Vertical farming: why (without a doubt) we will eat these vegetables

He has very clear ideas Luca Travaglinipartner together with Davide Benatoff from Planet Farms. Their company opened in 2018, and immediately after Covid began producing salads for large-scale distribution, 30,000 bags a day that come out of the “cultivation” of Cavenago, between Milan and Bergamo, and reach 350 supermarkets in northern Italy. At the moment.

Luca got to know the “Vertical Farm»On a trip to Japan, to Fukushima, where the soil contaminated by radiation makes hydroponics the only possible solution. What is it about? Indoor crops, in boxes one above the other, without soil but with the roots resting on a mixed substrate, fed by water and mineral salts, illuminated and heated by special high-efficiency LED lamps and living in a “sterile” environment »With purified air, and therefore do not need pesticides to be protected.

If we take the basic concept and expand it with the use of the most innovative technologies, it is a real revolution. In the not too distant future, we will eat like thisand for some very simple, but very profound reason:

– The vertical farm of Planet Farm allows you to save 95% of water compared to traditional water.
– Allows you to save soil (1 hectare of cultivation produces like 300 hectares of traditional agriculture) and return the fields to their natural habitat.
– Shorten the supply chain: production is close to the places where the product is sold and allows to reduce the environmental impact of transport.
– A pure, untreated seed is used, and the plants are born and grow without pesticides or agro-drugs. The fields would finally be free from pollutants of all kinds.
– They are always available all year round! (Not being subject to seasonal variations and sudden climatic shocks).

This is why vertical agriculture will bring salads and vegetables to our tables: because they clearly are there are many qualities that these products can offer in terms of environmental sustainability, nutritional value and healthiness. “Yet there is no competition between traditional and vertical agriculture – says Luca – rather there is collaboration”. There are crops more suitable for vertical farming and vice versa, while the technology of Vertical Farms can also prove useful for traditional agriculture, with data that is constantly collected on the best growing conditions of plants, or by hosting some plants in their first phase of growth in a protected place.

But in all of this, how is the taste? The answer could be that the Cerea Brothers in the park of their phantasmagoric world (with three Michelin stars) of Da Vittorio in Brusaporto they are planting vertical cultivation with the help of Planet Farms. In short, excellent. From them we try the latest product arrived in Planet Farms: the pesto (which can be found on the market in large-scale distribution – for now from Esselunga – with the name PESTOOH). It is clear that pecorino, parmesan, oil, pine nuts, etc are those we know already selected from the best, but the basil is what comes from vertical farming: pure Genoese basil with an intact flavor, harvested and immediately used for a high quality product.

The pure seeds, which we mentioned earlier, are in fact a not secondary aspect: by cultivating in a protected atmosphere it is also possible to grow original species that were perhaps less resistant to parasites, temperature fluctuations or the pesticides themselves. Planet Farms grows hundreds of plants of all kinds. We return to nature by cultivating plants indoors, as in large technological greenhouses, and we leave the earth free to return to nature and greenery. Sounds like a great result right?