4 ms·

This is likely the future of food. More and more needs to be squeezed out of every acre of land.

k-mcgrady 10y ago
>> "This is likely the future of food. More and more needs to be squeezed out of every acre of land." Is it really necessary? I understand the population is increasing but the population is also getting fatter. From what I understand we already grow more than enough food for everyone on the planet. Difficulties is distributing that to everyone, overeating, and too much choice (and wasted resources to create a lot of it) seem to be the problem.
- ihsw 10y ago
  One could argue that greenhouses could help decentralize the farming industry, thereby mitigating the problem you mention, but these greenhouses would need reliable energy and transport infrastructure. If a given country already has reliable energy and transport then they likely have no issue with food distribution either. Then again, countries may be more inclined to invest in local greenhouse infrastructure if it meant raising the expertise level of the country (which leads to more local jobs, better education, etc).
- thinkcontext 10y ago
  Per capita, people in developing countries consume a small fraction of the amount of meat that people in the developed world do. That amount is growing rapidly as they gain wealth, so in the future much more land will need to be devoted to growing animal feed like corn and soybeans. That said, this article has to do with vegetables which require much less land than animal feed crops. Its unlikely that they will be a major stress point in the future food system compared with commodity crops.
MustardTiger 10y ago
No, it doesn't. We already grow more than enough food to feed everyone. And our population is going to level off. There's no need for industrial nutrient production facilities, we can grow delicious food instead.
thinkcontext 10y ago
Acreage for vegetables is tiny compared to commodities like wheat, corn and soybeans. Those will likely never be grown in greenhouses given the lower yield per acre, you couldn't grow enough of them in a greenhouse to cover the capital cost of construction.

>> "This is likely the future of food. More and more needs to be squeezed out of every acre of land." Is it really necessary? I understand the population is increasing but the population is also getting fatter. From what I understand we already grow more than enough food for everyone on the planet. Difficulties is distributing that to everyone, overeating, and too much choice (and wasted resources to create a lot of it) seem to be the problem.

ihsw 10y ago
One could argue that greenhouses could help decentralize the farming industry, thereby mitigating the problem you mention, but these greenhouses would need reliable energy and transport infrastructure. If a given country already has reliable energy and transport then they likely have no issue with food distribution either. Then again, countries may be more inclined to invest in local greenhouse infrastructure if it meant raising the expertise level of the country (which leads to more local jobs, better education, etc).
thinkcontext 10y ago
Per capita, people in developing countries consume a small fraction of the amount of meat that people in the developed world do. That amount is growing rapidly as they gain wealth, so in the future much more land will need to be devoted to growing animal feed like corn and soybeans. That said, this article has to do with vegetables which require much less land than animal feed crops. Its unlikely that they will be a major stress point in the future food system compared with commodity crops.

MustardTiger 10y ago

No, it doesn't. We already grow more than enough food to feed everyone. And our population is going to level off. There's no need for industrial nutrient production facilities, we can grow delicious food instead.

thinkcontext 10y ago

Acreage for vegetables is tiny compared to commodities like wheat, corn and soybeans. Those will likely never be grown in greenhouses given the lower yield per acre, you couldn't grow enough of them in a greenhouse to cover the capital cost of construction.