Vertical lettuce crops grow in a test facility

Plants may soon reach higher than ever before if the efforts of Vancouver, British Columbia-based Valcent (OTCBB:VTCPF) come to fruition. The company says it plans to complete construction of its first full-scale commercial High Density Vertical Growing System project at its El Paso,Texas research facility in mid-February. The first crop is due to be harvested in March of this year.

The El Paso test facility will be one-eighth of an acre in size, though the company says it envisions urban farms of the future that could reach skyscraper heights. Valcent says it has an “number of requests” from companies interested in purchasing modules and that it could deliver 100 units in the first 18 months of production.

Valcent says it is aiming to show that so-called vertical farms can have higher yields than traditional, land-based farms. Its technology, deemed “VertiCrop,” will have yields ten to twenty times those of conventional field crops, while using only 5 percent of the water and nutrients.  removes the need for pesticides and herbicides through the use of ultraviolet light, claiming to make the crops more sustainable, less toxic and less expensive to grow. A commercial one-eighth acre VertiCrop module is expected to cost approximately $565,000 to construct.