The key drivers responsible for the development of the vertical farming market are several advantages related with vertical farming compared to conventional farming, for instance, developments in light-emitting diode technology, continuous crop manufacture regardless of climatic conditions, and need of less resources. The demand for vertical farming manufacturing is anticipated to rise more quickly during the forecast period due to increasing popularity of organic food as they are healthy and free from chemicals, etc. Additionally, the vertically stacked structure of these farms decreases the need for additional construction activity as well as less land is required, thus, driving the vertical farming market. High initial investment is required to set the indoor vertical structure and setting up the lighting as well as irrigation systems. Moreover, the technologies involved in vertical farming are still developing, which is anticipated to downgrade growth of the market. Nonetheless, increase in urban population along with rising implementation of technology driven agriculture are anticipated to offer lucrative development opportunities to the players operating in the vertical farming market.
The global vertical farming market is categorized on the basis of components namely, irrigation component, climate control, lighting system, sensor, building material, and others. Among this components, lighting system have the maximum share in the market and artificial lights offer sufficient light intensities needed for crop development. Besides the vertical farming market is also categorized based on growth mechanism which includes hydroponics, aeroponics, and aquaponics. Growing awareness among customers related to the effects of pesticides is expected to increase demand for hydroponics. On the basis of farm structure, the vertical farming market includes building-based structure, and container-based structure. The price of container-based structure reduces with improved competition as the price of getting used containers is comparatively less, which allows other firms to come in the market space.
On the basis of region, categorization of vertical farming market includes North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, Middle East and Africa. Asia Pacific holds the largest share of the vertical farming market owing to increasing popularity for organic food in countries such as China, India and Japan. Moreover, rise in awareness regarding the importance of alternate farming, owing to less accessibility of fertile agricultural land as well as growing population in Asia Pacific region, is the key factor anticipated to outgrowth the demand.
Some of the major players from the vertical farmings market include Green Sense Farms, LLC, AeroFarms, LLC, BrightFarms Inc., Everlight Electronics Co., Ltd., Agrilution Systems GmbH, Spread Co. Ltd., Koninklijke Philiph N.V., Illumitex Inc., Plenty Unlimited Inc., and Crop One Holdings among others. Most of the players from vertical farming market are focusing on partnerships, expansion of business, new product growths, as their business strategy. Some of the key players are also investing in research and development for product invention as well as development.
The global pandemic caused huge impact on working of various industries across the globe. COVID-19 pandemic has flashed an attention on the fragility of the global just-in-time food supply chain and as per various sources majority of the countries only harvest a limited percentage of the food they consume. Furthermore, the lockdowns as well as closings imposed owing to the COVID-19 pandemic have led to bottlenecks that swell all over the food supply chains internationally. Therefore, Covid-19 have had a negative impact on the vertical farming market.
As vertical farming is a modern invention in the crop manufacturing, it reinvents the modern farming applications. Vertical farming is decreasing the size of old-style agriculture as well as increase in population is growing the need for alternative methods.
Recent News and Development:
- In October, 2020: BrightFarms, Inc. raised US$ 100 Mn+ in Series E, predicted that half of leafy greens could be grown via indoor farming
- In December, 2019: AeroFarms, LLC announced an investment of US$ 42 Mn to build an indoor vertical farm in the Cane Creek Centre in the U.S.
