README file


Data Set Title: Quantitative data on resource inputs and outputs in five commercial vertical farms in Sweden

Data Set Authors: Loris Mazzaferro; Maria J. Bustamante; Rebecka Milestad; Francesco Orsini; Michael Martin

Data Set Contact Person: Francesco Orsini

Data Set License: this data set is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Publication Year: 2026


Data set Contents


The data set consists of:

1 file containing quantitative data in .csv format

sweden_vertical_farms.csv

1 README file in .rtf format

sweden_vertical_farms_README.md


Data set Documentation


Abstract

The database contains quantitative data on resource inputs and outputs of five commercial vertical farming systems located in Stockholm, Sweden. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with representatives of the vertical farming systems, complemented by on-site visits and secondary data analysis. The five farms are anonymised and identified as Farm 1, Farm 2, Farm 3, Farm 4 and Farm 5.

The database includes input data on water, electricity, fertilizers, substrates, seeds, packaging materials and associated costs, as well as output data on crop production, organic waste, plastic waste and associated disposal costs. Resource flows are reported relative to crop production, using the units specified in the database.


File content and specifics

File Vertical farms in Sweden dataset (sweden_vertical_farms.csv) contains quantitative resource-flow data for the five vertical farming systems investigated in the study.

Rows identify the different input and output flows, while columns report the corresponding values for Farm 1, Farm 2, Farm 3, Farm 4 and Farm 5.

Input flows include water consumption, electricity consumption, fertilizers, substrate, seeds and packaging materials. Output flows include crop production, organic waste, plastic waste and waste disposal costs.

Values are expressed using the units reported for each variable. Missing data are indicated as “NA” and should not be interpreted as zero. For Farm 3, the disposal cost associated with plastic waste is reported as “Shared with organic waste”, indicating that a separate disposal cost was not available.

The fertilizer input for Farm 2 is expressed in kg, whereas fertilizer inputs for the other farms are expressed in L, according to the original data provided by the investigated farms.


Notes

The database contains the quantitative data associated with the publication:

Mazzaferro, L., Bustamante, M.J., Milestad, R., Orsini, F., Martin, M., 2026. Exploring the urban symbiosis potential of vertical farming systems: the case of Stockholm city. Cleaner and Responsible Consumption, 100490. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clrc.2026.100490


Funding

This project was funded through the Swedish Research Council for Sustainable Development FORMAS through grants 2021-02447 and 2023-02229.