President, Global Policy Institute; Professor of Political Science and International Relations at Bay Atlantic University, both in Washington, DC
Washington, DC – December 26, 2024 – Artificial Intelligence, AI, can help boost the growth of a new modality to grow food: vertical urban farming. Yes, we are talking about growing edible plants in appropriately configured buildings in which the natural environment for various types of plants can be replicated, in fact optimized. This is what we learn from reading an article by Gaurav Roy in Securities.io titled Indoor Farming Set to See Efficiency Boost Through AI (September 11, 2024)
AI will optimize urban farms
According to the article, through the analysis of enormous quantities of data collected related to growth time, humidity, temperatures, nutrition provided, and more AI will be able to create optimized, cost-effective environments that will guarantee the best growing conditions, especially by recommending exactly how to use artificial light, essential for growing plants in an enclosed environment, in an optimal way. By continuous refinement of best practices, AI will ensure best results at the lowest possible cost, this way making urban farming more competitive and therefore more profitable.
The greatest gains are expected to come from guidance on the use of light, which means electricity consumption. LED lights are essential for farming in artificial, enclosed spaces. However, electricity is also a major cost, even when low consumption LED fixtures are used. The problem is that to have a continuously growing cycle, the lights have to be constantly on, 24/7.
Lower electricity consumption
If AI can help reduce this huge, fixed cost in a significant way, urban farms will become much more competitive. As cost savings will be passed on to consumers, prices will be reduced. This way demand for low-cost food grown in urban farms will increase. In fact, some studies indicate that the use of AI in urban farming will be able to create up to 25% savings in the use of electricity. And this is only a start.
Indeed, as Roy writes, “Indoor farming isn’t without challenges. The current environmental control systems are simply “not smart enough.” They’re energy-intensive and require careful resource management to be sustainable. One answer is ventilation but while it can bring down energy usage, it affects carbon dioxide levels and moisture balance, which complicates plant growth. Here, AI can be of immense help by managing several complexities…In warmer climates, such as Dubai or the southern United States, AI reduced energy usage by 22.28%, lowering it from 10.5 kWh to 7.26 kWh per kilogram of fresh weight.”
Will the world adopt urban farming?
That said, how big of a deal is this? Is urban farming really the future of agriculture? Maybe not of all the agriculture sectors. For now, the value proposition is in the horticulture sector, (think lettuce, spinach, tomatoes, carrots, kale, strawberries), which is quite large. As the technologies develop, it will be possible to grow indoors other types of plant food including wheat, rice or maybe even fruit trees.
Let’s keep in mind that urban farming, while established, is still very new. It will take time for all the agriculture sector practitioners to recognize its value and adopt it.
Think about it. Twenty years ago, the very idea of urban farming would have seemed outlandish. After all, for millennia we humans assumed that agriculture, indispensable for human survival, is and will be based on land, with farms, small and large. We plant the seeds that will grow into harvests of edible food on land. This is how it has been done, for thousands of years.
Well, urban farming is not an experiment, or a pilot project. It is in fact a reality, with viable commercial enterprises. According to the article cited above, the global indoor farming sector is currently valued at $40.51 billion and is expected to surpass $118 billion in the next decade. These are respectable numbers for a fairly new technology.
Cost savings
If urban farming can be optimized, via AI supported cost reductions, there will be significant cost savings compared to traditional agriculture. First of all, there is no need to buy and maintain a farm. No need to purchase and maintain farm equipment, and all the associated spare parts and fuel costs. No need to purchase and monitor complex irrigation systems and the associated cost of the water required. No need to purchase fertilizers and pesticides. No need to transport the harvested produce from farm to market, sometimes quite far apart, using refrigerated trucks and warehouses. We can grow food literally next door to the supermarket where customers will buy it.
Environmental gains
And we should also consider the huge environmental gains obtained. No longer need to use enormous quantities of water for irrigation. Besides, millions of acres of farmland henceforth will rest. Soil erosion caused by farming will stop. There will be no more fertilizer runoff polluting streams and rivers with significant environmental damage. It will be possible to have reforestation of significant tracts of land no longer used for farming, with huge advantages for the planet. Indeed, more forests will amount to more CO2 absorbed by trees, therefore more oxygen released into the atmosphere. And new forests will create large natural habitats for different species: insects, animals, and birds.
So, here is the urban farming value proposition: feeding the planet in a cost-effective way with a small footprint, while restoring natural environments across all continents. Not bad.
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