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Seemingly futuristic vertical and hydroponic technologies are not new but are almost four hundred years old. Wikipedia references a 1627 book by Francis Bacon that discusses how plants can be grown without soil. Three centuries later, in 1929, William Frederick Gericke experimented with nutrient-rich solutions to grow crops. He gained notoriety by growing 25-foot high tomato vines without soil. Now, yet another century later, hydroponic farming is expanding rapidly into many food production systems around the world.

These come in many forms. At one end of the spectrum are large-scale are technologically driven warehouses that can produce 30+ times the amount of food in the same acreage as soil-based farming. The company, Plenty, for example, is building an indoor campus near Richmond, Virginia that expects to produce four million pounds of strawberries per year using cutting-edge vertical farming techniques. They use vertical towers two stories high as their production platforms, sophisticated temperature and LED light controls, and robotic arms to organize their production and packaging. The United States leads the world with the largest number of vertical farms, but many countries in Asia, Europe, and the Middle East have made large investments, too.

A well-resourced investment among private equity firms a decade ago, large-scale vertical farming has come under fire in recent years, and many of the leading companies have gone out of business. The industry set huge expectations a decade ago about its growth and reach but ran into substantial problems in creating production models that were competitive with traditional field-based production. Commercial growing systems rely heavily on electricity for light and temperature controls, production space and equipment with high depreciation rates, and a highly educated, specialized workforce to manage farm production. Large-scale producers have not met expectations for expansion, diversity of crops, and profits. Yet innovation continues, and I am optimistic about the future success of large-scale vertical farming as the industry matures.

At the same time, I am very excited about the opportunities for small-scale residential farming to support families and communities. The capital investment costs for basic, home-based vertical farming systems are quite modest, especially when producers build their own systems. The internet is full of videos showing home-made systems for less than $10 USD. (See for example, Mike VanDuzee’s YouTube video on making a $10 Hydroponic Tower Garden Cheap & Easy.)

One popular company estimates that its tower can produce an average of six ounces of leafy greens per plant per month. Its standard tower holds 20 plants so can yield approximately 7.5 pounds of produce per month. Ongoing expenses include seedlings, electricity for the pump and lights (at approximately $0.12 per kilowatt-hour), as well as nutrient-rich water, for a total cost of less than $1.00 per tower per day. Tower extensions increase production and reduce the per-unit costs, too.

The learning curve for starting and managing vertical farms is also relatively modest. Yes, farmers spend their entire lives refining their growing practices, but the basics of vertical farming can be taught in a short period of time. There is substantial information available publicly about the growing process as well as an extensive community of knowledgeable instructors. So, the opportunities for community-based vertical farming in historical food deserts, water-scarce environments, and urban and peri-urban areas are huge.

A variety of bilateral and multi-lateral organizations have made initial investments in in hydroponic farming. Examples include the USAID Hydroponic Green Farming Initiative in Jordan and Urban Resilience Building Program in Zimbabwe; UNICEF Hydroponic Farming Project in Ethiopia; World Bank Agriculture, Resilience, Value Chain Development and Innovation project in Jordan and La Ferme Urbaine Okoume project in Gabon. I would advocate for expansion of these efforts with the following three guiding principles:

1. Continue to focus on geographies that would benefit most from hydroponic farming. These include food deserts as well as areas with limited water and soil resources. Such focuses will give the international development community the best information available about the potential for improving food accessibility, mitigating climate change, and meeting basic needs. The likelihood of success will be much higher than in geographies with successful farming cultures, where there may be fewer incentives and more reticence to adopt new practices.

2. Continue to leverage these investments as workforce development opportunities. What is particularly inspiring about many existing hydroponic development projects is that they combine locally-driven technological innovation with workforce development and entrepreneurial opportunities for women and young people. All new efforts to support small-scale farming models should also be rooted in workforce development. This includes training for historically disadvantaged groups in entrepreneurialism and business development in addition to farming practices.

3. Ensure that new projects have an extensive research focus. Innovative approaches to agricultural production that complement traditional land-based agriculture will become increasingly important in the coming decades to stave off malnutrition, famine, and land-related conflicts. It is therefore essential that new projects include applied research in agricultural production strategies, changes in food consumption habits, workforce development, and community relations. To what extent are new production successes and challenges unique to local circumstances, and to what extent can they be generalized and improved for future production?

The issues related to local food production, food consumption, and environmental sustainability will only become more acute over the next few decades. Investing now in promising practices will only help the world community in the long run. Do you agree? How would you address the related challenges of environmental sustainability and food production differently? What are your recommendations? Please join the conversation, and let us know what you think.