Fantastic answer! I whole heatedly agree! It's so frustrating seeing the media making people scramble for every new high tech solution, when we simply need to do what we are doing now, but better and with more care! Current agricultural practices are destroying top soil at a staggering rate, and should be sorted out first before we change tactics!

As to the role of such vertical farms, business will surely go in that direction, as it could potentially produce "food" cheaper, and the PR agencies are doing a great job of making it seem healthy. In reality though it will be the new junk food: the cheapest option for some consumers, but lacking in balanced nutrition and producing a whole new set of associated illnesses.

Plants grown in such sterile conditions will be totally devoid of any natural biological ecosystem, so consumers will lack the naturally ingested bacteria and microbes that we are beginning to realise are so important to us (for our gut biome and immune system). Similarly the plants themselves have no need to produce their own protective chemicals to prevent disease and fend off predators, so they will lack these greatly beneficial antioxidants and chemicals that we know can help prevent disease and cancer in us.

(It's a very small step away from just taking a food pill really as you may as well just consume the nutrient solutions that are used with such farms.)