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> Long term, it's all about being able to have enough indoor hydroponic/aeroponic space to grow enough food for ~7.5 billion people, which sounds really difficu
by BinaryIdiot 9y ago
> Long term, it's all about being able to have enough indoor hydroponic/aeroponic space to grow enough food for ~7.5 billion people, which sounds really difficult and impractical.
I can't find the research I read a few years ago but from what I understand growing indoors is crazy practical. Plants need less sun light, essentially zero pesticides, can grow much faster and if you build your structures vertically you'll be able to farm the same amount of food on orders of magnitude less space.
I don't know if we're at the point where it can be practical today, especially with so much subsidy in farming, but I'm very optimistic about it moving to automated systems within buildings that wouldn't even need the sun.
- danieltillett 9y agoThis is the solution if we have a decade long event, but we need time to implement this - you can't just set up millions of acres of indoor growing space overnight. Ideally, we need a couple of years food in storage together with detailed plans for how to grow food indoors (if needed).
- aptwebapps 9y agoWith that kind of incentive, I bet we could do a lot in a short amount of time. It doesn't have to be that high-tech, does it?
- danieltillett 9y agoWar is probably the best way to estimate the time required. The USA took 18 months to switch over to a full war economy in WWII. We might be able to do it in less, but ideally we have in place a couple of years worth of food.
- Retric 9y agoSpace is not an actual problem with farm land. Setting up LED lights outside is a vastly easier solution. Remember, there would still be natural light, just significantly less.
- BinaryIdiot 9y agoOh I agree. I'd still love to see it happen in at least an experimental form. It sounds so ideal if everything works out (especially making automated systems far easier for automatic harvesting).