The substantial increase in the human population dramatically strains food supplies. Farmers need healthy soil and natural minerals for traditional farming, and production takes a little longer time. The soil-free farming method known as vertical farming (VF) requires a small land and consumes a very small amount of water than conventional soil-dependent farming techniques. With modern technologies like hydroponics, aeroponics, and aquaponics, the notion of the VF appears to have a promising future in urban areas where farming land is very expensive and scarce. VF faces difficulty in the simultaneous monitoring of multiple indicators, nutrition advice, and plant diagnosis systems. However, these issues can be resolved by implementing current technical advancements like artificial intelligence (AI)-based control techniques such as machine learning (ML), deep learning (DL), the internet of things (IoT), image processing as well as computer vision. This article presents a thorough analysis of ML and IoT applications in VF system. The areas on which the attention is concentrated include disease detection, crop yield prediction, nutrition, and irrigation control management. In order to predict crop yield and crop diseases, the computer vision technique is investigated in view of the classification of distinct collections of crop images. This article also illustrates ML and IoT-based VF systems that can raise product quality and production over the long term. Assessment and evaluation of the knowledge-based VF system have also been outlined in the article with the potential outcomes, advantages, and limitations of ML and IoT in the VF system.

India, the second-most populated country globally with 1.4 billion people, faces significant challenges in its agriculture sector, including the need to feed a growing global population, mitigate climate change impacts, and ensure sustainable resource management. To address these challenges, innovative techniques and advanced technologies are required. Modern farming techniques, coupled with artificial intelligence (A.I.), offer promising solutions. Technologies such as drones, biotechnology, genetics, and precision farming can enhance efficiency, productivity, and sustainability. Implementing these approaches can lead to a fiftyfold increase in yield and a 50% reduction in manpower, contributing to increased crop yields, reduced water usage, minimized chemical applications, and improved labor efficiency. Smart agriculture holds the potential to revolutionize the industry, significantly contributing to global food security and the preservation of natural resources.

Apple being a temperate fruit is been widely grown under a large area in the Himalayan regions of India because of the favorable climatic conditions. Mountains are however amongst the most fragile experiencing extreme weather conditions, like rising temperature, uneven precipitation, spring hailstorms, and cold waves which severely affect the production of temperate crops. The traditional apple cultivation in Uttarakhand hills is under stress due to climate change. The instances of these adverse conditions impact could be observed on plant phenology, bud bursting, blossoming, fruit retention, fruit yield and quality. The rising temperature widely affects the chilling requirement for apple fruit, which is the pre-requisite for blossoming of apple fruit. Insufficient chilling greatly influence fruit set whereas, hailstorm during spring season causes frost injury and deteriorate the fruit quality. Evidences of poor climatic condition leads to the shifting of apple cultivation towards crop like kiwi and pomegranate. Development of low chill cultivars with greater adaptation is the viable approach that can be adopted to fetch good production of apple fruit and to maintain the commercial importance of apple fruit in hilly regions. Under the stressful condition, Anna variety of apple performs well and can with stand under low chilling requirements in lower hills of Uttarakhand.

Indian barnyard millet (Jhangora) is a wholesome diet package and also rich in fibre and minerals. Its properties like Low carbohydrate, low glycemic Index and gluten free grains add additional benefits against various health issues like obesity and diabetes. This article highlights the importance of Jhangora in terms of its Nutritional Values and Pharmacological Benefits.