Can soil-less crop production be a sustainable option for soil conservation and future agriculture?

The Vertical Farm: A Review of Developments and Implications for the Vertical City

“…In particular, building-based urban agriculture is increasingly needed in dense urban environments and a review of current cultivation techniques and projects would likely to contribute positively to academic discussions [6][7][8][9][10]. This is particularly important since vertical farming engages multiple disciplines of natural sciences, architecture, and engineering and affects both people and the environment [9][10][11]. This paper attempts to answer the following questions:…”

“…In principle, it is a simple concept; farm up rather than out [8][9][10]. The body of literature on the subject distinguishes between three types of vertical farming [9][10][11]. The first type refers to the construction of tall structures with several levels of growing beds, often lined with artificial lights.…”

“…On the other hand, urban agriculture has been facing problems due to land scarcity and high costs. We desperately need transformative solutions to combat this immense global challenge [8][9][10][11].…”

“…The logic of vertical farming is simple: produce more food on less land [10,11]. The same rationale that we use to stack homes and offices in limited and expensive land, such as in Hong Kong or Manhattan, can apply to farming.…”

“…In 2011, the United Nations completed a global assessment of the planet's land resources, determining that a quarter of all arable land is highly degraded. Further, since 1960, one million farmers in the United States have gave up farming [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19]. Today, the country suffers from "23 million food deserts, defined by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) as urban neighborhoods and rural towns without ready access to fresh, healthy, and affordable food" [20] (p. 32).…”