I want to see charts, numbers, what does it cost, is this doable everywhere, is this renewable, energy efficient, etc etc, and comparisons to conventional farming
@@RainCity3rd Let's not forget all plastic that's being put into the environment doing it this way. Also losing all microbiology you get the soil is a big no-no for any type of farming. Can't expect plants that for millions of years that rely on beneficial fungi to suddenly not have them anymore. The cost for example is also way too high for example the largest vertical farming being built is being done by AeroFarm and will cost $40M USD. (which will produce an estimate 2 million pounds of produce a year) At the same cost you could buy 5000 acres in Iowa and in worst case scenarios produce at 125 million pounds of greens.
@@SmugLlama1234 but you also need to invest in all of the machinery for the farm where the vertical farm number you quoted likely includes. Also the real farm uses a ton more energy and I suspect a greater environmental footprint as need for weeding take a lot of energy and chemicals. That plastic should work fine for decades so I don't know if it's releasing much more than farming. Again this is good where the soil is terrible and where water is scarce. Is this going to replace farms? No. Is this a good alternative to continue to innovate especially is in water scare sunny places, Shure why not.
@@SmugLlama1234 I can't imagine how they could be even with how intensive mordern farming is. Using some 3 field system sure it hobby farm but not industrial with the need to rejuvenate the depleted soil and deal with weeds, pests etc. How admitted we are exactly comparing apples to apples here because this vertical farm isn't nearly at the scale to be much more than demonstration. Would need much more automatic systems for seedlings, planting and harvesting. Again I see a place for both. A little tower in the backyard could do a lot for most houses and much closer to home which is great considering transportation is the big elephant in the room for any large scale centralized system of food production. Where land is valuable such as urban environments this is really neat. Of we can even grow more of our food at home or close that is a big deal. Cuba does this very well out, as they have to.
@@SmugLlama1234 You could build those towers from hempcrete with chicken wire inside, that way you could reduce a ton of plastic, if plastic is what you worry about.
One thing I have been looking into, and I suggest others to look into as ell, is the Greenhouse Gas emissions from Greenhouses needed to grow in this way. I have found that rather than growing using Hydroponics or Aeroponics, a preferable alternative would be implementing Permaculture methods into agriculture. If we focused on working in harmony with nature and following in mother natures footsteps, we can be very productive and also very ecologically conscious. Mother nature is the best gardener after all.
We should never get rid of some natural gardens or farming, but places like this should pop up all over. In cities, in dry or unfarmable areas. This would be such a helpful addition.
There will always be at least some conventional farming. Corn and wheat for example, cannot be grown vertically because of the height of the stalk. Apples, Peaches, Oranges and so on must be grow in orchards because of the structural nature of the tree. There is no one-size-fits-all solution, but that's also the beauty of it.
Figured I'd chime in here on the comments about plastic, and the nutrient solutions. The plastic these towers are made of is all UV stabilized and fully food grade, certified to not leech anything into the water, or food grow in the system. And while many have said this is unsustainable since plastic is usually petrol based... you need to take into consideration the massive amount of petroleum used to grow and transport produce to our grocery stores - if you have a lot of land and can grow your own without a compact system like this that is fantastic, but there are millions of people who don't have that luxury, and this system allows them to grow their own instead of relying on our giant gas guzzling agricultural system. As for the nutrient solutions, they are simply earth and sea based minerals. Minerals, by definition, are NOT organic (chemistry defines the term 'organic' as carbon based substances). That said, there is no petroleum or other chemicals used in the nutrients. They are the same minerals you'd get from growing plants in soil, so if you grow food with this system, while the nutrient solutions themselves can't be called organic since they are just minerals, all the food grown in it with this solution could/would be organic unless you chose to spray or use other additives. A few things I absolutely LOVE about this system vs soil gardening, and why I grow with 3 of them myself even though I have a sunny 1/4 acre I also grow some soil based gardens on: 1) it allows people who wouldn't otherwise have the space/time/knowledge to grow their own food to now be able to do so, which in turn empowers people to take ownership of where their food comes from and to make better health choices for them and their families 2) Growing your own food allows you to eliminate not only the tons of herbicides/pesticides/petrol etc that our national agriculture relies on, but also eliminates plastic grocery store bags, gas to and from store/shipping/etc, and tons of food waste. 3) since these towers are a closed loop system, there is zero runoff into our waterways etc and it also protects the food you are growing from contamination, 4) the University of Mississippi, one of the best agricultural research centers in the US, studies these systems compared to soil based gardening, and found that this system met or exceeded what could be produced in the ground on everything from growth rate, yields, disease and pest resistance, and end nutritional content of the produce itself. 5) Growing with this system allows you to grow a garden with up to 90-95% less water than conventional gardening requires to grow a similar crop, and in a time where access to clean water is becoming an ever increasing problem, this is a huge win.
I like how down to earth and friendly like a normal-every day person this reporter was. Some people might see it differently because the way our internet is (words that come to mind: authoritative, ignorant, perfect, etc.) It's nice to see someone that's genuinely curious and respectful.
Ivan Ooze correct is a conspiration ! I don’t buy the white metal or plastic holding up all those plants . Because it’s going to release some chemicals components .... then plants will absorb them anyway ......
@@Kassiusday Compared to the amount of high degradation plastic used in agricultural grade plastic, using a high grade plastic like what is in those grow towers, especially if kept in temperatures lower than 85º F, compared to the high heat direct UV exposed tunnels most of your greens comes from the comparison isn't even on the same chart of exposure. As this technology becomes more and more popular, make no mistake, you will find a "merchants of doubt" style offensive from the agrochemical industry.
I stopped watching exactly at this point because of this, combined with her previously useless narration of describing that it is a bunch of veggies growing on towers, while showing us the video where we can deduce that ourselves.
I love being able to see this kind of farming, but I feel like she just seemed to be more interested in the aesthetic of the place than the science and methodology behind the plants. And like other people have said, she didn't seem to be on the same wavelength as the guy, and thus didn't really ask many important questions. I think she should have been more informed before going. However, he was really interesting.
@Awenda This system is a hydroponic system. The vertical columns are a much more efficient way to manage and distribute nutrient-rich water. These indoor systems are designed for year-round growing. In this system, it's optimised for leafy greens and herbs. Commercial hydroponic systems are capable of producing enough produce that can feed well beyond 100 people a day. The crops you mentioned (potatoes, corn, cabbage, broccoli) can't be grown in a vertical system. However, there are many other methods growing methods for hydroponics. This video just does a woeful job in explaining anything. It's solely the presenter's fault for being more interested in the looks rather than the functionality.
And how it produces an audience of ignorami just educated enough to feel strongly about a topic but too naive to understand that everything has pros and cons. Just like with most obscure tech, aeroponics s cool but it's highly situational, and people who watch infotainment without using their brains will overlook that every time.
I'd like to see this turned into a documentary where details about the financial aspects and details about the nutrition solution are explored. This is Space Age agriculture. I can see obvious advantages but would like to see the scale up cost in the documentary. Thank you for the video.
add a fish pond below ... the fish feed on algae ... they poop in the water ... the water feeds the plants the plants clean the water ... and back to the fish it goes ... there you now have your garden and a fish pond with dinner growing in it along with your garden ... heck add a worm bed compost fish feeder and now you also grow worms to feed the fish and break down your garden trash again putting nutrients back into the water ... and so on ... as for cost ... how much does it cost for a 12 inch diameter section of drain pipe and say 16 feet of 2inch abs ... and some adhesive ... and tubing and a pump ... and of course a room with good light you can put it ... and a tub for the fish ... and now you have a fish feeding pond and garden that also supplies your meat and fresh veg as needed ... . aquaponics ... is where you combine the garden and the fish huggle culture is where you close the loop even further by including the bits needed to compost down the waste materials back into useful nutrients for the system ... from adding may fly larva to worms to ducks and chickens ... etc ... you can make a complete self supporting garden that will supply meat veg and even eggs in small scale ... or if made into a major deal can provide cow feed and increase garden production by a HUGE amount ... . all in all for basic system you can build it for under $1,000 bucks .... and use it for years ... so how many veg would it have to produce to pay for itself ... if you grew 120 plants of iceberg lettuce and each head cost 2bucks at the store ... then 500 plants or 5 grow sessions of lettuce would pay for the complete setup ... every plant after that is FREE except for the time to tend them ...
@@0623kaboom men, a 4 towers hidroponic sistem, can be as expensive as 500 bucks... and with a high of 1.80 mts tall, you can easily put about 12 to 24 plant set EACH, and the only real expensive thing would be liquid nutrients. But about the other things you put... are basically unviable, at least the worm bed
When you look at the embodied energy of any product, one of, if not the largest component is the energy to transport the item to your door. If these farms popped up locally, and cold be competitive on price, this would be good for people's health and for the environment.
The beauty of this is that we can have these farms in our cities so that the transportation cost is cheaper as well. Almost half of our vegetable prices consists of high transportation costs for bringing these from rural areas into urban areas.
Stable and dependable electricity supply is paramount for these. One power outage from a thunderstorm caused me to loose all my plants. I also lost all my plants due to a pump failure while I was asleep. If a pump failure happens while you are asleep couple of hours will kill your plants. Some sort of alarm system is needed to alert you to a problem with the water cycling. You better have a backup pump for each tower. White towers let enough light in to let algae to grow I painted mine black to end this algae growth problem.
This should teach everyone. Before you do an interview, you have to educate yourself about the interviewee and the topic so you can gather substantial data. Finding a nice feature entry isn't enough!!!!
Where do you think the nutrients come from... this is like claiming the dictionary is a novel thing because it has the most unique words in it of any book.
@@samshaw1443 The conclusion that "plants don't need soil" is only valid if you don't bother to take into account where the nutrient slurries come from which are used in aeroponics, where the water comes from that's used, where the electricity comes from that pumps the water... aeroponics uses MORE soil than any other growing method, and also more fossil fuels. Also, there isn't "nothing wrong with not knowing something", that's a platitude. There's a lot wrong with not knowing certain things, and even more with failing to make the most blatantly obvious connections when presented with all the necessary information.
Actually salad that's been grown in soil tastes different from salad that's been grown in water, and if your palette is fine enough you can even know the different types of soil the salad was grown in... I personally hate the taste of hydroponic salad and actually get stomach aches from it
this video is publicity for fools marketing only :), I know the flavour from my grandmother garden and the flavor of this kind of products. There are man laboratory studies to put us in guard. Open your eyes people.
@@michaelsotomayor5001 only he *never* said that. He was trolling birx (or whatever she's called) Lot of vaccines have "detergent"like chemicals in, think he was making subtle points about the f'd up profit driven big pharma industry.
This is suited to the small space garden or farming, it should be practicing by other farmer in order for them to produce a lot of vegetables. This is one of the best practice road in the sustainable ways🤗🤗
The farming method is captivating, full of interesting lessons to be learned...The narration maybe a little bit not jiving with the actual video footage interview but somehow...well, the plants are good...
Most Fruiting plants are too large for the design intent on those towers. There don't appear to be any points to tie up or support heavy fruits and the planting nodes are too close together. Larger plants would over compete with one another and cause an efficiency loss. I work for another hydroponic business that is growing and beginning to prototype vertical gardens. You are helping me think :)
Some fruit plants come from trees, which require quite a lot more of work, nutrients, and some are weak to environment (which is why fruit exportation is expensive). The leafy greens are vegetables tho, and their requirements are idoneous for this system to work.
I really like the idea of indoor and vertical farming. I think it would be useful for Canadian farms. We have a pretty short growing season so we wouldn’t have to rely on foreign markets so much. Thinks like vegetables, fruit, and berries are expensive the farther north you go and it’s not unusual to see mould in berries by the time they get up to where I live. It’s September 10th and we’re getting frost warnings at night but the afternoons are unbearably hot. So it would be nice if farms around where I live used indoor farming over the winter to plant crops we normally have to import. It would cut down drastically on the amount of nonrenewable resources used to get us just a few strawberries. There are places in the territories you only get in by flying, places that pay $5 for a head of lettuce, they really need access to this sort of thing. I know at least one community created a year round green house but I wish it was more common. Places with droughts, short growing seasons, or a lot of people to feed but not a lot of land could really use this kind of system. I hope governments pay closer attention to these sort of solutions and alternatives and see if that’s something they can encourage or work with bring to their own communities
These sorts of vertical farms are invaluable for reducing the field space required for plants that perform well in hydroponic and aquaponic setups and freeing up space for crops that do not do well in or can not be grown in hydroponic environments.
I really like the development of agriculture in the future which makes agriculture no longer underestimated and this video has discussed the fact that with just a little land and water you can produce good vegetables (vertical farming). thanks for the video!!!
"Gardening With Vincenzo" here and from one "Garden Guru" to another I found this Video FABULOUS, ECO FRIENDLY, LIMITED RESOURCE FRIENDLY, ECO HEALTHY, ECO CONSERVATIVE and parallels quite a few principles in my own "Raised Bed, Container and traditional garden" landscapes ...Thanks SOOOO Much for Sharing this ! My Slogans... "We Can Save This Planet...One "YARD" At A time...Beginning With Your Own" ! "You Are What You Eat...AND...Fresh Is Always Best" "Grow As A Person...Plant A Garden" !
God bless this Man & his family. This is phenomenal !!! Also, you left a question I answered. "You can feed 100 families for a week for how long off of the entire room of plants" ?🌱🌱
"the vegetables we saw at true garden were just growing, right there." Thank you for this amazing insight 😐. Good lord could they have picked a worse person to report on this.
the z00t my family has a home setup in a greenhouse in our backyard. The greenhouse and our own made system all costs around $1000-$1500 and is pretty cheap to run. Just need to run the pump. If you would like to see it we have a channel called 2g Hydroponics
@@michaelsotomayor5001 Plants grow up in nature with the soil, the minerals that are in it and so on. I know the US had a problem with the lack of iodine in the soil, lead to lesser amount of iodine in the plants, which lead to less iodine in people and caused sickness(the US added iodine to salt to help remedy this). To grow a plant like this must make it devoid of such things
The video starts with him saying he's a pharmacist and 10 seconds *edit: went back and re watched. It's actually 6 seconds* later the "journalist" repeats it.
It's always funny when the dumbing something down for a general audience, happens by someone not smart enough. So funny it's sad. I'm laughing my tears off.
They would be less nutritious than organic ones. You need the soil for its biome of microorganisms. These microorganisms break down minerals into forms that the plant can uptake. Since organic plants have access to more nutrients they will in turn be more nutritious. They taste much better too.
@@bear532 Your actually wrong on that, NASA has done tons of research on aeroponics and have proven that high pressure aeroponics growing systems produce more nutrient dense plants with better flavor than even permaculture can, using a fraction of the water and space needed in soil based farming. You also need to realize that the origin of a molecule does not effect it's safety profile as nitrogen is nitrogen no matter the source.
@@bear532 But you spray the plants in vertical farms with the minerals already broken down into forms the plant can uptake. So, no need for soil microbes.
I have an Aerogarden at home that works quite well, but can get pricey ☹ Google vertical hydroponic systems. Found one on Alibaba for $161-170. The hard part is the nutrients.
I wish we had a balcony... We have a doorstep, and the blessing of a corner outside that normally would have had a bush but ours didn't for some reason. We've got stuff in there already for gardening, thanks to my Mom sending us raised garden beds. One is my hubby's, one is mine, (to choose what to grow in it. Both were actually for him. Oops 😅) So I wouldn't have anywhere to put anything else right now. And the nutrients would be a problem... 😟 as much as I'd love to share, our neighbors aren't particularly friendly 😑 so what room we have is already taken, and I kinda want to get my family sustainable before trying to spread it out 🤷♀️
The plastic in those tubes has a much lower degradation rate than agricultural grade plastics. Make no mistake though, as this becomes more popular you're going to see a "merchants of doubt" style backlash from the agrochemical industry.
This is a great effort for modern farming but you’re right. The soil gives us our microbiome which is extremely important. The host is misinformed and only has part of the story.
Our microbiome is first inherited from our mother as we pass through the birth canal into the world. We have a culture as soon as we are born. Probiotics can come from fermented foods regardless of where they are grown. Prebiotics come mostly from vegetables, legumes etc.
Tower Garden aeroponic technology is considered to be the best vertical farming solution when it comes to water-savings, space-savings, energy efficiency, crop-yields, and nutrient density of the crops. A scientific comparative study conducted by the University of Mississippi tested and compared over 160 different crops grown on Tower Garden aeroponic systems versus the best equivalent soil-based farming produce. The results are staggering to say the least. The crop yield is 35% to 50% superior to soil-based farming. In all cases, Tower Garden aeroponic systems have an average ranging from 30% to 65% nutrient density increase. The means you are getting a superior crop quality and quantity. Visit the Beyond Organic section of www.agrotonomy.com to read the entire scientific comparative study. Aside from using up to 95% less water than other conventional growing methods, Tower Garden aeroponic systems are ideal in terms of space-savings since you can grow up 52 plants per square meter and up to 250,000 full-size plants per acre.
Agrotonomy Thank you for this detailed explanation. This scientific comparative study was exactly what I was looking for! Your website is highly informational!
Soil does alot more than just hold a plant and water. Trace elements, fungal trading networks, complex protein chains. Plants also communicate through the humus so these plants are effectively in solitary confinement.
First saw one of these towers in instagram, feel in love with the green colours 😂 Never done a day of farming or even looked after a plant but I wanna have a greenhouse full of these just to look at that stunning green of nature 😅
Lauren Ellerbeck I bought this garbage from Whole Foods last night. It’s going in the trash once I find my receipt or either I’m taking it back for real lettuce. It’s rubbery, it’s not Gods lettuce, it’s 🤢
Bruh, this cookie cutter chic is played out already, huh.. like OMG Becky, like seriously, there's frickin no water? Like OMG, it's like magic, it's like... Do they make any other kind of chic, 🤣🤣🤣
This looks so cool. I want a vertical garden like this. Is there a kit that you can buy? How would growing root veggies like sweet potatoes and ginger work?
Forget kits.. start making things with your hands. Don't kill the fun of being human :) Also I've seen other videos on youtube that grow cucumbers, tomatoes and eggplant. I guess you will just have to buy the seed and experiment. I want to try with Lentils as well.
I wonder if the scraps are used for composting and if so, if they change the chemistry of the compost for better or worse. Cool for places that don't have good soil, but we are totally capable of making quality soil if we stop throwing food scraps in the garbage and instead compost at home, too. Every bit helps.
The best possible use for this will be to replace most agricultural farming as the need for high amounts of greens in larger and larger cities becomes more important
There are lots of videos explaining hydroponic systems but the tower is literally just a bunch of holes in a PVC type material for the plants to sit in -- theres a pump that carries water with nutrients mixed in to the top of the tower and the plants feed off that water/nutrient mix. The water that isn't absorbed that reaches the bottom of the tower gets recirculated (unlike normal farms where they spray a huge amount of water over acres of land and 95% of it just evaporates).
They are selling you this shit as futuristic but it's not, it's destruction. They don't allow courses of how to work with soil and How really the circle WORKS for something... Get you sick to sell you meds. Once you are old all your live eating this shit we don't need you anymore. All program by the big corporations.
he explained it , its just a tower with a pump that pumps water up to the top then it rains down with gravity and the plants are just hanging there absorbing the water with the nutrients , its realy simple
Utilizing all forms of farming and making them all work in harmony seems to be the most sufficient way. Keeping progression to newer and better ways of doing things should he the main focus
every time he starts speaking she blanks out wondering when he'll stop talking and she can get back to her "glamour" slo-mo shots. mmm-hmm auto head shake mode.
I actually like the interviewer. I just started learning to garden, and plant. It is such a learning curve, so I can’t blame her for not being super knowledgeable
I disagree - I think she represents the general population a lot better than someone who is very knowledgeable and academic, and as such has a better chance of reaching the general population.
agreed! ALSO this is NOT organic food. check their plant feeds on rxformulations.towergarden.com/shop/mineral-blend and it's artificial fertlizers they use! GREENWASHING! the technique is good though in urban farming where space's extremely limited! the question though is why would any sane person wanted to live there..?
WOW JUST WOW - - FEEDING 100 families on 1/10th of an acre, using 3% normal water usage. Cool TOWER hothouse! Bonus: working in an oxygen-rich environment is very good for your alkalinity goals! And for brain function and regularity!
