Vertical farming is a form of urban agriculture. It refers to the vertical growth of crops in controlled, indoor environments. This can be in smaller, modular equipment towers, in large warehouse structures, or even in abandoned buildings. Vertical farming is thought to be the future of agriculture, and is propelled forward by a growing world population, climate change, shortage of arable land, the desire for national self-sufficiency, and for fresher, closer food, free of nasty pesticides.
Vertical farming allows more efficient use of space; one square meter of floor space in a vertical farm produces roughly the same amount of vegetable crops as 50 square meters of conventional farmland. In addition, because the water is recycled, vertical farms are able to use 95% less water. Producing indoors also means that vertical farms need little to no herbicides and pesticides, and that cultivation for a variety of crops can be done year-round. Moreover, automated vertical farms cut labor costs and provide a safer alternative to the occupational hazards of traditional farming. Finally, at the end of the supply chain, vertical farms enable transportation cost reduction by their proximity to consumers.
SPAN and Jungheinrich jointly designed a state of the art, fully automated, vertical farm Kuwait. Located in the middle of the desert, this facility has approximately 3,000m2 of growing space and a daily output capacity of up to 550kg of salad, herbs, and cresses. The final design incorporated an automated storage and retrieval system (ASRS) using a combination of conveyors, stacker cranes and flow beds ensuring the efficient flow of crops and sequencing of benches from seeding, to growing, and harvesting.
One of the main challenges of the project was working within very stringent tolerances for the alignment of the racks and benches (up to 0.5/2000 mm) which was necessary to ensure specific water leveling requirements needed to produce the best breed of crops. The strict tolerances presented multiple complexities in the design, sourcing of the material and installation on site, which SPAN and its partners were able to diligently overcome.
SPAN worked on the design hand-in-hand with Jungheinrich, a pioneer in the fields of automation and digitalization. The project equipment was entirely sourced from Europe, while the installation was performed by SPAN’s in-house team. “The coordination between the teams was faultless, from design to installation to successful commissioning. This is the power of decades of close partnership,” commented Wadih Assouad SPAN’s Project Support Unit Manager. “Despite the remote location and inherent logistical challenges, we were able to turn this project into a real success story.”
From initial concept design, system design, installation, commissioning, and technical support, we work closely with our clients to deliver end-to-end, automated vertical farming solutions. Reach out to us at [email protected] for more information.
