[jlg23]

> Until someone can grow cash crops, vertical isn't gonna make a dent [...]

I image that countries with very little agriculturally usable land are watching this closely. Reducing dependency on imported food is probably in every nation's interest.

[duxup]

Are their consumers willing to pay a premium/ subside local vertical farms?

"Reducing dependency on imported" anything seems to be an idea that often isn't a reality when it comes to paying for it.

[inglor_cz]

Countries like Taiwan or Israel probably place higher value on reliability of inland food production than most of the world, so we should see most of the development there.

[duxup]

It will be interesting to see.

But I'm skeptical. Even nations that 'should' care about local production often don't, even in the face of obvious consequences and disadvantages. It seems like more often than not the price / market still leans towards cheaper and other concerns are just concerns that aren't addressed.

[wolfram74]

Making food takes space, light, water* and labor.

The american midwest farming practices have really optimized to minimize the labor cost because space, light and water were in abundance. But if the space cost goes up from higher/re-internalized transport costs, and the cost of light goes down from miscellaneous power production schemes taking hold, the economics for vertical farming changes.

[*] and various nutrients/minerals in the vein of phosphates, nitrates and what have you.