Feeding the World through Vertical Farming: Potentials, Prophecies and Pitfalls of a High-Tech Solution in the Food Industry

• In Event: Feeding the Anthropocene: The Promises of Agro-Food Tech and the Difference of Food - I

Abstract

The indoor vertical farm industry has experienced a considerable boost in the last years, both in the media and in financial investment. Reduced water use, no pesticide application, space-efficient growth (especially for cities) and independence of weather conditions are referenced benefits to face anthropogenic effects and help ‘feed the world.’ Concurrent with this sense of urgency is the large amount of Silicon Valley venture capital the industry receives, despite the unresolved issue of high energy use. This reflects a commonly shared diagnosis that the food industry has ‘lagged behind’ other industries in being innovation-averse. Indoor-controlled growth chambers allow the minute monitoring of light, water, nutrients, etc. to provide ‘more optimal’ growth settings than natural conditions (often by excluding the germ-carrying human). Particularly the application of (purple) LED-lights has led to plants’ more ‘efficient’ photosynthesis, but also to new understandings of plant growth. Based on findings of an EU-funded citizen participation project on vertical farming, this talk will address three main issues: First, I delineate the vanguard vision of such high-tech solution entering the food industry (with the necessary backing of venture capital), and how these are contested. Second, I demonstrate how applied technologies expand the episteme of plants and plant biology, while concurrently reconfiguring the environment as (productivist, human-void) ‘controlled environment.’ Finally, in regards to planning public engagement events, I share insights to how this ‘public’ meandered between consumers and citizens, depending on whether the focus was on the edible product or the technology of vertical farms.

Author

• Mascha Gugganig, Technical University Munich