Dickson Despommier, a microbiologist who proposed the idea of cities growing food in high-rises, popularizing the term “vertical farming,” died on Feb. 7 in Manhattan. He was 84. His wife, Marlene Bloom, confirmed the death, in a hospital. He lived in Fort Lee, N.J. Dr. Despommier was a professor for 38 years at Columbia’s School of Public Health, specializing in parasitic diseases, but he gained far wider influence as a guru of vertical farming. In 2001, he and students in a medical ecology class designed a 30-story building that theoretically could grow food for 50,000 people.
Dr. Despommier argued that vertical farms would use 70 to 90 percent less water than traditional farms, allowing agricultural land to return to a natural state and helping to remediate climate change. He evangelized at TED talks and in a book, “The Vertical Farm: Feeding the World in the 21st Century.”
By the time he published a revised edition of the book in 2011, vertical farms had been built in England, Holland, Japan, and Korea. Tech investors poured money into vertical farming, and operations generally substituted indoor LED lights for sunlight and used watering systems that spritzed plant roots – no soil needed. The farms sprouted in places as varied as downtown Newark and Dubai.
The Guardian estimated that there were more than 2,000 vertical farms in the U.S. in 2022, raising vegetables and fruits in stacked trays or long columns, some several stories high, some tended by robots. That year, Walmart announced that it would harvest salad greens from a vertical farm in Compton, Calif., to be run by a company named Plenty.
However, the industry has stumbled, with high interest rates and energy costs causing many operations to close or declare bankruptcy. High interest rates and energy costs caused many operations to close or declare bankruptcy. He is survived by his wife, Marlene Bloom, his sister, Duane Despommier Kuykendall, his sons, Bruce and Bradley, a stepdaughter, Molly Bloom, a stepson, Michael Goodwin, four grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.
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