The invention relates to a vertical farming system comprising:
- a plurality of tray-receptacles (3) each tray-receptacle (3) having a tray-surface area for a soilless growing environment for plants,
- a vertical supporting structure (1) arranged and adapted to accommodate the plurality of tray-receptacles (3) in a vertically stacked arrangement along a plurality of shelf positions (13),
- a tray-receptacle transport device (6) arranged and adapted to move the tray-receptacles (3) along the vertical supporting structure (1) between the different shelf positions (13) and
-an airflow-ducting device (2) arranged and adapted to transport an airflow to and from the plurality of shelf positions (13),
wherein the vertical farming system further comprises
- a plurality of vertically stacked airflow docking members (200) to provide airflow from the air ducting device (2) to the shelf positions (13) and
- a plurality of airflow-benches (4), each airflow-bench (4) being attached to at least one of the airflow docking members (200) and being arranged and adapted to provide a downward-oriented airflow covering at least half of the tray-surface area of a tray-receptacle (3) being accommodated in a shelf position (13) underneath the respective airflow-bench (4).
Furthermore, the invention relates to a method using such a vertical farming system to grow plants.