Crop Growing Skyscrapers Reading Passage
Crop Growing Skyscrapers
Paragraph 1: By the end of 2050, almost 80% of the Earth’s population will migrate to urban centres. By using the conservative estimates in the present demographic trends, the human population density will increase exponentially up to three billion. Around 120 hectares of new land (about 20% larger than Australia) will be estimated to cultivate enough food to feed them if traditional farming practices continue as they are evolved today. Now, across the world, nearly 80% of the landscape suitable for raising crops is in use. When we go back to the past, some 15% of that has been laid waste due to poor management skills. How to ensure enough food security for the world’s population to live on?
Paragraph 2: The technique of indoor farming is not new since many hothouse production of tomatoes, onions and other vegetables has been in fashion for a certain time. However, there is an urgent need to increase this technology to feed another three billion human population. Experts believe a whole new concept of indoor farming is required with super-efficient technologies. ‘Vertical Farm’ is one amongst them. The idea is to have multi-story buildings where food crops are grown in eco-friendly conditions. If they deploy it in the heart of urban centres, they would substantially decrease the transportation cost paid to bring food to the end consumers. This vertical farm has to be effective and accessible to the consumers to operate. Let's assume it is successfully implemented; proponents claim that vertical farms will guarantee urban renewal, sustainable development production of a safe and varied food chain (round-the-year production of all crops), and the obvious reconstruction of ecosystems that deteriorated due to horizontal farming.
Paragraph 3: The like-minded people of vertical farming discover various benefits of this system. For example, crops can be harvested throughout the year, as they would be preserved in man-made, controlled, maximum growing conditions. Similarly, no climate-related crop failures occur due to droughts, floods or pests. All the crops and food could be produced organically, neglecting the inorganic products of herbicides, pesticides, and fertilisers. The system would significantly decrease the occurrence of many non-communicable diseases necessary at the agricultural production interface. Even though the system would require energy, it would give it back in a different way to the grid via methane gas generation from composting non-edible parts of plants. This practice will help in reducing the need for tractors, ploughs, and shipping, which, in turn, reduce in consumption of fossil fuel.
Paragraph 4: Besides the advantages, a major setback of vertical farming is that the plants need artificial light, unlike traditional farming. However, when those plants are kept near the window, they will be exposed to more sunlight and grow more quickly, reducing their efficiency. Whereas the single-storey greenhouse has the benefit of natural light on the top. Nevertheless, many plants still need artificial lighting other than natural sunlight.
Paragraph 5: A multi-story facility without any natural light at the top might need far more. Producing sufficient light might be expensive unless cheap, renewable energy is there to support it, and this seems to be rather a long-term goal than a tangible result for the near future.
Paragraph 6: One difference in vertical farming that has been produced is to plant small trees in stacked trays that are alongside rails. Shifting the trays allows the small trees to get good sunlight for photosynthesis. This system is put in place and, thus, performs well within a single-story greenhouse with sufficient sunlight: it is not absolute, but it is possible to make it work without the sunlight from above.
Paragraph 7: Vertical farming is nothing but an attempt to combat the prolonged issues that we face in making food supply for an ever-growing human population. Presently, though, more steps need to be taken to decrease the aftermaths happening to the environment, specifically the consumption of energy. While it is doable that our food supply will be produced in skyscrapers in the future, experts think that it is way too far that we will merely make use of the space situated on urban area rooftops.
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