: To address land scarcity, vertical farming uses vertically stacked layers and soil-free techniques like aeroponics (suspending roots in air) and hydroponics (nutrient-rich water) to grow food year-round in cities [6, 19].

: Small-scale holders face massive hurdles, including high initial investment costs for new technologies, lack of educational resources, and complex legal frameworks [8, 29].

: There is a renewed focus on sustainable techniques like cover cropping , which prevents soil erosion and improves biodiversity, and crop rotation , which has been a staple for thousands of years to maintain yield without excessive synthetic inputs [1, 35, 36]. Economic & Social Shifts

: Extreme weather—like floods and droughts—remains the biggest threat to crop productivity and growing seasons [39].