Why Vertical Farming Won't Save the Planet
Why Hacker News recommends it
HN uses it as the go-to rebuttal to vertical farming hype, since it gives hard numbers from a leading controlled-environment authority.
What it is
Utah State plant scientist Bruce Bugbee presents his analysis of the energy and environmental costs of vertical and indoor farming. He argues artificial lighting cannot compete with sunlight in fields or greenhouses.
Recommended by 4 HN commenters across 5 different months, 2017 to 2025.
What Hacker News said
Strong rec busterarm · 2023-12 · on “Vertical farming company raised $500M, and then it all but disappeared”
[this video] Been sending this video to every charlatan pushing vertical farming for years now. The math is pretty obvious and insurmountable on this one.
Recommends jsilence · 2017-01 · on “The Vertical Farm”
A very informed and informative lecture filled with facts that supports the former argument: [this video] Myself I am a chemical engineer working in agricultural research. We are working on aquaponics and also test vertical growbeds. Vertical growbeds underperform significantly unless you put expensive light on them. Generating the electricity for light through PV uses about ten times the area compared to using direct sunlight. No way to counter that by using the full spectrum.
Recommends jsilence · 2017-01 · on “The Vertical Farm”
A very informed and informative lecture filled with facts that supports this argument: [this video] Myself I am a chemical engineer working in agricultureal research. We are working on aquaponics and also test vertical growbeds. Vertical growbrds underperform significantly unless you put expensive light on them.
Recommends contingencies · 2018-07 · on “Is Vertical Farming Really the Future of Agriculture?”
Why Vertical Farming Won't Save the Planet [0] is a lecture by the preeminent authority in the field, Bruce Bugbee, Utah State University Department of Plants, Soils and Climate, who has studied plant growth in controlled environments for most of his career and has consulted on all NASA missions with these goals. In particular see 13m26s[1] and 37m17s[2]. [0] [this video] [1] [this video] [2] [this video]
Recommends contingencies · 2018-10 · on “New autonomous farm wants to produce food without human workers”
This article is all over the place and then apparently quotes an academic out of context. The real problem with indoor farming is not setup cost. For the fundamentals: [this video] ... Bruce Bugbee, Utah State University Department of Plants, Soils and Climate, has studied plant growth in controlled environments for most of his career presents the results of his analysis of the environmental effects of Vertical Farming/Indoor Agriculture (September 2015). With regards to the machinery shown at the top of the article, it is standard industrial automation equipment you can purchase off the shelf, apparently not even hardened or substantially adjusted for outdoor use.
Recommends Shawnecy · 2025-03 · on “Vertical farming company Plenty files for bankruptcy after raising nearly $1B”
Unsurprising. I'm not sure much has changed since this recording of Bruce Bugbee's talk "Why Vertical Farming Won't Save the Planet". There's nothing surprising there but he does give hard numbers to do the math that shows that vertical farming is not as good as its proponents have made it out to be. Solar energy input dwarfs all other energy inputs to agriculture, and the cost to replace one acre of solar energy with electricity comes out to $400,000 per acre (per some unit of days per a growing season). I don't think the economics have tended favorably since. The space needs for solar panels doesn't favor vertical farming either. He also shows the efficiency of modern agriculture, and why
Cites Osiris30 · 2017-07 · on “Plenty, Indoor Farming Startup, Raises $200M”
See previous recent discussion of indoor/vertical farming (1). As discussed on that thread, vertical/indoor farming is great for leafy greens, but much harder for other plants. See this video [2] - "Why Vertical Farming Won't Save the Planet: Bruce Bugbee, Utah State University Department of Plants, Soils and Climate, has studied plant growth in controlled environments for most of his career. Here he presents the results of his analysis of the environmental effects of Vertical Farming/Indoor Agriculture (September 2015)". A copy of the slides can be downloaded here (the link shown on the youtube page is dead - correct link[3]). [1] [LINK] [2] [this video] [3] [LINK]
Cites schiffern · 2017-07 · on “Plenty, Indoor Farming Startup, Raises $200M”
>greenhouse + aquaponics + high levels of automation seems to work well Indeed, that's a big point in the video. Artificially lit farming can't compete with field production or heated/unheated greenhouses. link to time [this video]