Vertical Farms Round 2

INTRO:
Attention Getter:
Over half of the human population lives vertically in cities. This means that, for the majority, we humans are protected against the elements, yet we subject our precious food-bearing plants to the rigors of the “great outdoors” and can do no more than hope for good weather. However, now more often than not, due to rapidly changing climates, that is not the case. Massive floods, protracted droughts, class 4-5 hurricanes, and severe monsoons take their toll each year, destroying millions of tons of valuable crops. Don’t our harvestable plants deserve the same level of comfort and protection that we now enjoy? (4) Well Dickson Despommier, an environmental science professor at Columbia University, believes so and has come up with a solution. He proposes a multi-story building with glass walls that generates fruits, vegetables, grains, clean energy, and purified water. In a June 19, 2007 article from BBC News, Despommier calls his vision of the future “Vertical Farming.” According to a September 11, 2007 article from CNNMoney.com, “Vertical Farming will do for agriculture what skyscrapers did for office space.”
Preview Statement:
Since vertical farming could be the future of agriculture, I think it’s important that you know about the design of the building, how the building works, and its potential effect on our environment.
BODY:
I. So first I’ll explain the design of the building.
a. Number one: The solar panel rotates to follow the sun and drives the interior cooling system, which is used most when the sun’s heat is greatest. (1)
b. Number two: The wind spire is an alternative to solar power. Conventional windmills are too large for cities so the wind spire uses smaller blades to turn air upward, like a screw. (1)
c. Number three: The glass panels have a clear coating of titanium oxide that collects pollutants and prevents rain from beading; the rain slides down the glass, maximizing light and cleaning the pollutants. Then the runoff is collected in troughs for filtration.(1)
d. Number four: The control room regulates the vertical farm environment allowing year-round, 24-hour crop cultivation. (1)
e. Number five: The architecture was inspired by the Capitol Records building in Hollywood. The circular design uses space most efficiently and allows maximum light into the center.(1)
f. Number six: The vertical farm could grow fruits, vegetables, grains, and even fish and poultry. (1)
Transition: Now that you know the general design of the building, let’s break it down even further to see how everything works by looking at the water systems, the fields, and the power system individually.
II. First we’ll look at the water systems.
a. Number one: The evapotranspiration system is located inside the ceiling of each floor, its pipes collect moisture, which can be bottled and sold. (1)
b. Number two: The pipes work like a cold bottle of Coke that sweats on a hot day: Super cool fluid attracts plant water vapors, which are then collected as they drip off. Despommier estimates that one vertical farm could capture 60 million gallons of water a year. (1)
c. Number three: The black-water treatment system takes wastewater from the city’s sewage system, desludges it, filters it through non-edible barrier plants, and again through a tower of zebra mussels, which according to a July 2007 article in Popular Science, are the best filtering organisms out there. This system yields gray water, which isn’t drinkable but can be used for irrigation. (3)
III. Now we’ll move on to the fields.
a. Number four: The crop picker monitors fruits and vegetables with an electronic eye. Current technology, called a Reflectometer, uses color detection to test ripeness. (1)
b. Number five: In the field, maximization of space is critical, so there are two layers of crops and some hanging tomatoes. If small crops are planted, there might be up to ten layers per floor. (1)
c. Number six: The pool collects runoff from irrigation and sends it through pipes to a filtration system. (1)
d. Number seven: The feeder is a dual-purpose mechanism that directs programmed amounts of water and light to individual crops. (1)
IV. The next slide shows the Pellet Power System.
a. Number eight: The Pellet Power System is another source of power for the vertical farm; it turns non-edible plant matter, like corn husks for example, into fuel. (1)
b. Number nine to eleven: Plant waste is processed into powder (9), and then condensed into clean-burning fuel pellets (10), which become steam power (11). (1)
c. As stated in an April 9, 2007 article in the New York Magazine, “A vertical farm could be self-sustaining and even produce a net output of clean water and energy.” (1)
Transition: So far we’ve looked at the design of the building and how everything inside it functions; now it’s time to see how vertical farms could affect our environment.
V. Vertical farming could help fight global warming. (1)
a. By the year 2050 our population is expected to grow by 3 billion people, bringing our global total to 9.2 billion. (6)
b. According to verticalfarm.com, if current farming practices are maintained, an additional 10 hectares of land (which is 20% larger than Brazil) would have to be cultivated in order to feed all of these people. (4)
i. That means cutting down even more trees!
ii. And that will only make global warming worse.
c. Despommier believes that only by allowing significant portions of Earth’s farmland to return to forest do we have a chance of stabilizing climate and weather patterns. (1)
i. He feels that Al Gore’s proposal to Congress to reduce energy consumption will only slow global warming. (1)
ii. But allowing forests to re-grow where crops are now cultivated would reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and help fight global warming at least as much as, if not more than, more-efficient energy consumption. (1)
iii. This is where vertical farming comes in: a single vertical farm could reforest thousands of acres of farmland. (1)
1. For example: After a strawberry farm in Florida was wiped out by Hurricane Andrew, the owners built a hydroponics farm, which is a technique of growing plants in just water containing dissolved nutrients, no soil is used. (1)
2. By growing their strawberries inside and stacking the layers, the owners now produce on one acre of land what used to require 30. (1)
3. This just proves that vertical farming could greatly reduce the amount of land used for farming and allow forests to re-grow and help fight global warming.
Transition: So now you should have a better idea of the general design of the vertical farm, how everything inside it functions, and how vertical farms could affect global warming.
CONCLUSION: The credit goes to Dickson Despommier who began developing this concept 8 years ago. He estimates that it will take a group of agricultural economists, architects, engineers, agronomists, and urban planners five to ten years to figure out how to marry high-tech agricultural practices with the latest sustainable building technology.(1)
Memorable Statement: So hopefully within the next decade we will finally give our crops the comfort and protection they deserve.




Works Cited
Chamberlain, Lisa. "Skyfarming." New York News & Features. 9 Apr. 2007. 14 Sept. 2007 .
Cooke, Jeremy. "Vertical Farming in the Big Apple." BBC News. 19 June 2007. 14 Sept. 2007 .
"The Vertical Farmer." July 2007. 14 Sept. 2007 .
"The Vertical Farm Project." 2007. 14 Sept. 2007 .
"Vertical Farm Designs." 2007. 14 Sept. 2007 .
Woolley, Hillary. "Farming Goes Vertical." CNNMoney.Com. 11 Sept. 2007. 14 Sept. 2007 .