Urban Vertical Farms: How to Grow Fresh Greens Year-Round in a Megacity
28.10.2026
Oakmont Solutions expert Anton Volotovich on vertical farming, hydroponics, and the potential of automated farms to supply cities with fresh greens.
Anton Anatolyevich Volotovich, Head of the Innovative Biotechnology Department, Candidate of Biological Sciences (PhD), Associate Professor, Expert at Oakmont Solutions.
Setting up a city farm is an easy, fast, and effective solution to the problem of vitamin supply for the populations of multi-million cities in winter and during the off-season. This is already being achieved through intelligent (human-free) vertical cultivation of microgreens and/or leafy greens (with an average monthly yield per tier of 1.5–2.5 kg/m² and/or 3.5–5.5 kg/m², respectively, depending on the plant species), using low-volume hydroponic technologies, in a biosecure and controlled microclimate, with hardware-software systems and robotic equipment. Moreover, the output of leafy produce per 1 m² increases in proportion to the number of tiers in the vertical farm.
Solving the same problem (vitamin supply for the population in winter and the off-season) by growing the main vegetable crops (tomato and cucumber) using low-volume hydroponic technologies in semi-closed greenhouses (the same as 5th-generation greenhouses in the Russian classification) or closed greenhouses is a more costly process, both in terms of energy and because human involvement in production cannot be eliminated entirely. In this case, the average monthly yield of vegetable produce is 7.5–23.0 kg/m², depending on the species and genotype of the plants (recently, only indeterminate F1 hybrids of the main vegetable crops have been used).
According to World Health Organization recommendations, a healthy adult should consume at least 400 grams of fresh vegetables (non-starchy), fruits, and berries daily throughout the year in order to obtain the vitamins, minerals, biologically active (organic) substances, and dietary fiber the body needs. If dietary diversity is not taken into account (for example, in the future colonization of planets and asteroids by humans), then the priority of establishing a vertical farm for the intelligent production of leafy greens is obvious and economically justified.
Solving the same problem (vitamin supply for the population in winter and the off-season) by growing the main vegetable crops (tomato and cucumber) using low-volume hydroponic technologies in semi-closed greenhouses (the same as 5th-generation greenhouses in the Russian classification) or closed greenhouses is a more costly process, both in terms of energy and because human involvement in production cannot be eliminated entirely. In this case, the average monthly yield of vegetable produce is 7.5–23.0 kg/m², depending on the species and genotype of the plants (recently, only indeterminate F1 hybrids of the main vegetable crops have been used).
According to World Health Organization recommendations, a healthy adult should consume at least 400 grams of fresh vegetables (non-starchy), fruits, and berries daily throughout the year in order to obtain the vitamins, minerals, biologically active (organic) substances, and dietary fiber the body needs. If dietary diversity is not taken into account (for example, in the future colonization of planets and asteroids by humans), then the priority of establishing a vertical farm for the intelligent production of leafy greens is obvious and economically justified.
