World Conservation Day: vertical farming & conservation

World Conservation Day: vertical farming & conservation

Celebrated on the 28th of July every year, people around the globe come together to acknowledge World Conservation Day. On this day, we recognise that a healthy environment is the foundation for a stable and thriving society, and that the wellbeing of our present and future generations is reliant on the conservation of Earth’s finite resources. 

As we all still grapple to overcome the effects brought about by the recent COVID-19 pandemic, the need for a healthy environment could not be any clearer. As a collective, we all need to play a part in the protection of the world’s limited natural resources, to ensure it is conserved for years to come. Considering Earth Overshoot day lies on the day after World Conservation day this year, this highlights how unsustainable our current means of living are. The 29th of July marks the date when humanity has exhausted nature’s budget for the year; for the rest of the year we are maintaining our ecological deficit by drawing down local resource stocks.

Examples of Earth’s precious resources include the likes of wildlife, trees, air, water and soil. Each of these are threatened by deforestation, pollution and intensive agricultural practices. As a result, we are all seeing this natural imbalance take place in the form of climate change, natural disasters, rising sea levels and disease outbreaks. 

Water and soil are considered to be planet Earths’ most fundamental natural resources so it is clear-cut that efforts should be made to help conserve them. Indoor farming, particularly using aeroponic technology, could help to cut back our usage of soil and water to a level which can be maintained indefinitely. Crops are instead grown indoors with their roots suspended in the air and irrigated with a nutrient-dense mist. In aeroponics, the closed-loop system recycles the water in turn using 95% less water than outdoor farming. Additionally, no pesticides or harmful chemicals are used and there is no fertiliser run-off into waterways, which are key to the health of the wildlife both on land and underwater.  

The way our current food production system is operating does not help to conserve our natural resources. The ever growing expansion of agriculture is causing a significant risk to our planets’ health. According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), if current trends hold, by 2050 the world’s arable land will increase by some 70 million hectares, and much of the new farmland will be in areas that are currently forested. Growing food on deforested land, exposing our environment to harmful pesticides and then flying that produce across the globe; if our global food production system continues this way, then Earths’ natural resources will be depleted before we know it. That is why growing indoors aeroponically can be a part of the puzzle to achieving sustainability for ourselves and for the sake of our environment. Here are just some of the ways indoor farming can help to conserve some of our natural resources.

Saving resources: water

The fewer resources we use to grow food, the more likely we are able to sustain that production. As aeroponic farming uses significantly less water on average than traditional farming, more water is conserved. This is a huge breakthrough considering only 3% of the water on Earth is accessible for drinking and we use approximately 70% of freshwater withdrawals for agriculture on a global scale. In addition, as the population is expected to increase to 9 billion by 2050, feeding a planet of 9 billion people will require an estimated 15% increase in water withdrawals. In view of this, it is inevitable our water scarcity issues will only get worse.

Saving resources: soil

As a result of our intensive farming practices for large-scale agriculture, soils across the globe are becoming severely degraded. As the layer of fertile topsoil thins, it gets increasingly difficult to cultivate crops. According to the BBC, without altering agricultural practices and urgently finding ways to preserve soil, our global food supply will start to look precarious, as some can agree it does look this way already. Because vertical farming allows crops to be grown indoors, and as aeroponic farming requires no soil for the growth of crops, the need for intensive farming practices can be reduced and our topsoil can be conserved by reducing pressure on the current land under cultivation. 

Saving resources: fossil fuels

As most means of transportation rely on the burning of petroleum, importing food from across the globe undoubtedly consumes a significant amount of our limited fossil fuels, especially if the produce is air freighted. Indoor growing systems ensure that farmers are able to grow crops all year round, reducing the reliance of imported produce. It can be argued that indoor farming requires a lot of energy to operate. However this needs to be weighed against the increase in production which can be offered by technologies such as aeroponic vertical farming. A 2017 study from Wageningen and Delft Universities found that “in terms of energy efficiency, plant factories outperform even the most efficient greenhouse. Additionally, plant factories achieve higher productivity for all other resources (water, CO2 and land area).” Whilst artificial lighting consumes more energy than using natural sunlight, we can also make use of Earth’s renewable energies, which are only going to become more energy and cost efficient in the future. 

These are only a few reasons why indoor aeroponic farming helps to conserve our finite natural resources. If you want to find out more about the ways aeroponic vertical farming could be the most sustainable choice for the planet and your business, then please get in touch with our business development team here.