Being self-contained is something the West is incredibly bad at, and has been for (checks calendar) at least half a millennium. Depending on how much you think counts.
Vertical farms are fundamentally less efficient than traditional greenhouses or open fields.
The main limiting factor for crop productivity is sunlight, and vertical farms drastically reduce the sunlight-to-plant ratio. They are only productive if substantial artificial light is provided, but this is very expensive. This is why vertical farms are generally limited to locations where land values are very high (such that it is more economical to artificially light crops than to simply grow on a larger plot of land) and there is substantial government investnebt to growing food locally, even though it is much more expensive than importing food. For example, we see veryical farms in Singapore because it is striving to be more self-sufficient for defense reasons in the event of war.
It is no solution for most countries, particularly countries that have rural regions suited to agriculture.
Let me know when they've figured out bananas, grapes and avocados. If/when the global south is crushed by climate change, we'll be back to eating what our great great grandparents were eating in winter. I hope you like potatoes!
Being self-contained is something the West is incredibly bad at, and has been for (checks calendar) at least half a millennium. Depending on how much you think counts.