RESPONSE:
While many would like to believe that vertical farms are the future of produce due to their adaptability and modernity, in reality those systems are overvalued and only necessary for very niche applications. Vertical farms are greenhouses where produce is grown stacked in rows without the use of soil, and with complex technology that emulates the perfect growing conditions for said product.

This sounds like a great idea, in practice, fresh produce year-round grown efficiently, the reality is very different. Vertical farms are expensive – both in initial and operating costs. Source C reveals that vertical farms have extremely high initial investment per unit land area compared to fields, greenhouses, and hydroponic systems and Source D gives us the exact cost of over eighty thousand dollars per container from industry leader Freight Farms. With an initial investment so large, it would easily be more profitable and efficient to simply buy land to cultivate. These costs alone make it unreasonable to implement in low income areas where access to local produce is needed the most. Until vertical farms can decrease costs to build and operate they are simply out of reach for most communities. Operating cost will most likely struggle to lower. Because there is no soil or sunlight, a large amount of power is required to support these crops – which is strange because the sun is not a competitive resource or non-renewable. These costs are simply unnecessary and create problems other methods have solutions to.

The vertical farm has seen initial success despite its disadvantages when compared to other systems because of its gimmicky marketing. Brand owners have marketed vertical farms as a pseudo-eco-friendly and high-tech food of the future. Source A, a New York Times article marketing vertical farm produce, goes into depth on the famous people investing in vertical farming, dropping names like Justin Timberlake and Natalie Portman to build hype. What does do R&B singers and actors know about the efficacy of modern farming? Little to nothing. That didn't stop the Times from including celebrity testimonials. The food produced using vertical farming is marketed to the upper-class people (who would consider the option of Natalie Portman in their grocery shopping) because they are the only ones who can afford it. Source D again provides numbers, showing products like the lettuce from Green Line Growers costs more than double the market price of organic lettuce. Vertical farms should not be taken seriously as the future of agriculture especially when it brands itself as the new fresh food fad for the wealthy. We can support and modernize agriculture with better distribution of resources to low income communities and by working to eliminate food waste which could also be given to people in need. We already have the production and resources to support our population as long as we allocate those resources effectively.