As indoor farms that don’t rely on soil become a growing strategy to tackle food insecurity, one academic has a vision to take vertical farming to new heights in China’s mega-cities: the farmscraper.

On a sunny day last August, Daniel Malechuk opened the door to a 77,000-square-foot warehouse just outside Atlanta.

After more than two decades of espousing the benefits of vertical farming around the world, it seems Dr. Dickson Despommier is still every bit as eager to talk about the subject as I am.

Food. What we eat, and how we grow it, will be fundamentally transformed in the next decade.

Indoor vertical farming, where crops are raised in automated stacks, often in or near cities, offers a way to sustainably meet the growing demand for food — if its energy demand can be reduced.

As the world goes into lockdown as a result of COVID-19, many are fearful about the reliability of food supplies in urban areas. Vertical farming may well be a solution – although not in the immediate short-term.