While sometimes soil is used, increasingly vertical farms use hydroponic or aeroponic systems, where water (for hydroponics) or water vapour (for aeroponics) infused with nutrients is circulated directly around the roots of the plant. This means leafy salads, smaller vegetables and fruits such as tomatoes and strawberries – high value crops which grow quickly – are about the limit of what is currently available commercially from vertical farms.īut where exactly is the limit of what we can actually grow in a vertical farm? And if we did find a way to overcome the problems of cost and energy use, what would a world where all our food is grown in such farms look like? Could we ever move to completely soil-free farming? While the technology shows much promise, the costs in both money and energy are still high. For others, the outlandish price highlighted the huge challenge to make vertical farms commercially viable. For some, this was evidence that with time vertical farming could rival and ultimately exceed traditional farming for quality. In 2021, a punnet of its coveted Japanese Omakase strawberries retailed for $50 (£44) in a high-end New York supermarket.

One example is the vertically farmed strawberry brand Oishii, based in New Jersey. But vertical farming in the modern sense is now spreading rapidly.

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