What is Vertical Farming? In a Singapore Context

Vertical farming is growing crops in stacked layers so a small floor area produces far more than it could as a single flat plot. Instead of spreading plants across a field, you build upward, tray above tray, often inside a controlled indoor space.

This guide explains how vertical farming multiplies yield, the energy question that comes with it, and where it fits in a city like Singapore. It's written for students and teachers, and pairs with our guide to hydroponics, the growing method most vertical farms rely on.

What Is Vertical Farming?

Vertical farming describes the layout, not the growing method. Crops are arranged on stacked shelves or tall rotating towers rather than across open ground. The plants themselves are usually grown hydroponically, with their roots fed by nutrient water rather than soil, which keeps each layer light enough to stack. If you want the detail on that part, our hydroponics guide covers it.

Most vertical farms run indoors, where growers control the light, temperature and humidity. That lets them harvest all year and skip pesticides, since pests are kept out in the first place.

How Vertical Farming Multiplies Yield

The gains come from two things working together. First, controlled growing already lifts output sharply: a peer-reviewed study of lettuce in Arizona found hydroponic production yielded about 11 times more per unit of land than conventional field farming (Barbosa et al., 2015). Then vertical stacking multiplies that further, because every extra layer adds growing area without adding floor space.

Singapore's Sky Greens shows the effect in practice. Its greens grow on aluminium A-frame towers nearly 9 metres tall, and the company reports producing around five times more per unit of ground than a conventional farm.

The Energy Question

Stacking crops indoors moves the main cost from land to electricity. Recent research puts the energy needed to grow lettuce in a vertical farm at roughly 10 to 18 kilowatt-hours per kilogram, with the lighting system alone responsible for about 78% of it. For comparison, the Arizona study measured conventional field lettuce at well under one kilowatt-hour per kilogram. That gap is the honest trade-off of vertical farming: it saves land and water but leans hard on power.

Two things soften it. Efficiency is improving quickly, with researchers pointing to a realistic benchmark of around 3 to 7 kilowatt-hours per kilogram as lighting and controls get better. And clever engineering helps: Sky Greens rotates its towers with a water-driven hydraulic system the company says uses about as much electricity as a single light bulb per tower, rather than powering banks of lamps.

Where Vertical Farming Fits in Singapore

With very little farmland available, growing upward is one of the few ways Singapore can add local supply. Vertical farms turn warehouses, rooftops and spare industrial space into productive ground. How much this contributes to the country's food supply, and the national targets behind it, is covered in our guide to food security in Singapore.

A Good Topic for the Classroom

Vertical farming is a clean example of a real engineering trade-off. Students can weigh the land and water saved against the electricity spent, ask where that power comes from, and work out when the method makes sense and when a sunny field is simply better. It links biology, physics and geography in one question rather than treating them separately.

At GreenLoopFarms, school groups see stacked growing systems running indoors and can trace exactly where the inputs go.

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Frequently Asked Questions About Vertical Farming

What is vertical farming in simple terms?

Growing crops in stacked layers instead of spread across a field, usually indoors, so a small floor area produces much more food.

How much more can a vertical farm produce?

It varies by crop and system. A 2015 study found hydroponic lettuce yielded about 11 times more per unit of land than field-grown lettuce, and stacking that production in layers raises output further. Sky Greens in Singapore reports around five times the yield of a conventional farm.

Is vertical farming bad for the environment?

It has a clear downside and clear upsides. Indoor vertical farms use much more electricity than fields, mainly for lighting, so their footprint depends on how clean that power is. Against that, they use far less land and water and avoid pesticides. Cleaner energy and more efficient lighting are steadily narrowing the gap.

What is the difference between vertical farming and hydroponics?

Vertical farming is about the layout, stacking crops in layers. Hydroponics is about the growing method, feeding roots with nutrient water instead of soil. Most vertical farms use hydroponics, but they aren't the same thing.

Why does Singapore use vertical farming?

Because farmland is scarce. Vertical farms let Singapore grow food in warehouses, on rooftops and in other tight spaces, adding local supply without needing open land the country doesn't have.

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See Vertical Growing for Yourself

The trade-offs are easier to grasp standing next to a stack of growing crops. Visit a working indoor farm in Singapore, or take home greens grown this way.

Book a Farm Tour Shop Fresh Produce

 

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Sources & Data Citations

• Hydroponic lettuce yielded about 11 times more per unit of land, but used about 82 times more energy, than conventional field lettuce. (Barbosa et al., International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2015)
• Lettuce grown in vertical farms uses roughly 10 to 18 kWh per kg, with lighting accounting for about 78% of electricity use; efficiency gains could bring this to around 3 to 7 kWh per kg. (Benchmarking energy efficiency in vertical farming, 2024)
• Sky Greens grows on 9-metre A-frame towers, rotated by a low-power hydraulic system, and reports around five times the yield of conventional farming. (Sky Greens; SINGAPORE Magazine)