Project
Fieldlab Vertical Farming 2.0
Vertical farming (VF) is a young development within the international food system. Over the past decade, VF has experienced meteoric growth as VFs raise massive amounts of venture capital worldwide. VFs had great appeal to young, often highly educated people, not necessarily with an agricultural background, because of the promise of high-tech sustainable vegetable production close to consumption.
In the Fieldlab Vertical Farming (VF) 2.0 project, the recently started Fieldlab is being further developed in the following areas:
(1) Research into market opportunities for VF and hybrid VF concepts outside the Netherlands. Improve the positioning of Dutch technical and cultivation knowledge in international markets, such as the USA, South-East Asia and the Gulf States. Translation into business cases. Output: market knowledge, models for determining economic feasibility, knowledge for climate-neutral designs of VFs; short-term application.
(2) Cultivation research in the vertical farms of the Fieldlab. Focus on sustainability, in particular improving energy efficiency. Testing new crops that are in demand from foreign markets. Output: energy efficient cultivation techniques and cultivation protocols for new crops for vertical farmers; application in the short to medium term. Active involvement of education, with the following output: updated educational curriculum; application from project term.
(3) Strengthening the Fieldlab organization¬. Developing a collaboration model and attracting new companies. Promoting the added value of vertical farming to governments, NGOs and the horticultural sector. Output: Fieldlab well embedded in (regional) innovation ecosystem, which continues to function after the end of the project.