A viewer asks: “Although they’re said to have higher nutrient content, I wonder about benefits and risks of vertical farms that are deemed the future. Do fruits and vegetables produced indoors in the more modern hydroponic, aeroponic and vertical farm systems have the same, or even more nutrition, as touted by many companies by customizing nutrient solution, water, CO2, and LED color and exposure levels and time?”

The claims for such foods being produced in this way are an exaggeration. They may have the same size and general appearance, or be even more uniform and robust looking because the major drivers for accumulation of energy and cellular replication and growth of the plants are being supplied artificially through controlled lighting, uniform availability of water, and freedom from harsh weather and many ordinary pests found in nature, but that does not mean they are a better source of nutrition for humans when ingested. The fact something looks good does not necessarily mean it is good, or superior. In fact, there are many deficiencies of such foodstuffs when grown apart from nature. The same would be true for test-tube babies if it were possible to grow them in vitro to maturation; they would be missing a contact with the mother and the loving energy and interchange of that local influence in the environment of being in the womb, sheltered not just by having adequate warmth, moisture, and protection from extremes of temperature, and so on, but the warmth of the mother’s love and consciousness and presence, and the beating of her heart and its consciousness as well being perceptible and something that will help anchor that new soul and provide stability and reassurance all is well. Plants in nature gain greatly from being in contact with the earth itself. It is an energetic anchor and a source of consciousness that is involved in an interplay with the plants themselves. This is part of the natural order and Creator’s Plan, that everything that is a part of the earth and connected directly will be influenced energetically in positive ways through having a kind of partnership. This creates many subtle but important influences on the growth of the plants and the way they express their genetic complement to have a full array of substances in their makeup for which genes are provided. It is not enough to have the genetic complement of the plant organism itself, but also to have an appropriate and healthy gene expression so there will be a full array of the chemical constituents that go into the interplay of a plant with its environment. Some are strictly defensive and may deter incursion by insect pests, or even the invasion by neighboring plants competing for space within the soil and moisture, and so will repel the roots of other plants that may approach their vicinity. But there are many ingredients that are designed to be a reflection of what to the plant is a kind of joy in its existence, and it is these substances that have a dual purpose of enhancing the makeup and experiencing of other organisms consuming their matter as food, and this includes human beings as well. These phytochemicals are a key aspect of nutrition still unappreciated by science—that is not unusual because science completely fails to see the existence of life force energy itself, so to be unaware of and neglecting study of the nuances of life and the interplay among organisms, even taken in as food, is not at all surprising. People, and this includes their scientific explorations, are still looking at the surface of things and not the deeper issues and opportunities. So there will be many components within plants grown as food that will be underexpressed and deficient in quantity compared to nature grown food, even though the latter might not be as large and impressive looking in other respects, and may lack calories when compared side by side. But that is overlooking the more esoteric but nonetheless important transference of energetics and actual information along with the food and base nutrients, whether carbohydrate, fat, or protein as defined scientifically. So the ultimate value is in the eye of the beholder and what people feel is the most important consideration. It might be more reliable, especially for food production in many areas of the world where the environment is unfavorable for growing plants for food, to have such an artificial approach, and there might be an economical advantage when nature grown foods would be meager and also highly inconsistent due to the vagaries of weather and rainfall that could work against successful crop yields in the more difficult and challenging agricultural environments. So we are being asked about the nutrient quality and we can tell you that nature grown food will almost always have advantages from exposure to sunlight and connected directly to the earth itself during the growth of the plant.