In the US, urban farmers use empty buildings for growing crops

• Vertical farmers seek to offer food hyper-locally
• Locales are increasingly incentivising operations
• Smaller, modular systems seen as means to urban revitalisation

WASHINGTON - Surrounded by warm lights and deep-green crops growing in stacked, rotating carousels reaching towards the ceiling, Oren Falkowitz sets out a vision of the future of urban farming.

It is one of localized food production, using vacant buildings – strip malls, industrial buildings, even gas stations – to grow food near people instead of shipping it from afar.

"Rather than moving food all around the world, we'll just move farms," said Falkowitz, CEO and co-founder of Area 2 Farms, a vertical farming operation outside the U.S. capital in Arlington, Virginia.

"Our goal here is to build lots of small organic farms that are just for the people who are within about 10 miles of the farms," he told Context/the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

That would be a major change in a country where fresh produce is grown on average 1,500 miles from where it is consumed – patterns projected to come under strain amid climate change.

Advocates say small-scale vertical farming can boost the nutritious value of produce with its controlled environments and access to fresh foods in impoverished areas while reducing the food system's transportation carbon footprint.

Area 2 Farms' Arlington operation is partly automated, with soil-filled containers rotating some 18 feet to the ceiling.

The crops get artificial LED light, water and nutrients on a regular schedule, with a handful of workers inspecting for pests, seeding new containers and harvesting.

The company moved two years ago into the former paper warehouse, where it has been growing dozens of types of crops including greens, herbs and root vegetables for weekly distribution to about 300 family subscribers.

The idea is catching on among officials who have created tax breaks and other incentives in Washington, Chicago and Baltimore, Maryland as well as in the states of Virginia, California and Missouri.

Arlington's Area 2 Farms benefited from a 2023 zoning change aimed at increasing access to fresh produce, reducing the carbon footprint and providing “an additional tool to occupy vacant office space,” Rachel LaPiana, communications manager with the county's planning department, said in an email.

The company is planning to try out the model in an abandoned gas station in neighbouring Fairfax County.

Vertical operations on a larger scale have suffered financial problems, driven by expectations of unrealistic returns and an over-reliance on technology, said Christine Zimmermann-Loessl, head of the Association for Vertical Farming, a 200-member global group.

Thus the small-scale approach is crucial, she said, as urban farmers figure out how to produce more protein-rich foods and design successful financial models.

"People living in cities need fresh food delivered, and it's best to grow it in those cities," she said. "This is what vertical farming can do."

Potential multi-billion-dollar market

Vertical farming is part of a broader trend of indoor “controlled environment” agriculture that doubled between 2009 and 2019, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The U.S. vertical farm market was valued at more than $735 million in 2023 and is estimated to grow to $2.5 billion by the end of the decade.

The approach has raised some questions about its resource use.

A Dutch study last year found while the operations can be notably water-efficient, their heavy electricity use left the researchers sceptical that they could be more “climate-smart” than is traditional food transportation.

Nonetheless, urban farming could be a welcome resource in coming years amid climate change and resource depletion, said Illinois State University horticulture professor David Kopsell.

"You will be able to bring food production into areas, both urban and rural, where you could have problems because of soil type, soil contamination, temperatures," he said.

In July, Kopsell helped put final touches on a vertical farm for teaching and growing herbs for the 21,000-student campus's dining services.

Agricultural business graduate student Sarah Stevens, who also helped set up the system, said seeing its potential has been dramatic.

“When you're a gardener, you plant a little seed, and 80 days later you harvest. Here, you plant a seed, and you're harvesting within five weeks!” said Stevens.

Tackling food deserts

In a low-income section of Washington across the Potomac River from Area 2 Farms, urban farmer Mike Johnson said he sees an opportunity to tackle the problem of so-called food deserts, where grocery stores with fresh produce are lacking.

In some Washington neighbourhoods, just one grocery store with limited fresh fruits and vegetables serves tens of thousands of residents.

Johnson said vertical farming could help, but added that start-up costs that may can run into hundreds of thousands of dollars are an obstacle.

His company, Our Farm DC, is producing about 100 pounds of fresh food a week, made into salad kits sold locally, in a shipping container parked at a homeless services nonprofit.

It's also developing small hydroponic systems that can be installed in communal spaces such as schools or office atriums.

“There's a whole lot of built space where these systems can occupy,” he said. "It democratises that and allows us to get more growing space.”

His company has installed a hydroponic growing system in a community college lobby and is putting another at an elementary school.

Our Farm DC employee James Moore, who works at the company's main farm, said he has turned down higher-paying jobs because he likes the work and sees its promise.

"This is a job that's heading toward the future," he said.

(Reporting by Carey L. Biron. Editing by Anastasia Moloney and Ellen Wulfhorst)