The Vertical Farm

"A book you will read, and then you will read it again. It is a book that could begin a revolution. Let's hope it does . . . The Vertical Farm is easily accessible to subject novice and expert alike . . . Not at all a how-to book for small-scale change, the plan described will influence the future of more than just farming. Despommier invites the reader to realize a bigger future of sustainability, even better than we can imagine . . . If you are anyone who is looking for a more hopeful future, you need to read this book."—Chicago Examiner

"Despommier has quickly become the central figure in what could be a worldwide revolution."—Scientific American

"Nobody has ever dreamed as big as Dr. Dickson Despommier."—New York Magazine

"Persuasive . . . Given Dr. Despommier's scientific background we might expect this book to be a dry recitation of facts and figures, but nothing could be further from the case. Despommier writes passionately and argues, at times, even stridently."—The New York Journal of Books

"Despommier looked well outside the box when he began investigating ways to improve the growing and distribution of food crops. The result is a revolutionary theory that could allow the growth of food crops 24 hours a day, 365 days a year; protect crops from weather; reuse water; provide jobs for local people; eliminate the need for pesticides, fertilizers; and herbicides; reduce dependence on fossil fuels; prevent crop loss due to shipping and storage; and do away with agricultural runoff. The answer is the vertical farm."—The Globe and Mail (Toronto)

"Despommier's . . . ingenious idea . . . could ultimately ease the world's food, water, and energy crises."—The Huffington Post

"Dickson Despommier is a futurist, an architect, and an intellectual in the same vein as Leonardo da Vinci, I. M. Pei, and Buckminster Fuller. Vertical farms will be remembered as one of the preeminent breakthroughs of the early 21st century, and Despommier will be remembered as the man who brought them to us."—Josh Tickell, director of Fields of Fuel, winner of a Sundance Film Festival Audience Award for Best Documentary

"This book makes the case that urban agriculture can go vertical as well as horizontal, putting all those expanses of pretty glass to some actual use!"—Bill McKibben, author of Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet

"Cities of the future must generate their own food supply. Dickson Despommier's elegant, simple answer for achieving this goal is vertical farming. Welcome to the third green revolution."—Peter Diamandis, Chairman of the X Prize Foundation and Co-Founder of the Singularity University

"A captivating argument that will intrigue general readers and give policymakers and investors much to ponder."—Kirkus Reviews

"A visionary known the world over, Despommier believes that the ‘vertical farm is the keystone enterprise for establishing an urban-based ecosystem' and for ‘restoring balance between our lives and the rest of nature."—Booklist (starred review)