Vertical farming isn't easy, with startup and energy costs among the factors leading some high-profile vertical farming companies to collapse or scale back over recent years. But the pressures of climate change and water scarcity continue to keep interest in the field alive, fueling hope for the the future of vertical farming, alongside the rising consumer demand for freshly harvested, pesticide-free produce that's grown locally.

Why Vertical Farms Fail

Indoor vertical farms make sense for a lot of reasons. Farming in-demand produce like leafy greens and berries indoors all year round reduces the need to transport food over long distances. The controlled environment of vertical farms also allows for more food production on less land with fewer fertilizers and no need for pesticides or herbicides.

But among the tradeoffs, vertical farms use a lot of energy, and as energy grows more expensive in the U.S. and elsewhere, that's a major challenge when it comes to matching the price of produce farmed on land, even if it's shipped from out of town.

The cost challenge contributed to a number of once highly-publicized vertical farming companies filing for bankruptcy, downsizing or shutting down over recent years — including AeroFarms, Bowery Farming, Plenty and AppHarvest.

Where vertical farms are set up can also be a key predictor of success, as illustrated by the slow, stuttering growth of the $500 million Sensei Ag venture. With the backing of Oracle co-founder and billionaire Larry Ellison, Sensei Ag launched in 2020 on a mission to transform the global agriculture industry through new artificial intelligence and robotic technologies across a variety of platforms including vertical farming.

Unfortunately, Ellison and his partners chose his personal Hawaiian island, Lāna’I, as the site of the new Sensei Farms venture, casting doubt on the future of vertical farming. As The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this year, the promise of an eco-friendly revolution in agricultural technology soon fell apart under the strong winds of Hawaii, which blew the roofs off greenhouses several times and upended plans for using solar power, forcing the operation to rely on diesel generators much of the time.

Read the full article about the future of vertical farming by Tina Casey at TriplePundit.