Intelligent Vertical Farming AI and IoT Innovations for Sustainable Urban Food Production in Controlled Environments

Vertical farming, which grows crops in vertically stacked layers within controlled environments, has become a promising approach to enhance urban food production, minimize transportation emissions, and optimize resource efficiency. The integration of Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies enables automated sensing, intelligent control, and predictive management, leading to improved crop yields and reduced operational costs. This chapter reviews intelligent vertical farming, focusing on controlled-environment agriculture (CEA) principles, core technologies such as sensing, connectivity, AI/ML, and robotics, and system architectures including edge–cloud automation. It also explores crop workflows, environmental control (lighting, HVAC, nutrients), data analytics, decision support, economic models, sustainability evaluation, and implementation challenges. The chapter concludes with design insights and future research directions for integrating AIoT-driven systems to build climate-resilient, resource-efficient urban food ecosystems.