Education and Training in Vertical Farming

Education and Training in Vertical Farming

The population is projected to increase to a whopping 11 billion by the end of the century. Like the population increase brought about by the agricultural revolution, this growth will need a lot of food to fuel it. Another pressing issue – Global warming is accelerating the need for plant-based foods. Many brands and large restaurant chains are embracing this change and are even using it as a marketing opportunity. The AllFactory is a training facility for aquaponics, hydroponics, aeroponics, and Industry 4.0-related education and training. This learning factory allows professionals to train on different Industry 4.0 technologies such as automation, digital twins, connectivity, robotics, and new management approaches to the aquaponics concept for a manual, labor-intensive industry. The proposed technologies support the training and education of personnel to develop low-cost (conventional) and highly productive (novel, Aquaponics4.0) systems. We use a system-based approach, experiential learning, lean 4.0, problem-based learning, blended learning, and bloom’s taxonomy approaches for teaching to enhance learning.