Should farming go indoors?

Photo / Thinkstock

Over the last few years, perhaps our biggest environmental issue has been the health of our waterways.

Whilst there are a number of factors that influence this, the increase of intensive land use is one of the key reasons. We continue to strive for higher production in farming to raise more profit per square metre of land.

Our dairy industry - which grew from 2007 - 2012 by 1.1 million cows up to a herd of 6.4 million - continues to plan for future growth by utilising barns.

This has been touted as a departure from the 'clean, green' image of grass-fed cows that New Zealand has to date enjoyed as a competitive advantage, while proponents of the systems say that it would dramatically reduce environmental issues by controlling effluent and reducing fertiliser.

A Dutch industry leader claims that by utilising a combination of the New Zealand and Dutch systems, we could theoretically double production which would allow us to retire more marginal land, reduce the impact of production on waterways by effectively keeping cows inside rather than defecating near the water and deliver obvious economic benefits.

The first big attempt at indoor animal production in New Zealand was criticised as 'factory farming' and plans were scrapped five years ago to install a 18,000 cow cubicle farm in the Mckenzie Country. The operation was to produce and discharge the equivalent effluent of a city of 250,000 people.

This setback has not stopped the rise in barn-style farming, despite reported issues of mastitis, lameness and injuries to stock. Farmers argue that a mix of grass-feeding and cubicles during winter are more humane for the animals, particularly in places like Southland, where I can easily imagine that an animal would rather be inside in August.

Perhaps there is a way to make a shed which is nice for the animals, with room to move around whilst still productive?

Alongside the issue of cubicle-style farming is how to feed the cows and on a bigger scale, how to feed the people. I would certainly be dismayed to see here the kind of genetically-modified soya bean production that occurs through Monsanto in the United States, which causes a whole raft of issues as I have written about before.

But it could be that the production of crops will have a huge positive impact on the environment and our economy as the cubicle farming claims, but with no potential for issues about animal welfare.

US firm Aerofarms are launching the worlds largest vertical farm this year to produce vegetables and it will be 75% more productive than an outdoor version.

This innovative system uses 95% less water than normal crop production and no pesticides, which have a big impact on water quality and biodiversity health. It is also a wonderful solution for reducing the impact of transporting food long distances from producers to cities. LED lights also allow for production out of season, allowing people to consume what they want all year round.

So perhaps technology that includes vertical crop growing and robotic cow milking will become the norm.

How do you feel about indoor farming? Will it be the solution?