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Fresh produce within vertical farming systems grows vertically in different layers stacked atop each other, thus allowing for the efficient use of space. As the environment in vertical farming systems is completely controlled, neither sunlight nor soil is necessary. On the one hand, vertical farming may help to provide a healthy diet for the growin...
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Context 1
... the products of indoor vertical farms are only found yielded and packaged without any direct consumer contact with the system. The first one constitutes vertical home farms (Figure 1) that are marketed by companies such as Agrilution (Munich, Germany) [3], Fibonacci (Moscow, Russia) [4], and Urban Cultivator (Surrey, British Columbia) [5]. The second type of vertical farming system, in-store vertical farms, is marketed by companies such as Infarm (Berlin, Germany) [6] and Urban Cultivator (Surrey, British Columbia) [7]. ...
Context 2
... selection of systems enables the researchers to investigate whether the decisions and attitudes of consumers change depending on the type of vertical farming system. The three different systems are depicted in Figure 1. After the introduction, the conceptual framework of the included research model is described, followed by a material and method section where the study design and data analysis is explained. ...
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... three vertical farming systems ranging from a small refrigerator-sized device for consumers at home (vertical home farms) to a middle-sized cube construction placed in grocery stores (in-store vertical farm) and an industry-sized vertical farm in an abandoned facility named indoor vertical farms, are visualized in Figure 1. The respondents were randomly allocated to one of the three systems, and they had to rate their opinion on several statements about the systems (split sample design). ...
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... study is the first work that contributes to the literature by providing insights into consumer acceptance of three different vertical farming systems (see Figure 1). In the following, it will be discussed (based on the model, see Figure 2) which forces influence consumer acceptance of vertical farming systems. ...
Citations
... International Business & Economics Studies Vol. 6, No. 2, 2024 Published by SCHOLINK INC. 126 Compounding this issue is the perception among many that produce from vertical farms is unnatural (Son & Hwang, 2023;Etale & Siegrist, 2021;Abouab & Gomez, 2015). This belief stems from misconceptions about the technologically advanced methods used in vertical farming, which diverge from traditional farming techniques (Jürkenbeck et al., 2019). The controlled, indoor environments and the use of artificial lighting and hydroponics in vertical farming are often mistakenly equated with a lack of naturalness, deterring some consumers from embracing vertical farm produce (Coyle & Ellison, 2017;Son & Hwang, 2023). ...
... Firstly, there is a noticeable silence regarding the effect of tourist engagement on the perceived naturalness of vertical farm produce. Secondly, research on the relationship between perceived naturalness and the purchase intention of vertical farm produce is significantly limited (Son & Hwang, 2023;Jürkenbeck et al., 2019). Moreover, there is a call for more extensive research into both engagement and sustainability awareness (Rather et al., 2019;Jürkenbeck et al., 2019), indicating a gap in the literature that this study aims to fill. ...
... Secondly, research on the relationship between perceived naturalness and the purchase intention of vertical farm produce is significantly limited (Son & Hwang, 2023;Jürkenbeck et al., 2019). Moreover, there is a call for more extensive research into both engagement and sustainability awareness (Rather et al., 2019;Jürkenbeck et al., 2019), indicating a gap in the literature that this study aims to fill. Despite progress in understanding sustainability awareness, this area of research requires further exploration to deepen our understanding of its impacts (Kumar et al., 2017). ...
With sustainable tourism and escalating food demands, vertical farming emerges as a pivotal innovation that bridges agricultural sustainability and tourism. This paper explores the role of tourist engagement at vertical farms in promoting sustainability awareness, altering perceptions of naturalness of vertical farm agricultural products, and shaping purchase intentions for these products. Utilizing Consumer Socialization Theory (CST) as a framework, the study delves into how tourist engagement at vertical farms can serve as a catalyst for enhancing the appeal and acceptance of sustainable agricultural practices. A cross sectional survey of 558 tourists in Malaysia and the Greater Bay Area of China was conducted using a quantitative approach. A Structural Equation Model (SEM) analysis revealed that tourist engagement significantly increases sustainability awareness and perceived naturalness, which, in turn, positively impacts purchase intentions. Interestingly, while tourist engagement directly increases purchase intentions, sustainability awareness does not directly increase purchase intentions, underscoring the nuanced role perceived naturalness plays in the decision making process. The findings underscore the importance of integrating vertical farming into the tourism experience as a strategy for promoting sustainable agricultural practices and increasing consumer acceptance. This study enriches the discourse on sustainable tourism's role in advancing sustainable agriculture, providing key insights for stakeholders in both the tourism and agriculture sectors to foster environmental stewardship and sustainable consumer behavior.
... A recent systematic literature review [22] concluded that most consumers found VF 'too artificial.' Many other references to VF as unnatural/artificial exist [34,35,[39][40][41][42][43][44] and it appears to make sense that many consumers feel this way since VF exemplifies an 'industrial vision' of agriculture, which conflicts with romanticised ideas about the agrarian way of living [36,45] (alternatively, the 'agrarian vision' [46]), and concepts such as 'good farmer' [47] and 'good food' [43]. ...
... All three of the methods examined may offer potential enhancements in terms of environmental sustainability. Consumers who are increasingly mindful of the environmental impact of traditional farming practices, may lean towards embracing innovative approaches if they perceive them to be more sustainable (Jürkenbeck et al., 2019). Past studies have indicated that environmental concern is a crucial individual characteristic linked to the acceptance of diverse new food technologies (e.g., Giacalone and Jaeger, 2023;Lombardi et al., 2023). ...
... The violin plot depicts the median of the distribution (dot within the box), the first and third quartiles (extremities of the box), the remaining distribution excluding outliers (upper and lower lines), and the kernel density (area around the box) for each cultivation method. a major driver of its acceptance (Jürkenbeck et al., 2019). The absence of associations between NEP and hydroponic and robotic cultivation may suggest that participants did not perceive these methods in terms of environmental sustainability, unlike urban farming. ...
Consumer attitudes toward novel fresh herb cultivation methods, including urban farming, hydroponics, and robotic cultivation, were explored among 148 participants in the UK. Urban farming emerged as the preferred method, followed by hydroponics, while robotic cultivation was least favoured. The study tested two hypotheses regarding the influence of environmental concern on acceptance of parsley from the different methods, and the impact of food technology neophobia on acceptance of parsley from hydroponics and robotic cultivation. Consumer levels of environmental concern positively influenced their acceptance of parsley from urban farming, while food technology neophobia negatively impacted the consumer acceptance of hydroponic and robotic cultivation methods. The study underscores the perceived natural elements inherent in these methods. Urban farming seems to align well with consumers’ values of nature and sustainability. Tailored messaging highlighting the natural aspects of all these methods, and addressing concerns about the use of technology, may help to bridge the gap between innovation and consumer acceptance, contributing to the delicate balance between tradition and innovation in agricultural strategies. At the same time, however, the study’s exploratory nature may limit the generalizability of the results. Future research could broaden the participant sample and explore additional psychological factors shaping attitudes toward novel agricultural techniques.
... The plant factory cultivation mode, as an agricultural facility that artificially controls the cultivation environment, can control various factors such as indoor lighting [8,9], temperature and humidity [10,11], and carbon dioxide concentration [12], and is capable of providing safe, high-quality, and pollution-free food [13,14]. Multi-layer stereoscopic cultivation is commonly used in plant factories, and its yield per unit area is significantly higher than that of traditional agriculture [15]. However, it is this mode of production that leads to the need for a large amount of manual involvement in the cultivation processes, especially in the linkage of moving the cultivation plates up and down in the cultivation frames. ...
In the plant factories using stereoscopic cultivation systems, the cultivation plate transport equipment is an essential component of production. However, there are problems, such as high labor intensity, low levels of automation, and poor versatility of existing solutions, that can affect the efficiency of cultivation plate transport processes. To address these issues, this study designed a cultivation plate transport system that can automatically input and output cultivation plates, and can flexibly adjust its structure to accommodate different cultivation frame heights. We elucidated the working principles of the transport system and carried out structural design and parameter calculation for the lift cart, input actuator, and output actuator. In the input process, we used dynamic simulation technology to obtain an optimum propulsion speed of 0.3 m·s−1. In the output process, we used finite element numerical simulation technology to verify that the deformation of the cultivation plate and the maximum stress suffered by it could meet the operational requirements. Finally, operation and performance experiments showed that, under the condition of satisfying the allowable amount of positioning error in the horizontal and vertical directions, the horizontal operation speed was 0.2 m·s−1, the maximum positioning error was 2.87 mm, the vertical operation speed was 0.3 m·s−1, and the maximum positioning error was 1.34 mm. Accordingly, the success rate of the transport system was 92.5–96.0%, and the operational efficiency was 176–317 plates/h. These results proved that the transport system could meet the operational requirements and provide feasible solutions for the automation of plant factory transport equipment.
... Social and consumer approval of new approaches in CEA are critical during market introduction to prevent early failure (Specht et al. 2019) and continues to serve an important role throughout its operation (Cifuentes-Torres et al. 2021). A driving factor for social acceptance of PFAL is the perception of sustainability (Jurkenbeck et al. 2019). However, consumers' perception of "sustainable agriculture" is called into question throughout the literature. ...
... Many consumers are unaware of CEA and the various techniques umbrellaed under the term (Specht et al. 2019;Broad et al. 2021). In a 2019 interview with 482 German consumers, only 13% of respondents had heard of PFALs (Jurkenbeck et al. 2019), and in another survey of 729 Chinese consumers, 46.6% believed they knew nothing about the technology (Wang et al. 2023). This lack of knowledge, the "artificial" and other negative perceptions could be mitigated by consumer education, transparency, and marketing (Benis and Ferrao 2018;Petrovics and Giezen 2021). ...
When compared to traditional field production, controlled environment agriculture (CEA) such as greenhouses and indoor vertical farms (VF) have sustainability benefits such as reduced land use, less product transportation to consumers, improved resource and land-use efficiencies, food safety, and local food availability. Despite its potential as an environmentally beneficial complement to conventional farming, CEA has numerous issues that limits its adoption and viability as a sustainable option. This review summarizes the literature on key areas of sustainability in CEA, such as (1) sustainability challenges, (2) technologies identified to address sustainability in CEA, (3) quantification and reporting of sustainability in CEA, and (4) gaps and opportunities in addressing CEA sustainability. To filter the available literature from the databases including Web of Science, this scoping review employed a combination of the keywords “sustainability,” “controlled environment agriculture,” “urban farm,” “vertical farm,” and “indoor farm.” According to the review, main obstacles in CEA were high electricity use, geographical location-related tradeoffs, and an unfavorable public perception of CEA in comparison to field production. These issues are now being addressed by optimized lighting and sensor technology, models, decision support tools to reduce electricity use, and marketing tactics to educate people about the benefits of CEA. This scoping review offers two critical areas to focus sustainability improvement efforts: lowering electrical demand and using circular techniques for organic waste and wastewater reuse in CEA to increase water, nutrient, and energy use efficiency and recovery. In addition, it discusses the techniques and approaches to sustainability assessment in CEA, particularly within the research and application contexts. This scoping review, thus, outlines strategies for enhancing sustainability in CEA, highlighting the importance of integrating circular economy principles and advanced technologies to optimize resource use, and advocates for ongoing research and education to shift public perceptions toward the sustainable potential of CEA.
Graphical abstract
... Additionally, researchers have conducted various studies regarding crucial factors of VF, such as artificial lighting sources [6][7][8], environmental control [9,10], energy efficiency [11,12], nutrient solutions [13], and planting modes [14]. However, the overreliance on supplemental lighting in VF, accounting for 40% to 80% of the total electricity consumption [15][16][17], poses a substantial barrier to widespread implementation and commercial usage in skyscraper farms and plant factories [18,19]. ...
Vertical farming (VF) is an emerging cultivation frame that maximizes total plant production. However, the high energy-consuming artificial light sources for plants growing in the lower and middle layers significantly affect the sustainability of the current VF systems. To address the challenges of supplementary lighting energy consumption, this study explored and optimized the structural design of cultivation frames in VF using parametric modeling, a light simulation platform, and a genetic algorithm. The optimal structure was stereoscopic, including four groups of cultivation trough units in the lower layer, two groups in the middle layer, and one group in the upper layer, with a layer height of 685 mm and a spacing of 350 mm between the cultivation trough units. A field experiment demonstrated lettuce in the middle and lower layers yielded 82.9% to 92.6% in the upper layer. The proposed natural light stereoscopic cultivation frame (NLSCF) for VF was demonstrated to be feasible through simulations and on-site lettuce cultivation experiments without supplementary lighting. These findings confirmed that the NLSCF could effectively reduce the energy consumption of supplemental lighting with the ensure of lettuce’s regular growth. Moreover, the designing processes of the cultivation frame may elucidate further research on the enhancement of the sustainability and efficiency of VF systems.
... The working principle of vertical farming is based on the concept of efficient use of space, where plants are grown in different layers or levels on top of each other. This farming can be done hydroponically, in aeroponics, or using planting media such as soil, cocose, or other fibers (Jürkenbeck et al., 2019). Some of the working principles of vertical farming include: a. Plant Selection. ...
Vertical farming is becoming the focus of attention as an innovative solution to the challenge of global food security. Urbanization and rapid population growth give rise to the need for efficient agricultural approaches to land use. This research aims to investigate the potential and impact of vertical farming on global food security through a descriptive qualitative approach. The data used in the research comes from various relevant previous research and studies. This research method involves the process of collecting data from scientific literature and previous studies, which are then processed by researchers to produce relevant findings. Through descriptive qualitative analysis, this research highlights the contribution of land use efficiency, adaptation to urban environments, and integration of advanced technologies in the context of vertical farming. The results of this research then found that vertical farming is not only an alternative but also a significant step forward in the transformation of the global agricultural sector. Supportive agricultural regulations and policies, as well as adapting technology to the local environment, are critical challenges in implementing vertical farming. However, opportunities for developing innovations in vertical farming system design and active stakeholder involvement provide a strong foundation for the growth of this industry. This research highlights that vertical farming has great potential to have a positive impact on global food security, by understanding and overcoming existing challenges.
... Sustainable vertical farming, as a strategic response to these environmental perils, emerges as a pivotal solution. Its potential to drastically reduce land use, water consumption, and carbon footprint positions it as a sustainable alternative, harmonizing food production with environmental preservation [13][14][15]. In this pivotal juncture, where the stakes for global sustenance and environmental stewardship are higher than ever, the integration of advanced technologies becomes imperative. ...
As global challenges of population growth, climate change, and resource scarcity intensify, the agricultural landscape is at a critical juncture. Sustainable vertical farming emerges as a transformative solution to address these challenges by maximizing crop yields in controlled environments. This paradigm shift necessitates the integration of cutting-edge technologies, with Artificial Intelligence (AI) at the forefront. The paper provides a comprehensive exploration of the role of AI in sustainable vertical farming, investigating its potential, challenges, and opportunities. The review synthesizes the current state of AI applications, encompassing machine learning, computer vision, the Internet of Things (IoT), and robotics, in optimizing resource usage, automating tasks, and enhancing decision-making. It identifies gaps in research, emphasizing the need for optimized AI models, interdisciplinary collaboration, and the development of explainable AI in agriculture. The implications extend beyond efficiency gains, considering economic viability, reduced environmental impact, and increased food security. The paper concludes by offering insights for stakeholders and suggesting avenues for future research, aiming to guide the integration of AI technologies in sustainable vertical farming for a resilient and sustainable future in agriculture.
... The final total sample size was 258 respondents. The survey design was obtained following some previous works [10][11][12]. The survey began with a question about previous knowledge of vertical farming. ...
... The results of this study are in line with previous studies found in the literature [10][11][12][13], showing that Italian consumers have similar preferences and concerns related to these technologies. Although a significant portion of the sample was interested in purchasing vertically grown products (60% of the total sample), there was still a considerable percentage of people who have shown no interest or were uncertain. ...
... In addition, consumer needs in the future may lean more toward quality [30], [34]. This means that a suitable distribution mechanism is needed so that products can reach consumers of good quality [31], [47]. Figure 6 indicates that the price decreases when the market increases. ...
... These changes indicate dynamics that may occur in hydroponic cultivation due to consumer dynamics. Their preferences are determined more by product quality and benefits [31], [33], [47]. Consumers are willing to pay higher prices for quality products [34]. ...
