Multiple Choice, Multiple Answers (Reading) — practice #rmcma-010

Vertical farming grows crops indoors on stacked layers, using controlled light, temperature and nutrients rather than open fields. Its advocates highlight several advantages. Because conditions are tightly managed, harvests are unaffected by weather and can run all year, and crops can be raised close to cities, cutting the distance food must travel. The systems typically use a small fraction of the water of conventional agriculture, recirculating it rather than losing it to the soil. Yet the approach faces real obstacles. The artificial lighting is expensive and energy-hungry, which keeps running costs high and can offset some of the environmental gains unless the electricity is clean. So far the method suits leafy greens and herbs far better than staple crops such as wheat or rice, which remain impractical to grow this way at scale.