OPTION #1
Summary:
This news article, titled “Vertical Farms Expand as Demand for Year-Round Produce Grows”, talked about many points regarding the exponential growth of vertical farms due to technology. The article talked about the versatility of the system and how no specific climate was required to grow any plants with the vertical farming system. The article also touched on how technology negatively affects vertical farming. These technological obstacles include issues like high energy costs, and the ability to scale a vertical farm system. In terms of high energy costs, vertical farms require lots of energy to power high-voltage lights and watering systems. In terms of scaling, vertical farms have struggled to find larger areas to house farms. This also plays a big role in the expensive costs of the systems.
Reaction:
This article truly altered my understanding and approach to my working thesis. I originally wanted to research the ways that technology benefits systems like the auto-irrigation method and vertical farming. However, the information and statistics provided by the article regarding energy-related struggles have made me rethink my analysis. The vertical farming industry is expected to grow by 9.7 billion worldwide by 2026, which shows the growth of the system. But it also demonstrates that with increased worth comes an increased production requirement. The systems are having struggles finding space to house the systems, and technology could affect that if the method is shrunk down to a smaller scale. This is a possible impact of technology that I could research and talk about in my article.