Denmark's super large vertical farm LED lights all-weather lighting

The "Vertical Farm", which is known as one of the largest in Europe and is located in a warehouse in the Danish capital Copenhagen's industrial zone, has just recently opened. The indoor purple lights illuminate the box with the scales of lettuce, vanilla, and kale planted.

The vertical farm of Nordic Harvest, a Danish startup company, was originally used as a hangar for aircraft. It covers an area of 7,000 square meters. There are 14 floors in the Nordic Space from floor to ceiling.

Although there is no soil or sunlight, the crops planted here will be harvested 15 times a year and will be illuminated by 20,000 special LED bulbs 24 hours a day.

Anders Riemann, founder and CEO of Nordic Harvest, said that about 200 metric tons of crops will be harvested in the first quarter of next year, and the farm will operate at full capacity by the end of next year, with an annual output of nearly 1,000 metric tons. This will make this warehouse in Taastrup a full-fledged warehouse. One of the largest vertical farms in Europe.

Unsurprisingly, rural farmers are cold-eyed about these vertical farms in the metropolis. They question the ability of vertical farms to supply the earth's agricultural products and criticize the power consumption of vertical farms.

But Riemann emphasized that his farm is very environmentally friendly, the production area is close to consumers and the vertical farm uses green energy. He said: "It recycles all water, nutrients and fertilizers. The characteristic of vertical farms is that they don't harm the environment."

Denmark's wind power generation is second to none in the world, and about 40% of the country's electricity consumption comes from wind power. Riemann said: "As far as our vertical farm is concerned, 100% of our electricity comes from wind power, which prevents us from emitting carbon dioxide."

Riemann said that his farm uses one liter of water for irrigation per kilogram of crops, which is 40 times more efficient than underground farms and 250 times more efficient than farmland.

Vertical farms that emphasize environmental protection and energy reuse began to develop about 10 years ago. They are currently booming in Asia and the United States, and the world’s largest vertical farm is in the United States, but this concept has slowly begun to spread in Europe.