Vertical Farming Is Making Progress, But No Profits

Agriculture is one of the oldest human activities, and adapting it for climate change will require nothing short of a radical shift. Vertical farming — growing plants in controlled indoor environments with higher yields, fewer inputs and less waste — has big promise, but is struggling to reach profitability. Like many other cleantech ventures, vertical farms are limited by the need for large initial investments in equipment, plus high energy costs that make only certain crops financially viable.

“Agronomically, you can do anything in a vertical farm,” says Gilles Dreyfus, chief executive officer of Jungle, a Paris-based vertical farm that Bloomberg Green reporter Akshat Rathi visits on the latest episode of the Zero podcast. Financially, though, Dreyfus has to pursue crops with fast growing cycles, short stature and the ability to grow at high density and sell at a decent markup. “We’re never going to do fruit trees,” he says. “It doesn’t make any sense.”