Vertical Farms for Future Cities

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations forecasts that by 2050 the global population will grow by nearly 2 billion persons. Consequently, we must sustainably produce 70% more food (United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs. https://www.un.org/development/desa/en/news/population/2018-revision-of-world-urbanization-prospects.html ). However, water supply and arable lands are shrinking. In recent years, the impacts of the vicious pandemic and climate change manifested by weather extremes have hurt agriculture and the entire food production systems. Further, “food miles,” referring to the distance that food travels from the place of production to the plate, is becoming an alarming problem. This chapter examines the potential of the vertical farm (VF) to support food security. It also discusses the challenges it faces.