by , INHABITAT

 

By 2050, for sale 85 percent of an estimated 9 billion people will be living in cities, and food and water shortages will threaten the world’s growing population. Dutch firm PlantLab says that most existing agricultural practices deplete natural resources and damage the planet. They’re developing revolutionary growing methods to allow plants to flourish in underground boxes, using less energy, less space, and far less water than conventional methods. Check out these images to see what the farms of the future could look like.
 

Plantlab, Urban Farming, Plant Production Unit, Urban Gardening, Skyscraper Farms, World Hunger Solutions,

PlantLab’s vision is that our growing population will have access to affordable, safe and nutritious food via urban farming. “The farmers of the future will be in the basements, not the fields,” predicts PlantLab’s Gertjan Meeuws. “We are growing the best vegetables and tomatoes and herbs in the basements. It will bring food production back to where we live [the cities], creating thousands of jobs.”
High tech “plant paradise” units provide ideal growing conditions via red and far red LED lighting and use only 10 percent of the water a traditional farm requires.