Maximilian Lössl, co-chair Association for Vertical Farming:
"Vertical farming will be mainstream in 10 years"
Please tell us about vertical farming and the association.
The AVF is a fast growing international non-profit organization on a mission to foster the sustainable growth and development of the vertical farming movement. The AVF leads the movement in order to facilitate healthy food production, green jobs, environmental protection and climate change resilience. It’s exciting to see how this industry is growing faster than we had ever anticipated. In the last year alone AVF has doubled its size in terms of members. We have recently launched the first international design award for vertical farming and are hosting our annual AVF Summit in partnership with GreenTech in Amsterdam this year which will make Amsterdam the center of the Vertical Farming world for 4 days from June 13th-16th.
Do you feel growers are paying sufficient attention to the opportunities vertical farming offers them?
I would say that Vertical Farming is getting more attention from people outside of the agricultural space than from actual growers, a lot of young people and entrepreneurs are changing their career paths to start vertical farming companies recently. Most of the current Vertical Farms going up around the world are actually looking for growers to hire! So this is a great opportunity for growers trying to get active in the field.
The future of vertical farming – some say it is just a hype, tell us where you think vertical farming will be in 10 years’ time.
Vertical Farming will be mainstream in 10 years. Meaning every big city will have a least one Vertical Farming. It’s definitely not just a hype anymore even though some people are still down talking it. We have big multinationals like Philips, Metro, Osram, Toshiba, Microsoft, Panasonic, Fujitsu, GE that are all getting active in the space.
From your perspective, what is the greatest challenge facing growers today?
The conventional food supply chain, which needs to be updated and disrupted! That’s why I chose Vertical Farming as a solution to this challenge.
Where do you personally seek creative inspiration?
On the internet, from meeting inspiring people at events / conferences and by watching at least one TED talk per week.
What was the best advice you have ever been given?
To move to the Netherlands and study something related to Vertical Farming (Advice was given by Dr. Dickson Despommier).
For more information:
avfsummit2016.eventbrite.de
vertical-farming.net
GreenTech 2016 will be held on June 14-15-16 in Amsterdam. For more information: www.greentech.nl