Sustainability is at the heart of vertical farming. It is therefore crucial that vertical farmers are able to validate sustainability claims to third parties, but also to push themselves to further improve sustainability performance across the board. Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) is the global standard by which sustainability can be measured.
It is for this reason that the AVF has asked students of the Wageningen University (Netherlands) to develop a LCA framework for Vertical Farming.
Additional to the framework they have also developed the first version of a software tool. The tool can be used by producers to measure and improve their own performance concerning energy efficiency and carbon footprint. The tool should be as user-friendly as possible, using data that is already available. It is developed in a way that gives producers full control and ownership of their data. By sharing data anonymously, producers can subsequently help the AVF to convince policymakers and other stakeholders to acknowledge the benefits of vertical farming and give further support.