Vertical Farming

     Vertical farming, an interesting idea for agriculture. It's a lot more space efficient, can provide greater yields, and it's also a lot more reliable. But it's also pretty expensive. Is this really just a new way of feeding the rich while the poor continue to starve? I feel as if it can be more. It's an innovation, and the farms of the future. Vertical farming is the next step to people taking full control of their food. When humanity first went from simple hunting and gathering to agriculture, it was a a major improvement. People no longer relied on handouts from nature for nutrition. They were finally in control of what they ate. They controlled the cultivation of the food they consumed. Vertical farming is the next step beyond that. It's a way of now further controlling farming. Relying no longer on nature to give favorable conditions to grow food, enough rain, or such. Instead we would be able to control the growth conditions of our food. A bad drought or unfavorable weather won't force us to starve. We can persist and keep cultivating. Caring for ourselves instead of just hoping we get lucky in factors out of our control. It does take a lot of energy, but it's something we can combat by moving to cleaner energy. Now some may believe (such as the author of source D), that using the sun to power artificial sunlight is inherently a bad idea. In response, I suggest he try sitting outside in the cold winter because the sun can heat him up, there's no need to use some sort of artificial heater. Obviously artificial sunlight means we can control it, a cloudy day won't prevent further growth of crops. We can control and provide ideal growing conditions. So yes, we should use sunlight to power artificial sunlight, it lets us actually control things. I think vertical farming will be the future, plus it could even have applications in space.