Ard van de Kreeke is founder of Netherlands-based vertical farming company Growy, which recently opened a 7,500-square-metre facility in Amsterdam. van de Kreeke used to work in conventional organic farming, but five years ago he gave it all up to invest in vertical farming instead.
"One of the reasons [for the switch] was that I think vertical farming can have a greater impact on the whole food system. We developed our own technology to ensure that we can manage a lower energy consumption, lower labour needs and lower investment," he says.
Financing vertical farming has been highlighted as a potential challenge. As with many new technologies, vertical farming remains expensive compared to more traditional outdoor and greenhouse cultivation. A vertical farming building costs around 10 times as much as a greenhouse of a similar size.
"But financing doesn't have to be a major issue," argues van de Kreeke. "It's only an issue when the [business] model isn't viable. As soon as we have a farm that has a working business model, we make money every day and then financing becomes very easy."
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