Automation is Transforming the World's Leading Vertical Farm Companies

In Paris, building-based agriculture, like rooftop gardens, allows for the production of nutritious food close to where they will be eaten. The practice helps eliminate carbon emissions, improve food security, and improve climate resilience.

The nonprofit Group to Promote Education and Sustainable Development teaches women in drought-ridden Indigenous communities across Mexico to use ancestral methods of irrigation and grow drought-resilient medicinal plants. The four-year training program also aims to address gender disparity through empowerment. Participants are encouraged to set up savings funds to increase their financial independence and attend group therapy sessions, among other activities.

In the Indian state of Bihar, women-led self-help groups are challenging traditional gender norms and saving money to buy and install solar irrigation pumps. The pumps increase the local agricultural capacity by providing a cleaner, more affordable alternative to the diesel pumps typically used to combat water scarcity in the region.

Farmers in West Bengal, India, are swapping rice for bananas to save on expenses and labor and adapt to increasingly erratic monsoons and rainfall impacting yields. The farmers use solar panels and drip irrigation setups funded by the state government to reduce emissions and minimize water loss, as bananas require a lot of water.

In the Netherlands’ Seed Valley some of the largest seed companies in the world are increasing agricultural output to feed the growing world population using less land. They use plant breeding, which involves combining the DNA of different crop varieties, and seed enhancement, which involve germinating the seeds early to shorten the dormant period in which they are most vulnerable. Seed enhancement can also include coating seeds with solutions that combat dangers like disease and wind gusts.

Farmers in Mexico are keeping a 1,000-year-old tradition alive to produce reliable yields of healthy crops despite facing historic droughts. They're using chinampas, which are man-made “floating gardens” created by placing soil from the lake on top of reeds and grasses.

The startup Puna Bio collects microbes that live on the high-altitude La Puna plateau and turns them into a product that farmers can apply to soybeans to increase yields and improve soil health. Since they adapted to survive in such a harsh climate, the microbes can survive depleted soil and extreme weather to pass along key nutrients and antioxidants to crops.

A nonprofit in India focused on supporting farmers, Urmul Seemant Samiti, is helping pastoralists transition to using hydroponics to grow fodder for their livestock amid increasing droughts. Alongside hydroponic fodder startup Hydrogreens, the organization trains pastoralists to use sprinkler systems to create fog that waters their indoor crops.

Kendrick Ransome uses ancestral farming techniques like low-till farming and conservation tilling to improve soil health and sequester more carbon on his farm. He founded Freedom Org to teach youth these practices and help other Black farmers do the same after decades of racist lending policies have dwindled their numbers.

A new government pilot program in Egypt is allowing farmers to use technology to tell them when their soil is dry and how much water it needs, which can aid the country as it navigates its water crisis. Sensors buried in the soil measure the ground’s moisture levels and sends the data to the user through a mobile app. The government has given 200 devices away for free, but some experts question the cost and if farmers will be comfortable with the technology. Still, one farmer says that because of the new system, she has been using 20 percent less water and her labor costs have also decreased.