Grant for sustainable integration of vertical farming

Vertical farming is the integration of high-tech agriculture in buildings. SKY HIGH researches this revolution in plant production with over 23 partners. Researchers from BK Bouwkunde received a grant of €560.000,- to explore how vertical farming can be integrated sustainably in buildings and urban energy systems.  

There is a need to provide a growing world population with food, even though more and more people live in towns and cities, there are often water shortages, and the nutritional value of fruit and vegetables has been falling for decades. By growing plants in layers above each other and illuminating them with special LED lamps, fresh vegetables can be produced throughout the world under all weather and climate conditions over the entire year.

Vertical farming offers the opportunity to grow fresh vegetables year-round under all weather and climate conditions. This makes it possible to provide nutritious food to a growing world population. The SKY HIGH programme aims to make this type of vertical farming cheaper, more energy-efficient, with tastier food, and the use of extremely little water and nutrients. Andy van den Dobbelsteen, a postdoc and a PhD researcher from Architectural Engineering and Technology will dive into the integration of these systems within buildings and the urban energy system.

The grant is part of the NWO-Perspective finance instrument, in which NWO invests €18 million to research technological innovations. SKY HIGH is one out of five selected projects. Read more about these projects here. 

The programme is led by Wageningen University and partners with AMS Institute, Bayer, Bosman Van Zaal, Certhon, Fresh Forward, Grodan, GROWx, HAS University of Applied Sciences, Own Greens, Priva, Signify (Philips Lighting), Solynta, TU Delft BK Bouwkunde, Eindhoven University of Technology, Unilever, Leiden University, University of Amsterdam, Van Bergen Kolpa Architects, and Wageningen Plant Research.