ISHS Acta Horticulturae 1369: XXXI International Horticultural Congress (IHC2022): International Symposium on Advances in Vertical Farming
Life cycle management in vertical farming: insights from vertical farming sustainability assessments |
| Author: | M. Martin |
| Keywords: | vertical farming, life cycle assessment, life cycle management, sustainability, reporting, footprint, metrics |
| DOI: | 10.17660/ActaHortic.2023.1369.29 |
| Abstract:
Vertical farming systems are often outlined to provide promising solutions to secure food supplies, produce more sustainable food, and reduce pressure on agricultural land by shifting food production to urban environments and buildings. However, little is known of the potential implications these systems have for sustainability and how vertical farms work with sustainability. Based on applied research with a number of producers in Sweden, this study provides insights into the life cycle management work within vertical farms from different scales and contexts. The results suggest that internal and external drivers for the use of life cycle management and application of life cycle assessment generally converge. Most vertical farms have worked with life cycle methods to study and optimize their systems but have not transparently published their results. Despite this, most vertical farms share similar ‘hotspots’ in their systems though few benchmarking metrics are available. The results provide valuable insights to current and developing vertical farming firms on how life cycle methods can be used to improve processes and the environmental performance of their operations. | |
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