The state of global agriculture is at a critical crossroads between climate change, land/water resources and rising populations. The $650 billion global produce industry, as it exists today, is unsustainable. The global population will increase to 10 billion by 2050. When combined with the effects of climate change, logistics and increases in pricing, this poses an increasing challenge to our ability to feed ourselves. To feed not only ourselves, but the global population we additionally support.
Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) presented itself as a viable solution, producing crops year-round. But CEA companies rely on enormous amounts of grid energy, not only contributing to carbon in the atmosphere, but also keeping the price-of-goods high and margins low. With some traditional CEA operations folding under high power costs, it is evident that a new solution is required.
Agriculture and energy are inextricably linked, and until energy for CEA farming becomes predominantly renewable, agriculture will continue to be a leading cause of climate change–representing part of the problem- rather than the solution. Identifying sources of energy that are cost effective, non-pollutive, nor have a negative impact on the environment requires a paradigm shift – i.e., a radical rethinking of how to achieve energy output comparable to fossil fuels.
Powering carbon-negative, organic crop factories completely by on-site food-energy-waste-fertilizer systems, by transforming waste from a liability to a resource, is clearly the direction to rigorously pursue. This is a new type of farming, formed by a closed loop system built on a circular economy model, representing a resilient food system with a carbon-negative footprint, removing CO2 from entering the atmosphere and using it to fertilize plants, helping them grow as they release clean oxygen into the atmosphere. The system saves water with a notable 95% to 99% increased water efficiency than conventional fields, converting waste into energy through gasification. Biomass gasification is a process that uses heat, steam and oxygen to convert the biomass into usable fuels and chemicals. In addition, Anaerobic Digestion, a process that breaks down organic matter such as plant or animal waste to produce biogas and digestate, will not only enhance food safety and security, but also lowers the cost of food, limits transportation needs, and most importantly delivers fresh, certified organic high-quality produce to nearby major consumer markets helping to combat food insecurity of those most vulnerable in society.
CEA vertical farms and greenhouses are extremely energy intensive, just like computer data centers with 24/7/365 energy demands. As such, developing a large-scale vertical farm project in the US and Europe requires a different approach. Many CEA investments globally have failed, due to high energy costs, poor site location in high-cost urban areas, high labor costs or Do-It-Yourself (DIY) growing systems.
Successful CEA operations must aim to combine highly automated facilities, thereby minimizing the use of low-skill labor, with circular economy megawatt scale production of renewable energy and fertilizers from various waste streams. Gasification of biomass and wastes then would be used to power CHP gas generators, with waste heat used for sterilization, hot water, heating and cooling via adsorption chillers.
These facilities must also aim to capture CO2 from generators to be used for plant growth, production of biochar and pyroligneous acid fertilizers, production of nitrogen fertilizer using an air-to-nitrogen process, composting of food wastes, production of growing substrates and soil mixes and production of hydroponic liquid fertilizers.
Globally, the trend is moving away from urban-situated entities to much larger mega projects such as the Dubai based “GigaFarm” currently under development. Dubai and other locations in the Gulf region provide a unique opportunity to experiment with some of the newest technologies in vertical farming (from companies such as Edinburgh-based Intelligent Growth Solutions.) Seemingly unlimited financing from sovereign and private funds – tethered to the fossil fuel industry – makes this possible.
Unlike new projects in places like Dubai, most locations in the United States, European Union, and other 1st world countries have limited excess power capacity –particularly in urban locations. Data centers and electric vehicle charging stations cause major capacity issues that limit the number of suitable sites with grid vulnerability a national security risk. In addition, the impact of climate change, as seen in Texas in 2021, can cripple an entire state’s grid. Developers building industrial scale vertical farms must consider energy requirements, including the current and future state of local infrastructure, and how site selection could impact the viability of their project.
Under 100 sites nationwide in the United States that are build-ready and have the ability handle 15 to 30+ MW 24/7 electric demand without requiring expensive multi-year upgrades to substations, and transmission lines to produce enough generating capacity. The lack of suitable sites in 1st world countries means that CEA facilities need to be smaller than the Dubai GigaFarm and that farm developers need to adopt a distributed giga-farm “hub and spoke” model to serve customers within a one-day drive radius.
Most importantly, the main US growing areas are located approximately 2,600-3,000+ miles from the Northeast. As a result, produce coming from these locations typically reaches East Coast distributors and grocers 7-10 days after harvest, have a very short shelf life, and a high risk of spoiling before it reaches the consumer.
Vulnerabilities in our food supply chain, as recently exposed by COVID-19, must be immediately addressed to support greater food safety and security. Agriculture of the future, utilizing Biosafety Design, will include HEPA air filtration, implementation of Biosafety Levels (BSL) and operational practices including the use of automation/AI to augment workers to maintain hygiene, personal protective equipment, as well as automated processing and packaging.