The world's largest vertical farm is to be built in Dubai backed by $40m investment, but is this the future for agriculture or a distraction from more pressing climate problems?

It's not a coincidence that there's a Wal-Mart distribution center across the street. Wal-Mart is Eden Green's first big retail partner, and part of Eden Green's philosophy is to build near its partners' distribution centers, so that produce can be delivered the day it's harvested.

Crop One Holdings, a Silicon Valley food startup, and Emirates Flight Catering (EKFC), one of the world's largest airline catering operators, plan build a 130,000-square-foot vertical farm in Dubai.

The UAE currently imports nearly 90 percent of its food, according to recent data. But Saudi Arabian entrepreneur Omar Al Jundi, hopes his first vertical farm in Dubai will decrease some of the region’s import needs as well as contribute to the health of the residents, and decrease the impact on the environment due to transport.

On Yaji Mountain in southern China, they are checking in the sows a thousand head per floor in high-rise “hog hotels”. Privately owned agricultural company Guangxi Yangxiang Co Ltd is running two seven-floor sow breeding operations, and is putting up four more, including one with as many as 13 floors that will be the world’s tallest building of its kind.