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Comment by Version467 | Hacker News Reader

Seems like this really doesn't have a whole lot to do with vertical farming, but rather just startups being startups and vc money coming with the strings that it does. Which is good, because vertical farming will only ever become more important (unless population size and density start trending downwards, which doesn't seem likely).

They'll figure it out eventually. Local, space efficient, variable controlled agriculture has so many upsides for dense, urban areas that I doubt the idea will fail.

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> so many upsides for dense, urban areas

I know they say this, but what are the upsides really? I’m far from an expert but afaik neither land nor transportation are the bottleneck when it comes to food.

- Consistent output, less variability due to seasonal concerns like drought. Also output is constant year round. Less concerns about financial instruments (futures) to manage risk.

- More water efficiency which is becoming more of a concern with changing climes.

- Less need for fertilizer and pesticides, resulting in less potential toxicity for consumers.

- Precise control over growth conditions allows for perfection of individual crops when it comes to taste and nutrient density.

- Less biodiversity impact of traditional land based farming, more forest area available land.

- Transport is still a huge environmental impact, especially when it has to be transported internationally.

Edit: Also less concern of agriculture contamination, e.g. cattle farm upriver causing bacterial infection like salmonella.

How’s any of that better than Hot House style tomatoes I can buy year around? Why farm in expensive areas that require vertical farms when land is everywhere in the US.

Head lettuce might make sense since it needs a lot of packaging and refrigeratoration to get to market. I can imagine a vertical system where it's grown in its clamshell, not dissimilar to some head lettuce you find at the store. It's gotta be in a refrigeratorated truck or car for the journey. It's also in pretty high and constant demand.

For pretty much everything else though...

You’re missing the point. To the extent these things are true (unclear why an artificial environment would have less need for fertilizer), they’re true about ordinary greenhouses.

So what does verticality add other than complication, and why is it so valuable for “dense urban areas”? Do any of the gains you propose make up for the enormous loss of free energy from the Sun? So far, in real life, the answer is a resounding no.

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