Singapore has just seen its first commercial vertical farm open, making thrift use of the country's sparse real estate.

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Dickson Despommier, a longtime Columbia University professor who is the author of The Vertical Farm: Feeding the World in the 21st Century thinks the concept will be initially viable in rich, arid places like Dubai and Saudi Arabia.

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American ecologist Dickson Despommier has been a chief advocate for vertical farms for over decade who has imagined bigger and bolder ideas than Sky Greens' farm.

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