Blue-green algae produces a sickening toxin that forced Toledo’s public drinking-water system to shut down. How on Earth can this help vertical farmers?
A few months ago The Urban Vertical Project wrote about fixing fertilizer runoff in the Great Lakes region, and in the nation as a whole. Vertical farms could play a huge role in doing that – not only do they minimize synthetic agricultural inputs, but many strive to create a closed loop system where each input is maximized and nothing is left to waste (or to stream into the nation’s drinking water).
So, how does this actually help vertical farmers or the industry as a whole? Well, let’s face it; there are a lot of problems with conventional agriculture. Each new thing that vertical farming can do better makes it more competitive as compared to outdoor agriculture, especially as scrutiny on conventional farming increases in light of pressing environmental concerns like climate change or feeding a population of 9 billion.