: The Impact can be BIG

- Vinay kumar - -NABARD

The first low-carbon, hydraulic driven vertical farm in the world was Sky Greens.

Located in Singapore, a small island city with a population of more than 5 million that relies heavily on food imports from other countries, the farm grows veggies in A-shaped aluminum towers, each about nine meters tall. Sky Greens calls its technology the “A-Go-Gro”. Each tower has 22-26 tiers which are rotated at a rate of 1mm/second to ensure an equal distribution of natural sunlight and airflow. Sky Greens is capable of growing 800 kilos of Chinese cabbage, kai lan, spinach, and other leafy greens every day. It has been producing these crops commercially since the year 2012.

In Japan lies one of the largest vertical indoor farms in the world, built by the Mirai Corporation and founded by plant physiologist Shigeharu Shimamura. With a 25,000 sq. ft. bacteria- and pesticide-free space equipped with 17,500 LED lights, the farm can grow up to 10,000 lettuce heads per day.

For other crops apart from lettuce, Shimamura explains: “I believe that, at least technically, we can produce almost any kind of plant in a factory. But what makes most economic sense is to produce fast-growing vegetables that can be sent to the market quickly. That means leaf vegetables for us now. In the future, though, we would like to expand to a wider variety of produce.” Currently, Mirai has two additional factories located in Mongolia. It is also planning to expand in Russia and Hong Kong in the near future.

The U.S is home to several vertical farms as well. The biggest ones can be found in New Jersey, operated by the well-known firm, AeroFarms. Its global headquarters (and 9th farm) in Newark is a 69,000-square-foot indoor farm that can harvest up to 2 million pounds of leafy greens and herbs a year. It is currently the largest indoor vertical farm in the world.