Vertical farming is seen as a promising alternative to the increasing demand for food. It can shorten the supply chain and sustainably produce more food with fewer resources. "However, despite annual increases in investment in agricultural technology, indoor farming startups are raising less money. The focus is shifting from investing in new vertical farms to developing technologies for optimizing and maximizing the efficiency of vertical farms. This results in a general trend toward more intelligent and automated vertical farms," shares Innovation Origins.
Siemens is supporting the digitization of vertical farming with technologies and collaborations. To strengthen these efforts, Siemens has established the Future Food team, with experts such as Rick Schneiders and Stefania Stoccuto. Stoccuto (Global Business Development Specialist for Future Food) is one of the speakers at the Vertical Farming program at the Agrifood Innovation Event on Dec. 3. Innovation Origins spoke to them about scalability, collaboration, and technology investment in vertical farming.
In recent years, it has become clear that the business model behind vertical farming is complex. Energy and labor are two factors that significantly increase costs. According to Schneiders, automation is the solution to reduce labor costs. However, automation, in turn, requires more energy. "The solution is to look from the design phase at how all the components – and therefore the different technologies – fit together."
To overcome these challenges, the industry must reinvent itself. Schneiders said this can only be achieved when companies work together. "Together, you can achieve much more and implement smarter solutions."
Read more at Innovation Origins