The vertical farm has been created by Valcent Products as part of their VertiCrop product line. The farm will be growing red chard, mizuna, mixed leaves, and a variety of herbs as well as edible flowers and fodder crops such as wheat grass and barley. Currently the farm imports a wide variety of veggies for their animal feed, so this should provide a local, sustainable alternative for the zoo's residents.

According to the company's materials, the system requires just 5% of the water for field crops, produces 20 times the yield per acre, and can be built almost anywhere.

Valcent Products Inc. (OTCBB: VCTZF) introduces its revolutionary VertiCrop high density vertical growth system, technology that provides a solution to rapidly increasing food costs caused by transportation/fuel costs spiraling upwards with the cost of oil. Together with higher cost comes a reduction in availability and nutritional values in the food we consume.

The VertiCrop system grows plants in a suspended tray system moving on an overhead conveyor system. The system is designed to provide maximum sunlight and precisely correct nutrients to each plant. Ultraviolet light and filter systems exclude the need for herbicides and pesticides. Sophisticated control systems gain optimum growth performance through the correct misting of nutrients, the accurate balancing of PH and the delivery of the correct amount of heat, light and water.