Vertical farms are indoor agricultural facilities in which plants are grown, often in a hydroponic (soilless)
environment, on tall stacks of shelves. Plants are given water, nutrients, and light mostly through automated
processes. Advocates say that vertical farms are key to providing food for the future, yielding high-quality
produce while making efficient use of land and water. Critics warn about the energy consumption associated
with vertical farms’ automated processes as well as problems related to cost and nutritional value.
Carefully read the following six sources, including the introductory information for each source. Write an essay
that synthesizes material from at least three of the sources and develops your position on the value, if any, of
vertical farms to the future of agriculture.
Source A (Severson article)
Source B (Ling and Altland interview)
Source C (table from Kozai and Niu)
Source D (Foley article)
Source E (Benke and Tomkins article)
Source F (graphic from Despommier)
In your response you should do the following:
• Respond to the prompt with a thesis that presents a defensible position.
• Select and use evidence from at least three of the provided sources to support your line of
reasoning. Indicate clearly the sources used through direct quotation, paraphrase, or summary.
Sources may be cited as Source A, Source B, etc., or by using the description in parentheses.
• Explain how the evidence supports your line of reasoning.
• Use appropriate grammar and punctuation in communicating your argument.
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Source A
Severson, Kim. “No Soil. No Growing Seasons. Just Add Water and Technology.” The New
York Times, 6 July 2021, www.nytimes.com/2021/07/06/dining/hydroponic-farming.html.
The following is excerpted from an online article published in a national American newspaper.
[A] high-tech greenhouse so large it could cover 50 football fields glows with the pinks and yellows of 30,600
LED and high-pressure sodium lights.
Inside, without a teaspoon of soil, nearly 3 million pounds of beefsteak tomatoes grow on 45-feet-high vines
whose roots are bathed in nutrient-enhanced rainwater. Other vines hold thousands of small, juicy snacking
tomatoes with enough tang to impress Martha Stewart, 1 who is on the board of AppHarvest, a start-up that
harvested its first crop here in January and plans to open 11 more indoor farms in Appalachia by 2025.
In a much more industrial setting near the Hackensack River in Kearny, N.J., trays filled with sweet baby
butterhead lettuce and sorrel that tastes of lemon and green apple are stacked high in a windowless
warehouse—what is known as a vertical farm. Bowery, the largest vertical-farming company in the United
States, manipulates light, humidity, temperature and other conditions to grow produce, bankrolled by investors
like Justin Timberlake, Natalie Portman, and the chefs José Andrés and Tom Colicchio.
“Once I tasted the arugula, I was sold,” said Mr. Colicchio, who for years rolled his eyes at people who claimed
to grow delicious hydroponic produce. “It was so spicy and so vibrant, it just blew me away.”
The two operations are part of a new generation of hydroponic farms that create precise growing conditions
using technological advances like machine-learning algorithms, data analytics and proprietary software systems
to coax customized flavors and textures from fruits and vegetables. And they can do it almost anywhere.
These farms arrive at a pivotal moment, as swaths of the country wither in the heat and drought of climate
change, abetted in part by certain forms of agriculture. The demand for locally grown food has never been
stronger, and the pandemic has shown many people that the food supply chain isn’t as resilient as they
thought. . . .
“We’ve perfected mother nature indoors through that perfect combination of science and technology married
with farming,” said Daniel Malechuk, the chief executive of Kalera, a company that sells whole lettuces, with
the roots intact, in plastic clamshells for about the same price as other prewashed lettuce. In March, the
company opened a 77,000-square-foot facility south of Atlanta that can produce more than 10 million heads of
lettuce a year. . . .
Although the nutritional profile of hydroponic produce continues to improve, no one yet knows what kind of
long-term health impact fruits and vegetables grown without soil will have. No matter how many nutrients
indoor farmers put into the water, critics insist that indoor farms can never match the taste and nutritional value,
or provide the environmental advantages, that come from the marriage of sun, a healthy soil microbiome and
plant biology found on well-run organic farms.


AP® English Language and Composition 2023 Free-Response Questions
“What will the health outcomes be in two generations?” Mr. Chapman [Dave Chapman, a Vermont farmer and
the executive director of the Real Organic Project] asked. “It’s a huge live experiment, and we are the rats.”
1 businesswoman and television presenter whose work focuses on crafts, recipes, and home goods
From The New York Times. © 2021 The New York Times Company. All rights reserved. Used under license.
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AP® English Language and Composition 2023 Free-Response Questions
Source B
Ling, Kai-Shu, and James Altland. Interview by Georgia Jiang. “Vertical Farming—No Longer
a Futuristic Concept.” Under the Microscope: Zooming in on Agriculture’s Biggest
Challenges, Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture,
27 Jan. 2022, www.ars.usda.gov/oc/utm/vertical-farming-no-longer-a-futuristic-concept.
The following is excerpted from an interview with Kai-Shu Ling, a research plant pathologist, and James Altland,
a research horticulturalist. The interview is one of the “Under the Microscope” series of monthly interviews
published online by the Agricultural Research Service [ARS] of the United States Department of Agriculture
[USDA].
UM [Under the Microscope Interviewer]—What are the advantages of vertical farming?
KL [Kai-Shu Ling]: Vertical farming offers many benefits that traditional farming cannot. For example, while
the crops produced by traditional farming are limited by geographic region and seasonal changes, vertical
farming allows growers to grow regional or seasonal crops indoors year-round. They can grow crops anywhere
a greenhouse or controlled environment can be established. As a result, consumers (especially those in urban
areas typically far from traditional farmlands) can also have easier access to fresher produce.
We’re currently repurposing ship containers to become vertical farming research units. Although vertical
farming’s high costs can often be discouraging, shipping containers and abandoned warehouses are readily
available and relatively inexpensive. Converting them into vertical farming environments not only breathes life
back into discarded infrastructure but also puts fresh produce in parking lots and urban centers.
JA [James Altland]: Vertical farming also uses much less land. For some crops, 10 to 20 times the yield can be
obtained per acre in vertical farming compared to open-field crops. Other advantages are that vertical farms are
in enclosed structures, so not subject to extreme or inclement weather. Vertical farms are being built in deserts,
high-population urban areas, and other places that traditional open-field farming is not practical.
UM—What are the limitations to this type of farming? What is ARS doing to overcome these challenges?
JA: The major disadvantage is that you give up access to the Sun, which is [the] most abundant (and free)
source of energy on Earth. Growing plants vertically in stacked systems often requires artificial light sources,
which can become costly. Vertical farming also requires humidity control through expensive and
energy-intensive heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. . . .
UM—What crops are best grown through vertical farming? Which crops are better suited for traditional
farming?
JA: Currently, lettuce and other leafy greens are the most popular crops for vertical farming. While research is
underway to grow all types of crops in vertical farms, the most successful ones today would be those that can
be grown hydroponically, have relatively short compact growth forms, and can be harvested in their entirety.
For example, lettuce can be harvested in its whole form, as opposed to corn where only the cob is harvested for
sale and the rest must be disposed of some other way.
KL: We’re currently investigating the vertical farming potential of small fruits (e.g., strawberries) and fruiting
vegetables (e.g., tomato, pepper). . . . Cereal and row crops (e.g., corn, rice, wheat and soybeans) are still better
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AP® English Language and Composition 2023 Free-Response Questions
suited for traditional farming. . . .
UM—I understand that vertical farming has launched into space. What are you hoping to accomplish with this
effort?
JA: NASA is keenly interested in CEA [controlled environment agriculture] for its use on long-term manned
space missions.
KL: Agreed. NASA is a pioneer in research on crop production under controlled environment. NASA continues
to improve the technologies for growing vegetables and fruits in space for future Moon and Mars explorations.
USDA has a long history of collaboration with NASA on controlled environment agriculture research.
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AP® English Language and Composition 2023 Free-Response Questions
Source C
Kozai, Toyoki, and Genhua Niu. “Role of the Plant Factory with Artificial Lighting (PFAL) in
Urban Areas.” Plant Factory: An Indoor Vertical Farming System for Efficient Quality
Food Production, edited by Toyoki Kozai et al., Elsevier, 2016, pp. 7–32.
The following is adapted from a table published in a book on vertical farming.
Classification of Four Types of Plant Production Systems by
Their Relative Stability and Controllability, and Other Factors
Stability and
Controllability
Open
Fields
Greenhouse:
Soil Culture
Greenhouse:
Hydroponics
Vertical
Farms
Natural stability
of aerial zone Very low Low Low Low
Artificial controllability
of aerial zone Very low Medium Medium Very high
Natural stability of root
zone High High Low Low
Artificial controllability
of root zone Low Low High High
Vulnerability of yield
and quality High Medium Relatively low Low
Initial investment
per unit land area Low Medium Relatively high Extremely high
Yield Low Medium Relatively high Extremely high
Note: “Aerial zone” refers to weather in the “Open Fields” category; “root zone” refers to soil environment.
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AP® English Language and Composition 2023 Free-Response Questions
Source D
Foley, Jonathan. “No, Vertical Farms Won’t Feed the World.” GlobalEcoGuy, 1 Aug. 2018,
globalecoguy.org/no-vertical-farms-wont-feed-the-world-5313e3e961c0.
The following is excerpted from an article published online by an environmental scientist and sustainability
expert.
[T]here are costs to these [vertical] farms. Huge costs.
First, these systems are really expensive to build. The shipping container systems developed by [container
farming technology company] Freight Farms, for example, cost between $82,000 and $85,000 per
container—an astonishing sum for a box that just grows greens and herbs. Just one container costs as much as
10 entire acres of prime American farmland—which is a far better investment, both in terms of food production
and future economic value. Just remember: farmland has the benefit of generally appreciating in value over
time, whereas a big metal box is likely to only decrease in value.
Second, food produced this way is very expensive. For example, the Wall Street Journal reports that
mini-lettuces grown by Green Line Growers cost more than twice as much as organic lettuce available in most
stores. And this is typical for other indoor growers around the country: it’s very, very expensive, even compared
to organic food. Instead of making food more available, especially to poorer families on limited budgets, these
indoor crops are only available to the affluent. It might be fine for gourmet lettuce, or fancy greens for
expensive restaurants, but regular folks may find it out of reach.
Finally, indoor farms use a lot of energy and materials to operate. The container farms from Freight Farms, for
example, use about 80 kilowatt-hours of electricity a day to power the lights and pumps. That’s nearly 2–3
times as much electricity as a typical (and still very inefficient) American home, or about 8 times the electricity
used by an average San Francisco apartment. And on the average American electrical grid, this translates to
emitting 44,000 pounds of CO2 per container per year, from electricity alone, not counting any additional
heating costs. This is vastly more than the emissions it would take to ship the food from someplace else.
And none of it is necessary.
But, Wait, Can’t Indoor Farms Use Renewable Energy?
Proponents of indoor techno-farms often say that they can offset the enormous sums of electricity they use, by
powering them with renewable energy—especially solar panels—to make the whole thing carbon neutral.
But just stop and think about this for a second.
These indoor “farms” would use solar panels to harvest naturally occurring sunlight, and convert it into
electricity, so that they can power . . . artificial sunlight? In other words, they’re trying to use the sun to
replace the sun.
But we don’t need to replace the sun. Of all of the things we should worry about in agriculture, the availability
of free sunlight is not one of them. Any system that seeks to replace the sun to grow food is probably a bad
idea.
Used by permission.
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AP® English Language and Composition 2023 Free-Response Questions
Source E
Benke, Kurt, and Bruce Tomkins. “Future Food-Production Systems: Vertical Farming and
Controlled-Environment Agriculture.” Sustainability: Science, Practice and Policy, vol.
13, no. 1, Nov. 2017, pp. 13-26, www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/
15487733.2017.1394054.
The following is excerpted from a research article in an online interdisciplinary journal that focuses on
sustainability-related topics.
The vertical farming model was proposed with the aim of increasing the amount of agricultural land by
‘building upwards.’ In other words, the effective arable
high-rise building with many levels on the same footprint of land (Despommier 2010; The Economist 2010).
One approach is to employ a single tall glasshouse design with many racks of crops stacked vertically. It is an
extension of the greenhouse hydroponic farming model and addresses problems relating to the use of soils,
such as the requirement for herbicides, pesticides, and fertilizers. . . .
1 area for crops can be increased by constructing a
Clean, green, and gourmet (CGG) food
The possibility of CGG food production is easily the most attractive feature of the vertical farming model. This
aspect is less price sensitive to affluent consumers in high-demand countries such as China. All-year-round
crop production without seasonality, in a climate-controlled environment (including both temperature and
humidity), will produce fresh produce virtually on demand. There would be no weather-related crop failures
due to drought or flooding if hydroponic and aeroponic technologies are employed.
Using recycled water and nutrients in a closed, indoor, climate-controlled environment adds to food security
and can reduce or even completely eliminate the need for pesticides and herbicides. Contamination by
pathogens or heavy metals will no longer be an issue as occurs in rural farming. There is scope for marketing
the product in this respect. Strict hygienic practices must still be observed to minimize the risk of introduction
of pathogens and biological contamination into the growing space. However, in a vertical farming situation, one
can closely monitor the crop for signs of pest or disease both manually and automatically using sensing
technologies. This mode of cultivation is very well suited to adopting new and emerging robotic technologies as
well as remote-sensing procedures. This means that outbreaks are detected early to enable diseased and infested
plants to be identified and disposed of appropriately. Any residual contamination can be cleaned up when the
crop is harvested using strict hygienic practices.
One possible obstacle to vertical farming is that some consumers may regard the products as ‘Frankenfoods,’ as
discovered by managers of a giant underground farm supplying London’s restaurants (Curtis 2016) and another
business that supplies between 8% and 12% of the British output of tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers
(Fletcher 2013). For this reason, some enterprises may not publicize growing conditions for fear of alienating
consumers and destabilizing sales potential. To minimize this issue, it can be stressed that growing conditions
are not different from existing hydroponic facilities with respect to germplasm, 2 nutrition, and other cultural
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AP® English Language and Composition 2023 Free-Response Questions
and production practices. Furthermore, the plants are derived from natural breeding programs with normal
nutrients supplied. There is an advantage that plants are grown in a hygienic environment with reduced need for
pesticides and are in a closed system so there is no environmental pollution from nitrogen leaching or run-off.
1 suitable for growing crops
livi 2 ng plant tissue used to generate other plants
© 2017 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
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__________________________________________________________
AP® English Language and Composition 2023 Free-Response Questions
Source F
Despommier, Dickson D. The Vertical Farm: Feeding the World in the 21st Century. Thomas
Dunne / St. Martin’s, 2010.
The following is adapted from a graphic published in a book about vertical farming.
Note: Arable land is land that is used or suitable for growing crops.