Vertical farming often gets touted as the future of agriculture, but I ran the numbers for a proposed facility near my town in Ohio and the electricity cost alone was three times what traditional field farming spends per acre. Hydroponics and LED lighting are energy hogs, and when you factor in the carbon footprint of that power, the environmental benefit shrinks dramatically. Sure, it works for high-value crops in dense cities, but for staple foods like wheat or corn, it's hard to see it replacing soil-based farming anytime soon. Are we overestimating its potential?