Monday, September 07, 2020

Vertical Farming's Unnoted Advantage?

I'm guessing maybe vertical farming has an advantage I've not considered in the past.  I've mostly been skeptical of it and still am.  But...

One of the problems of growing produce is labor.  While farm labor isn't well paid, the harvesting of vegetables typically requires hand labor, which I think usually turns into seasonal labor (depending on the crop).  But I saw the other day a picture of a worker in a vertical farm growing lettuce.  He was wearing a white uniform, and standing by a tray of lettuce at shoulder height. I don't know whether it's standard for vertical farms to have their growing trays on a rotating drive arrangement, so that the work is always at eye level, but it makes sense they would.  It's a slight additional expense and a complication for maintenance but still.

So consider the labor advantages of such a system:

  • no back-breaking labor, no bad weather of heat or rain, etc., clean.
  • the job is not seasonal, it's year round, meaning the workers can be permanent.
  • while the vertical farming factory is located in or near a city, with its higher living costs, the much bigger labor pool and the much better working conditions might well counterbalance the costs.
Just some guesses, but I'll be interested to see if I'm right or wrong.

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