The assessment of a smart system in hydroponic vertical farming via fuzzy MCDM methods

Abstract

By 2050, the global population is estimated to rise to over 9 billion people, and the global food need is expected to ascend 50%. Moreover, by cause of climate change, agricultural production may decrease by 10%. Since cultivable land is constant, multi-layered farms are feasible alternatives to yield extra food from the unit land. Smart systems are logical options to assist production in these factory-like farms. When the amount of food grown per season is assessed, a single indoor hectare of a vertical farm could deliver yield equal to more than 30 hectares of land consuming 70% less water with nearly zero usage of pesticides. In this study, we evaluated technology selection for three vertical farm alternatives via MCDM methods. Even though commercial vertical farms are set up in several countries, area is still fresh and acquiring precise data is difficult. Therefore, we employed fuzzy logic as much as possible to overcome related uncertainties. WEDBA (Weighted Euclidean Distance Based Approximation) and MACBETH (Measuring Attractiveness by a Categorical Based Evaluation Technique) methods are employed to evaluate alternatives.