# Crop-growing skyscrapers: answers and explanations

Cambridge IELTS 11, Test 1, Reading Passage 1

Source: Passage, questions and answer key from Cambridge IELTS 11, Test 1, Reading Passage 1. © Cambridge University Press & Assessment. Used for educational practice. Explanations and evidence notes are written by Testmigo.

## Answer key

| Q | Answer | Proof |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | tomatoes | since hothouse production of tomatoes and other produce has been in vogue for some time. |
| 2 | urban centres | Situated in the heart of urban centres, they would drastically reduce the amount of transportation required to bring food to consumers. |
| 3 | energy | it would return energy to the grid via methane generation from composting non-edible parts of plants. |
| 4 | fossil fuel | It would also dramatically reduce fossil fuel use, by cutting out the need for tractors, ploughs and shipping. |
| 5 | artificial | A major drawback of vertical farming, however, is that the plants would require artificial light. |
| 6 | trays | One variation on vertical farming that has been developed is to grow plants in stacked trays that move on rails. |
| 7 | rooftops | most experts currently believe it is far more likely that we will simply use the space available on urban rooftops. |
| 8 | NOT GIVEN | Applying the most conservative estimates to current demographic trends, the human population will increase by about three billion people by then. |
| 9 | TRUE | Historically, some 15% of that has been laid waste by poor management practices. ... Along the way, we despoiled most of the land we worked |
| 10 | FALSE | For instance, crops would be produced all year round, as they would be kept in artificially controlled, optimum growing conditions. |
| 11 | TRUE | However, more often than not now, due to a rapidly changing climate, that is not what happens. ... destroying millions of tons of valuable crops. |
| 12 | FALSE | All the food could be grown organically, eliminating the need for herbicides, pesticides and fertilisers. |
| 13 | TRUE | The system would greatly reduce the incidence of many infectious diseases that are acquired at the agricultural interface. |

## Why these answers are right

**1. tomatoes.** The sentence asks which food plant is already grown indoors. Paragraph B says indoor farming is not new, since hothouse production of tomatoes and other produce has been popular for some time, so tomatoes is the example that fits.

**2. urban centres.** The gap names where vertical farms would be built. Paragraph B says they would be situated in the heart of urban centers and would sharply reduce the transportation needed to bring food to consumers, which matches shorter journeys to customers.

**3. energy.** The sentence links methane to something vertical farms could produce. Paragraph D says that although the system would use energy, it would return energy to the grid through methane made by composting inedible plant parts, so energy is the product.

The why and the trap for questions 4 onwards are free with an account on the [answers page](https://testmigo.com/ielts/reading/crop-growing-skyscrapers/answers).

[Practice Crop-growing skyscrapers](https://testmigo.com/ielts/reading/crop-growing-skyscrapers)