Urban Farming on the Rise.

It is often said that the 21st century is Asia’s. Huge populations and economic booms across the content have led to massive development. With this, large urban centres have sprung up across the continent, in fact, 14 of the 16 largest metropolitan areas by size are in China. With economic development, many cities have an ever expanding middle-class, and much like the middle class in the west, the demand for organic-locally grown food is surging. But in such huge urban areas sourcing local food can be extremely challenging. This has led to a hi-tech new industry, urban or vertical farming. Although the industry is young Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore, and Tokyo all have fledgling vertical farming industries.

So firstly, what is vertical-urban farming? Vertical farming is the use of city sky scrapers as farm space. Mostly, this takes place indoors, but also on unused rooftops. The process often uses highly controlled artificial lights, atmosphere and soil. Produce is often small leafy foods, such as lettuce, or herbs like chives and coriander. The reason being that there is no soil, so plants have to be able to grow outside of the soil, meaning root vegetables are off the table. Beyond this, space is often limited meaning large fruiting plants also aren’t plausible. 

Credit - Mos.ru - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

 

The need for the vertical farming industry is multi-fold. Firstly, it allows fresh produce right in the centre of huge urban areas, so upmarket restaurants and foodies can access high-quality food. The need, however, is particularly acute in small city-states, (or administrative regions), like Singapore, Hong Kong, or The United Arab Emirates. Singapore imports 90% of its food as only 1% of its land is dedicated to farming. This is not only bad for its economy but also means that the government is heavily reliant on foreign companies and politics. With coronavirus blocking lots of trade routes this became a particularly precarious position to be in. In Hong Kong, the demand is increased in part by the fact that many Hong Kongers are wary about becoming overly reliant on Mainland Chinese imports, and also dismissive about its quality. In general, the want to support local business highlights a key source of popularity among vertical farms. Hong Kongers, Emiratis and Singaporeans want to support local business, and would often be willing to pay slightly more to do so.

The idea isn’t just about producing local food. Vertical farms can also have large environmental benefits. Vertical farms produce food efficiently and environmentally. Because the farms are inside a closed environment, they use very small amounts of water, with water being irrigated back into the plants rather than evaporating into the wider atmosphere. Also, lighting is heavily controlled with wavelengths created to instigate particular forms of growth. Farm 66 in Hong Kong, for example, uses blue light to help plants grow larger and wider, or red light to help them grow thinner and longer. The benefits don’t stop there, levelled planting massively increases space available, pesticides are unnecessary as insects aren’t in the environment, no soil is needed, and importantly no food miles or deforestation is needed.

Credit - Satoshi KINOKUNI - https://www.flickr.com/photos/nikunoki/38459770052/ - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

 

Another key aspect of urban farming is that it can massively increase green space in urban areas, and improve air quality. Shanghai is creating a 250-acre urban farm which will help improve the city’s poor air quality as well as providing food. Named ‘Sunqiao Urban Agricultural District’ the area will also allow Shanghai residents access to more green space than ever. Bangkok also has a huge urban farm area, in Thammasat University there is a 7,000 square metre rooftop urban farm. Projects like this improve the air quality for millions of people.

Indoor vertical farming also has enormous benefits in cities in inhospitable nations. Cities like Dubai have invested heavily in the tech, with one farm specifically for Emirates Airlines to provide fresh food. In general, many parts of Asia have very extreme climates and large amounts of unfarmable land. Indoor farming in cities could unlock millions of acres of new farming land across the continent.

The idea does not come without its issues and limitations. Many detractors point out that space in cities is prohibitively expensive. Hong Kong, Singapore, Shanghai and other urban centres in Asia all have extortionate housing and office prices. This paired with the amount of space needed for vertical farms may mean it isn’t cost-effective. Along with high start-up costs, this could make such projects an unwanted risk for potential investors. Some people also argue that the amount of energy needed to replicate the sun’s light is unfeasibly high. The sun is an amazing and free source of energy; one that is hard to replicate – so why bother? These problems, however, are well on their way to being solved. Improved methods and technology of vertical farming have meant less energy and space are needed to grow crops, increasing cost efficiency and decreasing environmental impact.

Asia’s cities are growing, covering larger and larger areas. Alongside this the population is expected to grow to 700 million in the 30 years. Indoor farming in Cities could help feed the billions of citizens in Asia in the coming decades.