Teaching, Learning and Technology Specialist
College of Agricultural and Life Sciences | Department of Horticulture
Hometown: Madison, WI
Johanna Oosterwyk is the manager of the DC Smith Instructional Greenhouse at UW Madison. She teaches classes in greenhouse management and plant care for the UW Department of Horticulture.
Talks:
Vertical Farming
Vertical farms are artificial, indoor environments where layers of electrically lighted crops that would otherwise spread out over acres of farmland can be stacked on top of each other.
The promise of vertical farming — grow crops anytime, anywhere — is fantastic. Promoters speak of a world where wheat cultivated in a repurposed warehouse is milled for flour and baked into cupcakes, all on the same city block. The benefits of vertical farming are real, but so are the costs. Like other innovative technologies, vertical farming is a tool, but is it always the best one for the job?