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ASHS 2015 Annual Conference

Vertical Farming: Challenges and Opportunities (Colloquium) *CEU Approved

Objective(s):
Indoor, controlled environmental agriculture, including vertical farms and plant factories, provides year-round opportunities to bring more horticulture into urban environments. Among the touted benefits are food production in cities, little need for transportation, high resource use efficiency, no pollution, and no need for arable land. On the other hand, there are questions about whether vertical farms are economically viable. The initial costs are high and most “farms” depend on electrical lighting, requiring large amounts of energy. This colloquium will explore the challenges and opportunities related to horticultural production in controlled environmental agriculture facilities. The colloquium will cover production practices, sustainability, and socio-economic aspects of controlled environmental agriculture.
Indoor, controlled environmental agriculture, including vertical farms and plant factories, provides year-round opportunities to bring more horticulture into urban environments. Among the touted benefits are food production in cities, little need for transportation, high resource use efficiency, no pollution, and no need for arable land. On the other hand, there are questions about whether factory farms are economically viable. The initial costs are high and most “farms” depend on electrical lighting, requiring large amounts of energy. This colloquium will explore the challenges and opportunities related to horticultural production in controlled environmental agriculture facilities. The colloquium will cover production practices, sustainability, and socio-economic aspects of controlled environmental agriculture. Presentations from five speakers will be followed by a panel discussion.
Thursday, August 6, 2015: 8:00 AM
Rhythms (Sheraton Hotel New Orleans)