The Vertical Farm: Feeding The World In The 21st Century (2010) - Plot & Excerpts
I picked this book up before starting work on a vertical growing system. It was a fairly interesting read and a good introduction to newcomers of the many challenges faced by those working within agriculture. However, it stays more towards the social science side of things, with little in the way of hard evidence of the genuine possibilities (other than Despommier's own ideas) and application of vertical farming; prototype vertical farms are mentioned, but with 'prototype' being the key word. Vertical farming is taking off on the smaller scale, with a number of good studies being carried out, but the application of this on a big scale is essentially an unknown. It is easy for Despommier to put figures in his books suggesting that growing crops in colossal and attractive skyscrapers would work, but the proof will be in the pudding (and there are a significant number of doubters). Ultimately, whilst the first handful of chapters give some nice insight to the history of agriculture amongst other things, there is far too much repetition and conjecture in this book. There are a number of very good articles available online looking at vertical farming from a social sciences point of view (many written by Despommier himself), which slightly devalues the ultimate goal of this book. Cataloging in processIt is a scary thought that most big cities have a food supply of fewer than 2 days in the event of disasters which prevent the delivery of fresh food to the grocery shelves. Large cities cannot grow their own as they are set up at present. Despommier is a Columbia University professor who decided to see what could be done to develop urban agriculture. Basically the idea is to grow food in tall buildings using the sciences of hydroponics, aeroponics, engineering, and more. Many crops currently are grown in greenhouses. This concept expands the possibilities so that food can be grown year-round in natural environments that are immune to weather and other natural elements. And this could eliminate the need for fossil fuel for plowing, applying fertilizer, and the many other elements of open field crops. And waste and water could also be managed more effectively. As yet, no one is applying this principle, but given the population increases forecast and the need to feed everyone, there are people who are thinking and planning for vertical agriculture, sometime in the fairly near future.
What do You think about The Vertical Farm: Feeding The World In The 21st Century (2010)?
Very interesting theory and background but felt repetitive and preachy at times.
—mona94
The arguments for the vertical farm are pretty compelling.
—mary
Interesting concept. Wonder wheat the future will bring.
—XBeautifulXWallflowerX
