I have just come across an inspiring post on Facebook, Vertical farms: A rising form of agriculture. This is a link to a brief article on vertical farming. Imagine a future in which the vegetables that are now shipped from thousands of miles away are, instead, locally grown, without pesticides, on plots of land so small that the whole “farm” can be located even in the middle of a city. Instead of going to a supermarket where you buy tomatoes that have been grown a thousand miles away, maybe even in a different country, you go to a market that sells tomatoes that were grown only a few miles away, organically and with much less need for water or even for soil than traditionally-grown crops. The growing season will not depend on what the weather is like outside, nor on the quality of the soil, nor on the need for large quantities of water. Large amounts of food can be grown in areas that, at present do not support such growth. But, wait; did I say you would have to “imagine a future?” I didn’t mean that quite so literally. It is not something we can only imagine for the future. The technology is already in existence. It is already being done, just not on as large a scale as I am hopeful will soon be the case–the sooner, the better!!