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>>> Looks like a profitable business. But is it a business worth purusing for humanity. Have you ever tasted hydroponics lettuce ? It's so inferior in taste an

by wiz21c 8y ago

>>> Looks like a profitable business. But is it a business worth purusing for humanity. Have you ever tasted hydroponics lettuce ? It's so inferior in taste and the sensations it gives in your mouth. It may have all nutrients, but if nutrients is the point, then let's eat soylent green.

TeMPOraL 8y ago
That just means there's space for improvements to be made. There's research to be done on what makes plants tastier, and there's work to be done in applying such research. But yes, being able to produce fresh food better, faster and in more controlled way is definitely worth pursuing for humanity.
- deialtrous 8y ago
  >But yes, being able to produce fresh food better, faster and in more controlled way is definitely worth pursuing for humanity. But it isn't better. And why is making worse food faster worth pursuing for humanity? All the available evidence seems to suggest that a rural agrarian lifestyle provides more happiness and fulfillment. It would seem that we should be pursuing how to move people into the country to grow their own food, not how to support the highest possible population of humans at the expense of those humans and everything else on the planet.
- wiz21c 8y ago
  >>> There's research to be done on what makes plants tastier, and there's work to be done in applying such research. there's earth, rain and sun and millions of years or R&D already done and proven successful. I really wonder what kind of research youo want... What you may want is : tasty food for everyone on earth. But that's not science, that's much more politics.
  - mtrovo 8y ago
    Don't know if you're being a troll but in fact there's a lot of research to be done. https://www.collective-evolution.com/2016/02/11/this-is-what-fruits-vegetables-looked-like-before-we-domesticated-them/ https://www.collective-evolution.com/2016/02/11/this-is-what... A lot of food that we eat today evolved really fast after we started to care about their taste and only select the ones with the properties we want. We're talking about maximum 10k years of fast evolution for human taste, not millions of years.
thatcat 8y ago
Have you considered that hydroponic vegetables will tend to have a much greater variance in quality than those produced in dirt due to the fact that so much control can be exerted by the grower? Given the history of agriculture and the tendency to select for large watery produce, it seems like what you've experienced is the result of a profit optimization rather than an anecdotal example of hydroponics limitation in regards to producing quality vegetables.
Animats 8y ago
There's a lot of whining from the "traditional organic" farming industry about this.[1] They got disrupted by hydroponic technology. Here's a major "organic" tomato operation in California.[2] It's indoors. The growing medium is coconut husks with computer controlled drip irrigation. It's more similar to a hydroponic operation than to an outdoor farm. [1] https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2017/11/02/561462293/hydroponic-veggies-are-taking-over-organic-and-a-move-to-ban-them-fails https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2017/11/02/561462293/hy... [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ayKz9-FbhA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ayKz9-FbhA
- jelliclesfarm 8y ago
  I disagree. California rules tomatoes outdoors...processing, heirloom and cherries. We have the perfect climate and soil for it. Hands down, outdoors is way more efficient and prodctive than anything with indoor tech.

by wiz21c 8y ago

TeMPOraL 8y ago

That just means there's space for improvements to be made. There's research to be done on what makes plants tastier, and there's work to be done in applying such research. But yes, being able to produce fresh food better, faster and in more controlled way is definitely worth pursuing for humanity.

deialtrous 8y ago
>But yes, being able to produce fresh food better, faster and in more controlled way is definitely worth pursuing for humanity. But it isn't better. And why is making worse food faster worth pursuing for humanity? All the available evidence seems to suggest that a rural agrarian lifestyle provides more happiness and fulfillment. It would seem that we should be pursuing how to move people into the country to grow their own food, not how to support the highest possible population of humans at the expense of those humans and everything else on the planet.
wiz21c 8y ago
>>> There's research to be done on what makes plants tastier, and there's work to be done in applying such research. there's earth, rain and sun and millions of years or R&D already done and proven successful. I really wonder what kind of research youo want... What you may want is : tasty food for everyone on earth. But that's not science, that's much more politics.
- mtrovo 8y ago
  Don't know if you're being a troll but in fact there's a lot of research to be done. https://www.collective-evolution.com/2016/02/11/this-is-what-fruits-vegetables-looked-like-before-we-domesticated-them/ https://www.collective-evolution.com/2016/02/11/this-is-what... A lot of food that we eat today evolved really fast after we started to care about their taste and only select the ones with the properties we want. We're talking about maximum 10k years of fast evolution for human taste, not millions of years.

thatcat 8y ago

Have you considered that hydroponic vegetables will tend to have a much greater variance in quality than those produced in dirt due to the fact that so much control can be exerted by the grower? Given the history of agriculture and the tendency to select for large watery produce, it seems like what you've experienced is the result of a profit optimization rather than an anecdotal example of hydroponics limitation in regards to producing quality vegetables.

Animats 8y ago

There's a lot of whining from the "traditional organic" farming industry about this.[1] They got disrupted by hydroponic technology. Here's a major "organic" tomato operation in California.[2] It's indoors. The growing medium is coconut husks with computer controlled drip irrigation. It's more similar to a hydroponic operation than to an outdoor farm. [1] https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2017/11/02/561462293/hydroponic-veggies-are-taking-over-organic-and-a-move-to-ban-them-fails https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2017/11/02/561462293/hy... [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ayKz9-FbhA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ayKz9-FbhA

jelliclesfarm 8y ago
I disagree. California rules tomatoes outdoors...processing, heirloom and cherries. We have the perfect climate and soil for it. Hands down, outdoors is way more efficient and prodctive than anything with indoor tech.