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In its short history, the vertical farming industry has produced some remarkable success stories. Some of the best examples are the Newark-based vertical farming giant AeroFarms, recently named one of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies of 2018, and New York’s Bowery Farming, which has raised 27.5 million in funding and has been making headlines for its unique proprietary farm operation system, FarmOS.
But vertical farming has also generated more than its share of failures. The industry is full of cautionary tales of shuttered farms, from the large — FarmedHere, which was founded in 2009 and was at one time the largest vertical farm in the US, closed down in 2017 — to the numerous small-scale operations all across the country that close up shop without making headlines.
What are some of the factors that are contributing to the failure of these vertical farms? This was one of the main questions asked at the inaugural Aglanta event, an industry conference held in Atlanta, Georgia, in 2017. We’ve seen before how failing to pay proper attention to location, labor costs, and pricing strategy can spell doom for emerging vertical farms, but the panel discussions presented at Aglanta highlighted the many other reasons, large and small, why vertical farms fail. They also emphasized the fact that if the industry as a whole is to move forward, it’s vital that all vertical farmers are aware of and learn from these mistakes.
As identified by Aglanta panelists, some of the key reasons why vertical farms fail include the following:
A lack of focus.
Farmers of all sizes need to take this lesson to heart: trying to do too many things at once is usually a recipe for disaster. For most vertical farmers, this manifests as a tug-of-war between growing food for market and productizing and selling the technology being used to grow the food. However, Aglanta panelists advised new farmers to understand that their only goal should be to sell good food, and that everything else must come second. It makes sense when you think about it: the more time, attention, and resources that farmers devote to trying to productize their growing system, the less time, attention, and resources they’re dedicating to producing the fresh, local food that will attract and delight their customers. In short, vertical farmers must realize that they can either grow food or develop technology, but they can’t do both effectively.
A lack of education.
Because vertical farming is such a new industry, it can be difficult for farmers to find the reliable, capable workers they need to run their operations. The problems created by the lack of skilled and educated workers are only exacerbated by the fact that many vertical farmers are themselves hampered by significant knowledge gaps. Thus, when both management and labor lack the expertise needed to get a new vertical farm off the ground, getting to a place of profitable and efficient operations is extremely difficult. To address this issue, Aglanta panelists noted that the vertical farming industry must provide even more accessible educational opportunities to help train and develop both labor and management if the industry is to succeed.
A failure to treat the farm like a process.
One of the most important points that Aglanta panelists touched on was the need to create an efficient farm layout and workflow — i.e., treating a vertical farm like a manufacturing process rather than an art form. Given the realities of today’s technology-based modern farming world, it’s easy to see that the simple production of food is not the problem; on the contrary, controlled environment agriculture allows contemporary farmers to produce high-quality crops consistently. When it comes to vertical farming, the real issue is not “Can we grow it?” but “How can we efficiently run our growing operation while minimizing cost?”
Of these two fundamentally different questions, only the second incorporates the real complexities of humans working on a farm. And the best way to answer this question is to look at the farm like a manufacturing process and to treat production questions like an optimization problem. By looking beyond production, farmers can more effectively evaluate farm equipment and system options to optimize workflows and maximize labor efficiencies.
A misunderstanding of what data can do.
The sensors and cameras used in today’s vertical farms mean that ever-increasing amounts of data can be harvested and used to improve yields and process. But not all vertical farmers realize that data alone doesn’t do much without the appropriate systems and hardware to analyze and interpret it properly. While data can certainly help farmers make better-informed decisions, it’s a mistake to think that data on its own can solve problems like an inefficient farm setup or a poor market for crops. The right infrastructure must be in place for data to be used effectively; otherwise, it will have no impact on production and sales.
