Old New Jersey Factory to House Earth’s Largest Vertical Farm

Post by thret » Thu, Apr 23, 2015, 2:39 AM UTC

AJ007 wrote: post #9

mlakewood wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There was an article I read a little while ago about urban/vertical farming in Detroit. It was saying that traditionally, like you say the economics of cost of transport vs cost of land has meant that farms are placed further out where land is cheaper. In Detroit, apparently the land in inexpensive enough in the inner city that the economics dont work out that way. I think its interesting to think in a macro scale wh…

I wonder how much marijuana is grown indoors in the US? Perhaps there are some parallels not so much with cost of land but cost of transport with that one.

Post by notatoad » Thu, Apr 23, 2015, 3:12 AM UTC

Animats wrote: post #4

There's a well-known vertical farm in Japan which produces 10,000 heads of lettuce a day. But even with LED lighting, they need subsidies on power costs. There are some special situations where this is a big win. Places with poor growing climates and difficult shipping, such as Alaska, where a big indoor farm is starting up. Indoor farms have been big in Saudi Arabia for decades. But for places within trucking range…

Post by Animats » Thu, Apr 23, 2015, 5:15 AM UTC

adventured wrote: post #7

Animats wrote: post #4

There's a well-known vertical farm in Japan which produces 10,000 heads of lettuce a day. But even with LED lighting, they need subsidies on power costs. There are some special situations where this is a big win. Places with poor growing climates and difficult shipping, such as Alaska, where a big indoor farm is starting up. Indoor farms have been big in Saudi Arabia for decades. But for places within trucking range…

I'd have to believe that 30 years out, indoor farming will be far more cost effective than outdoor farming for certain crops. Some of California's vast farming industry should move indoors via solar and battery storage. With the way that costs in both of those segments will drastically fall over the coming decades, mixed with California's sun and large local market, it would seem ideal. Not to mention California's de…