Smart vertical farming
By David Crookes. Posted

Farmers always need lots of land, right? Well, not necessarily. There is a practice called vertical farming which involves cultivating crops in stacked, tower-like layers. When using this method, the environment is carefully monitored and controlled, lending factory-style precision to the process of growing plants. It has the potential to revolutionise food production, but it’s also quite expensive.
Recognising the costs involved, Raspberry Pi enthusiast Tanay has produced his own version. In creating a smart vertical farming system powered by a Raspberry Pi 4 computer, he’s enabling plants to be monitored and precisely watered with minimal human intervention while taking into account numerous environmental factors to optimise their growth.
Advertisement
The desktop computer you've been waiting for: Raspberry Pi 500+
“The inspiration came from the need to address the challenges in traditional farming and leverage technology for efficient crop management,” Tanay explains. “It’s a forward-thinking approach to agriculture and my project was born out of a passion for sustainable agriculture. The aim was to explore innovative solutions, driven by a desire to contribute to a greener future.”
Making sense
Although Tanay has not had first-hand experience of vertical farming, he says he has read lots about it. “It’s a fascinating concept,” he adds. His research meant he had a good idea of what was needed to create his own system. “Raspberry Pi was chosen for its versatility, affordability, and the vast community support it offers,” Tanay says. “It’s a robust choice for managing and controlling various components in a system like this.”

These components include ambient light, soil moisture, and water level depth detection sensors. “The project was planned by first identifying the key requirements, such as real-time monitoring, efficient water supply, secure communication, and a user-friendly interface,” Tanay continues. “Components were selected based on their compatibility and functionality within the system.”
The sensors gather data about the plants. This data is then processed by a peripheral control unit (in this case an Arduino Nano 33 IoT) and sent to the central unit (Raspberry Pi 4) via Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) communication. “The central unit makes decisions on actions such as activating actuators to adjust environmental parameters,” Tanay says. “This continuous loop ensures optimal conditions for crop growth.”
Friendly farming
A thermoelectric Peltier refrigeration cooling system kit has also been used. “A humidity-to-water conversion, with the help of the Peltier module device working on the principle of condensation, ensures a continuous supply of water,” Tanay explains. It ensures plants are kept alive and are able to thrive but there’s also a user-friendly GUI for remote manual control.
“The software was crafted with modularity and user-friendliness in mind,” says Tanay, who used the IoT platform ThingSpeak. “ThingSpeak is useful for visualising data from sensors in real-time which provides valuable insights to farmers,” he continues. “A user-friendly interface makes it accessible to those without extensive technical knowledge and providing a fault tolerance to the system.”
Tanay hopes the project will show that vertical farming doesn’t have to be expensive. “The project’s cost-effectiveness is a standout feature,” he says. It’s also scalable. “The project is aimed at small and large-scale farmers,” Tanay adds. “The modularity and scalability design principles suggest it’s adaptable to various farm sizes, making it accessible to a broad audience.”
Subscribe to Raspberry Pi Official Magazine
Save up to 37% off the cover price and get a FREE Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W with a subscription to Raspberry Pi Official Magazine.
More articles

Raspberry Pi 500+ in Raspberry Pi Official Magazine issue 158
We’re quite taken with Raspberry Pi 500+. But when you don’t need all that processing power, and just want a board that will make a plastic skeleton jump around in a terrifying manner, you’ll find Raspberry Pi Pico more than up to the job. There’s more terror in the magazine (which is only right as […]
Read more →

Win one of five Raspberry Pi SSD 1TB
Raspberry Pi prides itself on high quality hardware, and this 1TB Raspberry Pi SSD is no different. You can use it with a standard Raspberry Pi or even in your desktop PC – the choice is yours. We have five to give away and you can enter below Win 1 of 5 Raspberry Pi SSD […]
Read more →

Dual-screen cyberdeck
Twin screens mean you can code on one screen while watching David Bowie’s 1978 Musikladen show on the other.
Read more →
Sign up to the newsletter
Get every issue delivered directly to your inbox and keep up to date with the latest news, offers, events, and more.