U.S. vertical farms are boosting crop yields

Compared with traditional light sources, LED has the advantages of high efficiency and long life in plant lighting applications. In recent years, its market size has gradually grown, which has promoted the rise of vertical farms.

A few days ago, according to foreign media reports, many of the top indoor farms in the United States are full of plants from floor to ceiling. They are working hard to ramp up production and can currently supply hundreds of stores.

Plenty, Bowery, Aerofarms and 80 Acres Farms are all bullish on the future of salad greens and other produce.

They say custom, controlled lighting produces crops that are tastier than those grown in the sun, and use nearly 95 percent less water than conventional farms, require little land and use no pesticides. Since vertical farms can exist in windowless buildings in urban centers, produce doesn't have to be trucked to stores.

The companies' expansion comes as burger makers Beyond Meat Inc and Impossible Foods are luring investors and moving into high-end restaurants and fast-food chains.

But it remains a question of whether vertical farms can compete with field-grown farms, given the large upfront investment and costs.

Agtech investor Michael Rose said vertical sunless farms would cost more to operate than modern, sunlight-dependent, LED-assisted greenhouses. He thinks vertical farms make sense for areas with limited land, such as the Middle East, where most food is imported, or megacities.

But there's no denying that vertical farms are on the rise, and the world is paying attention. For example, in July 2017, Plenty received US$200 million in financing from investors such as Japan’s Softbank and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos; Bowery received US$95 million in funding led by Google Ventures and Temasek last year.