Vertical Farming

Sounds crazy, but works. Vertical Farming means the cultivation of plants in vertical stacking systems, for instance on roofs or other urban areas. This will not pay off for staple foods, of course, but is interesting for products with a high cash value, such as vegetables, salats, herbs, or medicinal plants.

In cooperation with Vertical Farm Tech in Waldbronn we extend the move into the vertical - the plants are exposed to a gravity stimulus. Base for this excentric idea are results from our research on gravity responses that date back almost two decades, but were only now "rediscovered" by the public. Gravity stimuli will activate microtubules, part of the so-called cytoskeleton, which culminates in the release of the hormone jasmonic acid. Jasmonic acid is a crucial regulator for secondary metabolism, responsible for most of the value-giving compounds of plants. After first studies with a prototype of the Vertical Farm chamber turned out promising, using Peppermint as pilot, we were now successful in acquiring a grant from the BIPL BW Invest Programme of the State of Baden-Württemberg. Goal is to use this technology for the cultivation of rare medicinal plants such as Arnica, such that these plants need no longer be collected in the wild. Together with Biopro BW and the Initiative Phytopharmaka BW we currently work on develop this technology for application in bioeconomy.  more...