There are many conceptual and futuristic vertical farm designs that have been creatively designed by some visionary architects. While many of these agricultural high-rises presently exist only in renderings, there are in fact some commercial hydroponic agricultural facilities that could be considered the closest thing to vertical farms today.
Many proponents of urban agriculture believe that vertical farming will be the most sustainable food production solution moving forward if we want to be able to feed the 9 billion people that will reside on this planet by 2050. Opponents suggest that this idea is not economically viable. Whichever side you argue it’s safe to say we can definitely learn from the existing facilities and how they operate so that we may constantly improve on our agricultural technology.
Here are four present-day vertical farms:
- Sky Greens Farm in Singapore
- FarmedHere in Chicago IL
- Green Spirit Farms in Scranton PA
- Nuvege Vertical Farms in Japan
Feature Image: Sky Greens Farm in Singapore increases the city-state’s food security. Image via PRI’s The World.