Sustainability of Vertical Farming in Comparison with Conventional Farming: A Case Study in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan, on Nitrogen and Phosphorus Footprint

Jiarui Liu, Azusa Oita, Kentaro Hayashi and Kazuyo Matsubae
Additional contact information
Jiarui Liu: Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Tohoku University, 468-1 Aoba, Aramaki, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8572, Japan
Azusa Oita: Institute for Agro-Environmental Sciences, National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO), 3-1-3 Kannondai, Tsukuba 305-8604, Japan
Kentaro Hayashi: Institute for Agro-Environmental Sciences, National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO), 3-1-3 Kannondai, Tsukuba 305-8604, Japan
Kazuyo Matsubae: Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Tohoku University, 468-1 Aoba, Aramaki, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8572, Japan

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 2, 1-18

Abstract: The reduced requirement for nutrients in vertical farming (VF) implies that the potential for lower environmental impact is greater in VF than in conventional farming. In this study, the environmental impacts of VF were evaluated based on a case study of VF for vegetables in Miyagi Prefecture in Japan, where VF has been utilized in post-disaster relief operations in the wake of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. The nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) footprints of these VFs were determined and analyzed to quantify the potential reduction in N and P emissions. First, the N and P footprints in conventional farming were calculated. Then, those footprints were compared with three different scenarios with different ratios for food imports, which equate to different levels of food self-sufficiency. The results show a decrease in the N and P footprints with increased prefectural self-sufficiency due to the introduction of VF. In addition to reducing the risks to food supply by reducing the dependence on imports and the environmental impacts of agriculture, further analysis reveals that VF is suitable for use in many scenarios around the world to reliably provide food to local communities. Its low vulnerability to natural disasters makes VF well suited to places most at risk from climate change anomalies.

Keywords: vertical farming; nitrogen footprint; phosphorus footprint; regional development; climate change adaptation policy; food self-sufficiency (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/2/1042/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/2/1042/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:2:p:1042-:d:726913

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().