Vertical farming on textiles - new applications for warp-knitted spacer fabrics

Producing agricultural products all year round straight at the consumers, in the urban areas, this is the goal of vertical agriculture, also known as vertical farming. This upward growing procedure uses multi-storey buildings, so-called farmscrapers. Compared to conventional farming, it offers many advantages, such as lower energy costs for the transportation from producer to consumer, and less greenhouse effects due to the return of the used raw materials to the production process. Moreover, it is also possible to increase the availability of plant-based foodstuffs, in particular by minimizing the risk of crop failure, and a generally increased productivity of crop plants due to seasonal-independent cultivation – as demonstrated by studies. In addition, less food goes to waste, because of the short transport routes and the possible abandonment of cooling. In this way, vertical farming also contributes to a sustainable and environmentally friendly solution of fundamental problems of urban life, such as water treatment, air quality as well as energy and food production, also against the background of global overpopulation. The concept of vertical farming already dates back to the mid-1960ies, however, it has again moved into focus only since the beginning of the new millenium. At present, the idea is that researchers should develop new concepts, which are meant to ensure the efficient production of crop plants in farmscrapers with their new artificial surroundings.