Book Review: The Vertical Farm

Book Title: The Vertical Farm

Author: Dr. Dickson Despommier

ISBN: 978-0312611392

The Vertical Farm is an impassioned plea for nothing less than the fundamental transformation of the way humans grow food. The purpose of the book is to make the case that current agricultural practices are completely unsustainable and that the vertical farm is a simple and technology-ready solution that can remedy this problem, with the ultimate potential of allowing waste-free cities with plentiful food and clean water supplies. I originally learned of the concept of an urban vertical farm from conversations with a colleague. It seemed an interesting topic and concept so I bought this book with the intention of learning more details. 

The book starts with an overview of the history of human agricultural, even detailing the origins of some of the major staple crops in various regions of the world thousands of years ago. This was a bit too much in my opinion, but is an informative review nonetheless. As the author transitions into describing modern agricultural practices, he gradually makes his case for the unsustainable nature of it all through some reinforcing facts, such as:

- 70% of the freshwater used on earth goes to irrigation

- In the US, 20% of fossil fuels are used for agriculture 

- The US imports more than 80% of its seafood, mostly because our river estuaries (traditional havens for sea life) have been severely damaged by agricultural runoff

- To feed the projected increase in population in 2050, an additional land area the size of Brazil will be needed to grow food using traditional farming methods (key point: this much additional arable land doesn't exist) 

- According to a 2005 study, the increasing levels of groundwater salts in the central valley of California (where a significant portion of US food is grown) will cause the agricultural failure of the area within 25-50 years unless another method of supplying fresh water can be found (this is separate from the fact that the dwindling supplies of water from Northern California may cause water shortages as soon as 20 years from now); the projected obsolescence of the California agricultural sector has also gained public concern from Energy Secretary and Nobel Prize winner Steven Chu

- The citizens of New York City could generate about 900 GWh of electricity per year simply by incinerating human fecal waste instead of traditionally treating it and discarding 1 billion gallons of grey water into the Hudson River every day

Though the overall argument is persuasive and I agree with the conclusion of the author, the argument as written was not always as focused as it could have been, hopping back and forth between topics and points across chapters. A lot of the concepts are arguably well-known enough to not need so much explanation. I felt this part of the book could have been condensed and better organized.

Finally (and almost half-way through the book), the author begins to talk about the vertical farm concept. Not intending to diminish its value, the concept is basically a very sophisticated and large-scale version of hydroponics and/or aeroponics integrated with other urban systems. The author outlines 11 basic advantages of the vertical farm over traditional farming (quoting):

1. Year-round crop production
2. No weather-related crop failures
3. No agricultural runoff
4. Allowance for ecosystem restoration
5. No use of pesticides, herbicides, or fertilizers
6. Use of 70-95 percent less water
7. Greatly reduced food miles
8. More control of food safety and security
9. New employment opportunities
10. Purification of grey water to drinking water
11. Animal feed from post-harvest plant material

Some very good color photos and concept sketches are included to help the reader visualize what the author is describing. However, coming in at 320 pages and written by a respected microbiologist, I expected a bit more detail regarding the systems and processes within the vertical farm building and potential integration points (of course, at the same time I did not expect a text book and am aware this was written for the average layperson).

The vertical farm is a great idea based on existing technology. I enjoyed reading about it and sincerely hope that it gets some traction from angel investors or government policy support. It has the short-term potential to locally feed the world's growing population centers, and the long-term potential to transform the world's food supply into a sustainable reality with plenty of environmental benefits. If you haven't heard about vertical farming and want to learn more, I recommend this book. Even if you are already aware of the concept, this book will reinforce some of the ideas and you may learn a few new things. Quasi-experts and above (are there many?) will probably not gain much. 

An afterthought:

The author of the book is clearly passionate about the concept of vertical farms and the current non-sustainability of urban cultures. Here is a short excerpt from the book as an example:

Regardless of location, the city has grown helter-skelter, and its insatiable appetite and out-of-control metabolism produces nothing more useful than lethal bubbles of heat and contaminated air and water laced with the by-products of its mechanized infrastructure. "Metropolis" has become synonymous with "consumption." None of this negative behavior was planned, yet urbanization over the last hundred years turns out to be a thousand times more destructive than all wars put together, both in the scope of the planetary damage it has created, the number of human deaths cause by unhealthy living conditions, and its penchant for continuing to cause even more disruption of the natural world on an ever-increasing scale, as new methods for construction are established. Godzilla is a mere toddler's hand puppet compared to the way the city itself has risen up into the surrounding landscape and crushed it flat with its big foot of progress.