THESIS TITLE:

VERTICAL FARMING COMPLEX – AN EVOLVED FARMING PROTOTYPE

VERTICAL AGRICULTURE COMPLEX

FARMSCRAPER

REBRANDING AGRICULTURE

ModernEducate, Cultivate

AGRITOURISM / ENGAGING YOUTH

VERDE: A Proposed Green Complex for

Agricultural Biotechnology

BEYOND FARM-ADIGM: A Proposed Vertical Complex for Modern Agriculture

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

1.1. Background and Nature of the Project

1.1.1. An Overview of Today’s Agriculture

Agriculture has become an important sector in the economy of the Philippines. It

provides food and essential raw materials consumed by people and therefore, exchanged in the

market, which makes the economy moving. The country's agricultural products are indeed world

class that these are not only bought by the locals but are also exchanged abroad. The agriculture

and fisheries provide livelihood for Filipinos especially those that are far from urbanization like

in the provinces. These fishermen and farmers are the ones' behind the rich agriculture of the

country.

Agriculture remains of crucial importance in the economy of the Philippines, although

its relative contribution to gross domestic product (GDP) has been declining over years. From

1998 to 2009, the sector accounted for 13 to 14% of the total GDP. This steadily declined to 10%

by 2017 (Table 1). However, gross value added (GVA) to agriculture in constant prices has been

growing during the same period (Table 2), which means agriculture is not shrinking in absolute

size. The declining contribution of agriculture to the total GDP is due to structural transformation

as industry and services grew relatively much faster (Fig.1) thereby accounting for increasing

contribution to the growing economy.

Table 1. Agricultural GDP in relation to total GDP

Source: DOST-PCARRD (http://bch.dost.gov.ph) as cited in Ebora et al. (2018)

Table 2. Gross National Income and Gross Domestic Product by Industrial Origin (constant

prices), 1998-2017

(PSA, 2018)

With all these being said, the Philippine Development Plan for 2017-2022 was

developed. It seeks to: expand economic opportunities for those who are engaged in agriculture;

increase access to economic opportunities for small farmers. Based on the legislative agenda, the

development plan supports the following strategies to: abolish irrigation service fees for small

farmers; comprehensive Forestry Law and delineation of Specific Forest Limits; amend the
revised chapter of the Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation to increase capital stock; amend

Presidential Decree No. 4 series of 1972 to separate the regulatory and propriety functions of the

National Food Authority; amend the Agriculture Tarrification Act of 1996; provide guidelines

for the utilization of coco levy fund; pass the National Land Use Act to protect prime agricultural

lands; and genuine and comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program to distribute for free without

amortization agricultural lands to landless farmers and agricultural workers (NEDA, 2017).

1.1.2. Modernizing Agriculture

Agriculture in the Philippines has always been associated with manual labor and

backward traditional farming methods. For the Department of Agriculture (DA), the stigma of

farming being a poor man’s job doesn’t make it easier to fulfill its mandate of reaching food

security or attracting more people to join the sector. However, progress is already creeping into

the sector slowly but surely.

In the past few years, both the government and the private sector made efforts to address

self-sufficiency in important food staples through the introduction of hybrid seeds, innovative

farming techniques and technology to the agriculture sector.

Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol in May unveiled the department’s key

strategies that was “designed in such a way that they will not be just answering the needs of the

people in six years but beyond 10 years, 20 years and even 50 years.”

One of these was a revolutionary guide map (www.farmersguidemap.gov.ph) which

plots which crops are best grown for each area in the Philippines and where there are shallow
water tables. It also indicates fertilizers needed to make up for the nutrients lacking in the area’s

soil and the poverty incidence of the community selected.

“We cannot use carabaos anymore. We cannot use primitive farming methods forever,”

Mr. Piñol said in preamble to the use of solar-powered irrigation system, which costs less from

the traditional irrigation systems.

“Today, NIA (National Irrigation Administration) computes that for every hectare of

irrigated farm, the government must spend P450,000. With the solar-powered irrigation system,

we are only able to spend P150,000 per hectare and we are able to construct the solar-powered

irrigation system in just a matter of 60 days.”

With the first solar-powered irrigation already set in place, the DA is eyeing to set up 170

units nationwide.

In terms of smaller scale technology, the DA also began the use of drones, which were

intended to be used in vegetable farms to spray fertilizers and pesticides on a strawberry farm in

Benguet last April.

This is amid farmworkers opting out because of other job prospects such as

construction work. Mr. Piñol also said that the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program, more

commonly known as “4Ps,” has made farmworkers “lazy.”

For farmers who stayed, however, the long-awaited use of drones and solar-powered

irrigation systems to make their work easier are welcomed with open arms. The real challenge,
however, is how to make these farmers pick up a smartphone and analyze the data to increase

their farm yield.

[TECHNOLOGY]

Agriculture is the back bone of our economy. It is important not only from economic

point of view but has deep rooted influence on our social, political and cultural life. In the words

of Jawahar Lal Nehru, “Agriculture needed top most priority because the Govt. and the nation

would both fail to succeed if agriculture could not be successful”.

1.2. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

1.2.1 State of Philippine Agriculture

The government has recognized the declining contribution of the agricultural sector in

the country’s GDP and this drop in its performance is attributed to its vulnerability towards

extreme weather events (drought and typhoons), infestations (coconut scale insects), and poor

adoption of high-yielding varieties at the end of the farmers. The restricted crop production

diversification of farms particularly concentrating on rice, corn, and sugarcane impedes the

optimization of the land potential. Other longstanding issues such as the limited access to credit

and insurance, low farm mechanization and inadequate postharvest facilities, inadequate

irrigation, limited support R & D, weak extension service, ageing farmers, agrarian reform,

limited connection between production area and markets, poor compliance with product

standards, competing land use, and weak institutions have also been recognized. But action

should be taken.
1.2.3. Climate Change

The Philippines has also been identified as one of the many countries that is most at

risk from climate change, with the Global Climate Risk Index 2018 - released by Bonn-based

NGO Germanwatch, ranking the country as the fifth most affected by changing weather patterns

over the past 20 years.

Among the changes in climatic conditions, there has also been frequent occurrence of

El Niño weather cycles, often characterized by lower rainfalls and higher temperatures, which

threatened crop outputs. The last major El Niño event, in 2015 and 2016, reduced harvest yields

by 4.5% and cut returns along the food production and processing chain.

1.2.2. Lack of Young Farmers

“There are 1.4 billion people 10 to 24 years old in the world and 87 percent of the

young people are in developing countries; 700 million are in Asia Pacific and the Philippines has

the third youngest people in the region.” (Chavez, 2018). This age group is expected to double in

number by 2045. Low profitability, poor security of land tenure, and high risks are just some of

the reasons Filipino youth are leaving rural areas to seek jobs in cities, a migration that could see

Philippines with a shortage of farmers in the future. Given that agriculture is one of the country’s

biggest economic sectors, generating broad economic development and providing much of the

population with food, this poses a serious threat to the future of farming and to meeting the

demands of a rapidly growing urban population. Growing youth unemployment, ageing farmers

and declining crop yields under traditional farming systems mean engaging youth in agriculture

should be a priority.
 There is a need to entice a new generation of Filipinos to practice value-added

agriculture to replace the current farmers expected to retire in a decade or so.

Therefore, this architectural proposal outlook as a facility for education, convention

and exhibition pertaining to agricultural advances and technology accompanied with a

commercial center and auxiliary spaces.

1.3. PROJECT GOAL AND OBJECTIVES

1.3.1. Project Goal

The goal of this project is to significantly increase productivity and reduce the

environmental footprint within a framework of urban, indoor, climate-controlled high-rise

building. The following are the objectives to be followed:

1.3.2. Project Objectives

1. To promote participatory design of recreational, educational, and open public spaces

for agriculture through vertical expansion.

2. To create a complex that will rebrand agriculture to increase access to economic

opportunities.

3. To improve and introduce innovations in farming practices depending on the interest

of the Filipinos.
1.4. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PROJECT

Beyond Farm-adigm is a vertical complex for modern agriculture, which emerges in

the poorest areas of the continent. It provides education, training on agricultural techniques,

cheap fertilizers, and modern tools; it also creates a local trading area, which maximizes profits

from harvest sales. Agriculture around the building flourishes and the knowledge spreads

towards the horizon. The structure is growing as long as the number of participants is rising.

When the local community becomes self-sufficient it is transported to other places.

1.4.1. Environmental Significance

The environmental benefits are significant, including providing healthy organic food not

contaminated from chemicals. There is greatly reduced use of fossil fuels by avoiding

transportation from rural zones to the urban customer base. Burning fossil fuels can be

minimized by employing solar panels, roof-top wind tur Economic advantages

1.4.2. Economic Significance

The economic advantages of vertical farming are numerous and include the prestige of

marketing premium food with export-sales potential and a lower cost base due to protection from

floods, droughts, and sun damage. There are essentially no requirements for fertilizers,

herbicides, or pesticides. No soil is needed if hydroponics is used, only nutrients and a water

supply.

There is no requirement for long-distance transportation due to localized production

and no need for farm machinery such as tractors, trucks, or harvesters. There are no seasonality

issues because continuous crop production occurs all-year round and can be programmed to
match demand. An economic benefit may arise from reallocation of large rural farms to energy

production from solar and wind sources.

Vertical farming could provide a competitive edge for Philippines by combining

extensive research and development with farming experience, big data, and modern technology.

This will lead to a reduction in ecosystem-carbon levels.

1.4.3. Social advantages

Vertical farming will provide new jobs in engineering, biochemistry, biotechnology,

construction, maintenance, and research and development opportunities for improving the

technology. Enhanced productivity can lead to lower food and energy costs and improve

discretionary incomes. The oversupply of high-rise apartments and disused warehouses in capital

cities can be reduced by using empty buildings for multi-storey farms close to the consumer,

rejuvenating neglected neighborhoods. The model may help to address isolation in remote rural

communities by re-skilling workers in technology for vertical farms in local towns and cities.

1.5. SCOPE AND LIMITATION

As urban population continues to grow and as arable land is diminishing rapidly across the

globe, a fundamental change in food production is needed [4–7]. In particular, building-based

urban agriculture is increasingly needed in dense urban environments and a review of current
cultivation techniques and projects would likely to contribute positively to academic discussions

[6–10].

This is particularly important since vertical farming engages multiple disciplines of natural

sciences,architecture, and engineering and affects both people and the environment [9–11]. This

paper attempts to answer the following questions:

• What is a vertical farm?

• What are the driving forces for building it?

• What are the involved high-tech farming methods?

• What are the salient project examples on vertical farming?

• What are the implications for the vertical city?