(Vegetable) pie in the sky

A piece in the latest issue of New York magazine draws attention to the ‘vertical farm‘ concept developed by Dr Dickson D. Despommier (yes, he is a real person).

“Imagine a cluster of 30-story towers…producing fruit, vegetables, and grains while also generating clean energy and purifying wastewater. Roughly 150 such buildings, Despommier estimates, could feed the entire city of New York for a year. Using current green building systems, a vertical farm could be self-sustaining and even produce a net output of clean water and energy.”

Despommier believes skyscraper farms could mitigate global warming, by allowing land to be reforested, and help cater to the world’s booming population.

So that’s good, right? Hmm, it just seems wrong somehow. I can’t imagine Sting singing, “See the west wind move like a lover so/On the 17th floor of barley”.