Imagine a Farm in the Sky
When I heard (or read) that there was suggestion of farms in Manhattan, I had to question it. Is there room? Of course not. Unless you want to use Central Park, there’s no place to put farms and even then, being a New York myself, I love Central Park the way it is. So, I naturally had to dwell deeper. How the heck could we put farms in Manhattan? Or any other city for that? Then I saw it…Vertical Farms. Now, this has been discussed for quite some time, but I had to write about it.
In theory, what they are hoping is that they can do the one thing that is expected in Manhattan: build up. Skyscrapers can be built and people feel that some of these could be used for farms. It’s a nice idea in theory, but there are issues to it. Before I talk about the issues, though, let’s look at some of the really great things that could come from this. First, take a look at this picture that I have provided and tell me what you think about.
As you can see, the building would be used with many floors to grow food. According to an article in the New York Times, one thirty story skyscraper with pure farms on it could make enough food to feed 50,000 people. That’s a lot of people and that could definitely do some good in lowering the cost of food if there were numerous of them. But, then we need to look at some issues that come along with it.
It will cost hundreds of millions to make one of these towers. How much money can the food that is made here make a year? If it can make a lot, then perhaps the investment would be a good move. But, the issue that I think a lot of people have (including me) is this: is this the most effective way to increase food production? And more so than that…Why would someone with a skyscraper want to do this over renting it out to someone? Which will pay more?
I propose something to those that want to do this. I am all for the skyscrapers, but why does an entire building need to be a farm? What if only a certain number of floors on numerous skyscrapers were converted into farms? It’s not uncommon to see the roof of a building housing a garden. What if you used this technique, but on a smaller scale? Why does it need to be 30 stories and a new building? Can’t it just be an addition to an already built skyscraper and fewer floors?
Until we know just how successful this is going to be, we need to keep in perspective that this is very expensive. If this is the best way to increase our production for food, then great. But, there are other ways. I like the idea, but I wonder if it will work. What about all you? Think it’ll work?
