The Scottish government’s forestry agency is aiming to grow and nurture millions of saplings indoors before transferring them to the wild. It’s not alone in its ambition to re-green its land; countries, companies, and non-profits around the world have been pledging to plant millions or even billions of trees as a way to combat climate change. Ethiopia set a record when it planted an estimated 350 million trees in one day in 2019.
When it comes to planting trees, though, simply scattering millions of seeds isn’t going to do the trick, as there are all sorts of factors that can prevent a seed from germinating and growing into a full-fledged tree. Hence the strategy Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) wants to use: plant saplings, not seeds, and crank those saplings out faster than nature could. In the wild, it would take about 18 months to grow a tree seedling 40 to 50 millimeters, while in a vertical farm it can take as little as 90 days.
Not just any vertical farm, though. The technology for the FLS initiative is coming from an Edinburgh-based company called Intelligent Growth Solutions (IGS), which makes modular, scalable vertical farming systems it calls Growth Towers. FLS has grown several batches of vertically-farmed saplings as a proof of concept, which are now maturing in open-air nurseries before being transferred to their permanent home in the Scottish Highlands.
In 2019 the United Kingdom (UK) government pledged to plant 30,000 hectares (115.8 square miles) of new forests by the end of 2024, but they’re looking unlikely to meet that target. Nevertheless, after thousands of years of decimating forests, it’s now possible for us to become the first generation of humans that expands them. However, it’s going to take some serious strategizing, dedication, and technology; and it seems vertical farming could be a valuable ingredient in the recipe for global re-forestation.
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