The energy demand associated with vertical farming is much higher than other methods of food production. For example, lettuces grown in traditionally heated greenhouses in the UK need an estimated 250kWh of energy a year for every square meter of growing area. In comparison, lettuces grown in a purpose-built vertical farm need an estimated 3,500kWh a year for each square meter of growing area. Notably, 98% of this energy use is due to artificial lighting and climate control.

High Cost of lighting for vertical farming makes it difficult to reach economic viability.

Peter Lane Executive Chairman at Vertical Farming Network said:

"Will rising electricity prices kill off vertical farming?

I have just had a notification my day rate electricity is rising from 23.23p/kWh to 31.24p/kwh a 31% increase. I know that is a domestic rate, but how many true enclosed vertical farms can afford that sort of increase in their most basic resource cost? Even for supplemental light systems that must be very damaging.

This reflects wholesale prices up to now, but with the war in Ukraine, I expect energy costs to go up a lot further again, how will the VF industry cope with the increase?

The prices of VF-grown crops will have to go up considerably, and they are already dearer than field crops. Could this see many VF businesses go under?

This is in the UK, I wonder how much energy is rising in the EU as they are worse off than us with their reliance on Russian and Ukraine gas.

With the damage to Ukraine & Russian food chain which provides much of Europe's grain and wheat, the price of food is going to hit hard."

Frank Pepper. CEPo, GroNorth

I Have been writing to the government to implement this in Canada since 2007 trying to drive down the cost of food in order to address the cost of living.

Nearly half of all Canadians live in food insecure homes. Our monthly rent is absolutely ridiculous, many of us have to choose between a roof over our heads or are we going to eat that month. Many are working two or three jobs just to try and get by.

This is an untenable situation.

Everyday we're getting closer to being homeless. Everyday the stress on the population gets worse.

After a while of no one getting it done I said I will just do it myself.

I had the idea in my head for years now after watching a documentary on vertical farming. While driving one day in 2019 thought it through and could see it in my mind, we thought shipping container first but there is no innovation there so focused on the rotating rack assembly

The next step was attracting the right people. For this I needed to get the attention of the academic community in order to take me seriously enough to invest in me.

2019 I started answering questions on quora knowing it was only a matter of time and that's how I met Adam.

By 2021 using my network I expanded through Facebook I had the core members of the team.

Next up was coming up with a working design and business plan.

Noreen (Sullivan) is incredible she was responsible fordesigning our online presence and marketing materials and website. Which we are currently working on now. Once this launch is complete, we will be iterating and optimizing our digital design and simulating prototype functionality before building scale model prototype.

Frank Pepper. CEO Gro North

Vertical farming is one of the fastest-growing industries on the planet right now. The economic opportunities for getting it right are boundless as everybody needs to eat. And we don't have any other choice, either we're fixing the mess we're in or we're all going to sink.

We really can't afford to wait any longer. With the cost of energy going up indoor vertical farms are not the solution. It is going to be difficult to justify the expense of these large indoor operations with our energy-efficient outdoor systems available.

Our VIPER growing systems are the solution.

https://www.worldvision.ca/stories/food/food-crisis-facts-and-how-to-help

‘Food crisis’ is a situation in which food circumstances drastically worsen within a short period. It gripped at least 155 million people in 2020, with most in just 10 countries. Violent conflict was the key driver, with extreme weather events and economic shocks also playing a role.

By the time a food crisis is officially declared in a region, thousands of families have already lost their livelihoods and exhausted their savings. Malnutrition is on the increase. There’s no time left for the global community to consider creative ways to help people build resilience. The world must act quickly to prevent widespread destruction of livelihoods and death.

UNITED NATIONS, Nov 27 2020 (IPS) - The numbers are staggering— as reflected in the ongoing coronavirus pandemic which has triggered a new round of food shortages, famine, and starvation.

According to the Rome-based World Food Programme (WFP) 690 million people do not have enough to eat. while130 million additional people risk being pushed to the brink of starvation by the end of the year.

https://reliefweb.int/report/world/un-warns-impending-famine-millions-danger-starvation

"War has brought the world to the brink of a food crisis - CNN" https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2022/03/12/business/food-crisis-ukraine-russia/index.html

We are small but ready to grow. We have developed strong relationships with our customer base and have the land to build a pilot program available to us as well as a shop to produce the prototype and iterate.

We have a letter of intent with Kemaldean foods to be supply all of their Canadian restaurants (60+ locations) when our northern climate phase begins

Frank Pepper, CEO Gro Norht