original article:
"At present, throughout the world, over 80% of the land that is suitable for raising crops is in use (sources: FAO and NASA).
...
By 2050, demographers estimate there will be an additional 3 billion people (a global total of 9.2 billion). If current farming practices are maintained, extra landmass as large as Brazil would have to be cultivated to feed them."
verticalfarm.com
"...What is new is the urgent need to scale up this technology to accommodate another 3 billion people. An entirely new approach to indoor farming must be invented, employing cutting edge technologies. The Vertical Farm must be efficient (cheap to construct and safe to operate)."
I can tell you with absolute conviction and certainty that the market share of aero/hydroponic crops will skyrocket within the next 20 years. They are faster, cheaper and easier to use and maintain with less risk than conventional farming methods; when you consider a less developed farming economy these benefits increase exponentially.
These towers are intended for worldwide use - the NY times article which brought it to your attention perhaps doesn't make this point clear. As somebody has already pointed out this is more likely to be developed in Japan (althought real estate prices are high) or Central Europe (where they are considerably lower). The pressing need for food is in Africa, but private entrepreneurs are currently the only persons with the power to build these. China have invested heavily in the continent (especially in Zambia), however low wages and poor working conditions make it improbable that their investment is anything other than economic.
The likelihood that it is done in Trump Tower style is remote; these buildings will be subsidised, carbon positive (which will lend entitlement tax breaks in the coming century), recycling micro-economies of their own. They are intended to feed 50,000 people each (again a university study):
http://verticalfarm.com/plans-2k4.htm
They will fulfill an urgent, growing need for food worldwide; it may have escaped readers' notice that 1 in 7 people worldwide suffer from malnutrition:
http://www.wfp.org/aboutwfp/introduc...&sub_section=1
And those of us concerned with the combine harvester require a brief lesson in farming. The combination harvester: harvest, thresh, process. The floors growing grain would be harvested (perhaps robotically) and the sheaves threshed in a processing plant - you would not thresh the harvest in the environmentally controlled grow area. This would be an uncombined harvester. Please wake up.
Those who wish to dispute these facts are welcome to.