Field trip to Leafy Towers
"Thanks for accompanying me pop-pop," little Colin said.
"I grew up on a farm. I was happy to be a chaperone on your little field trip."
The bus stopped suddenly. Howard looked out the window and was surprised to be in a parking lot. Why did they stop already? They were still in the city.
"Okay everyone walk out of the bus safely," the teacher announced encouragingly. "And be sure to have your buddy."
"We're here already?" Howard questioned.
"Yes pop-pop. We're at the farm."
Howard held onto his grandson's hand as they stepped off the bus. He didn't see a farm in front of him, just a corporate office building. It was gray and soulless. There weren't even windows.
A strange looking woman stood in front of them. She wore thick glasses and tightly gripped a tablet in-between her arms.
"Good morning class," she said with a large grin. "My name is Marion and I'm a farmer here at Leafy Towers."
A farmer? Her? She was wearing a pantsuit and her hair was neatly wrapped in a bun. There wasn't a speck of dirt on her.
"Are you ready for your tour?"
"YES! YES!" the children chanted.
Howard did not chant. He wasn't sure what to expect.
"Come along then," she invited. Cheering children followed behind like ducks.
"Here at Leafy Towers, we work day and night to ensure that you have delicious food for you to eat. Do you like eating vegetables?"
"YES! YES!" the children exclaimed.
Howard was surprised by Colin's enthusiasm. When he was a kid, he hated eating Brussels sprouts. What had changed?
"When I was a kid, I hated eating vegetables," she gave them an exaggerated scowl. "But that was the past. We have found out ways to draw out the flavor while improving their nutrition. On the door to your left you'll find our genetics lab. That is where we find new ways to make your food tastier."
Howard frowned. He had noticed the vegetables he ate every night had tasted better than his childhood. He had just taken that as a sign of his maturity.
"And this kids, is where your food comes from."
She pushed open large doors to reveal a large hall that was covered in a grid of tall shelves, stretching perhaps forty to fifty feet in the air. The room was mostly dark, illuminated primarily by red lights beaming down from the top of each shelf. As Howard's eyes adjusted, he saw rows and rows of plants growing in tanks.
"In the past, much of our food was grown out on large plots of land. It required a lot of hard work. You could grow one thing only every few decimeters. But that wasn't a good use of space, was it?"
"NO! NO!" the children cried out.
"We were the first vertical farm to be built in the city, though many more have come since. You see, we can grow ten times as many plants just by stacking them."
"YAY!" the children yelled.
Howard meanwhile, was fiddling with the settings on his hearing aid. There seemed to be some kind of interference he couldn't clear.
"Excuse me," he asked the woman. "Is there some kind of music playing here?"
"Yes there is!" she clapped her hands together. "While the shelves were one way, we have found a number of ways to improve the size of our plants. Rather than using soil, we have developed a supersize formula they drink in these tanks. Our precise climate controls give plants the best conditions for growth all year. And we have discovered that heavy metal helps with plant growth as well."
"Ah," he nodded as he dropped his hands. He would just have to live with the inane noise until they left.
"Any other questions?"
"Can I drink the supersize formula?" Colin blurted out before raising his hand.
"Don't do that Colin," Howard scolded.
"That's a good question," Marion giggled. "As you eat the crops that grow here, you do in a way get the same nutrients that the plants get. Do you like eating your veggies?"
"Of course!" he squeaked out.
"Then you'll get supersized soon," she laughed. "Any other questions?"
"I grew up on a farm and it is nothing like this place," Howard stated.
"That's not really a question but I'll try to respond," Marion thought for a moment before continuing. "I know that in the past the ways we grew food were much different. But there were many issues with that model. It used a lot of land and a lot of water, more than was sustainable. Climate change wiped out many farms through fires, droughts, and flooding. As cities grew, we found it more difficult to feed everyone that way."
"But it was more natural back then," he countered.
"Farms were not natural, not any more natural than what we do. With fertilizers and tractors and selective breeding, the principles you grew up with were already meant to improve growth and reduce risk of starvation. we've just perfected it."
"But..."
"Relax pop-pop."
Howard looked down at the grandson at his leg. He had his memories of his childhood. Perhaps it was only natural because it was his childhood. And now Colin had his own sense of what was natural. He gave Colin a pat on the head.
Perhaps they had guided the future to a better place so that his grandchildren would be the first generation to enjoy eating vegetables.
Every so often I will see an article about vertical farms, large industrial scale factories for growing crops indoors. It doesn’t work for every plant, but for those it does there is a promise of high efficiency and high yield.
Let’s say it works. Let’s say it drastically changes our food supply chain. Is that good? Bad? Perhaps we ascribe too much morality to farming or working on the land when the real goal should be feeding more people.