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As soon as farming startups start using lighting to improve yeild, then they've already losing in the efficiency stakes. Urban farming, the type proposed by mo

As soon as farming startups start using lighting to improve yeild, then they've already losing in the efficiency stakes. Urban farming, the type proposed by most US based startups are already at a massive disadvantage. Not only is the price of land much higher, but the running and capital costs are far far greater, totally obliterating any hope of profitability. Take this current startup, they use a generalised robot arm, which would have cost >$100k plus the software to do the visual registration. Event then its moving one plant at a time... Why are they not spending the time working on low tech plan holders, that could be plucked and moved using cheap conveyor belt systems? even better a tray, with known locations, that can be moved to a specialised plucking machine, which can pluck an entire tray in one go. There is no mention about pest management, its a massive monoculture, and one or two fungal spore could wipe out that entire warehouse in a matter of weeks.

jelliclesfarm 8y ago
I agree re how indoor farming starts with losing efficiency. But imagine if this is Iceland or on a cruise ship. At a location where a natural disaster has struck. Or in the Middle East. Or in the middle of a drought. Innovating in ideal situations has its pros and cons. Pros...it can be done without pressure of impending threat to growing. Cons...the tech may not be transferable to places that really need them. Which other third world country has uninterrupted power supply or internet connectivity for uploading to cloud etc. but it’s a start before creating the eco system. This will be a long and painful journey, it seems to me... But you are also right. The equipment needs to operate in freezing cold or dusty environments or humidity. Indoor growing inside hoophouses or greenhouses and glasshouses are a lot more effective. I agree. Pest issue is the Achilles Heel and weapon of wholesale complete destruction of harvest. They are trying to combat it with more technology. I want to say that I am really impressed by how Indoor Ag has evolved over the years. It’s not perfect but way better than how it was ten years ago.
- KaiserPro 8y ago
  The only valid place for this is a cruise ship. Everything else has either been done already, or stuff needs to be shipped in. Hydroponics in the middle of a drought is a disaster, it sucks huge amount of clean water. Yes, if you are careful you can use it to clean water, but again, its at the risk of importing fungus/pests. Most agriculture doesn't need high tech solutions, it needs simple ones. The biggest threat facing most farmers in the developing world are drought and pests. Drought can be managed by creating small simple dams that slow the passage of water to the sea. (lots of india for example used to do this.) The future of agritech is small, simple and cheap. The Netherlands has this other type of stuff nailed. In the developing world, land and labour are cheap, asking a farmer to buy into this style tech is like asking us to buy a small Caribbean island, impossible. The only people that can do this are the rich, who are normally the ones causing the droughts and destruction in the first place.
  - jelliclesfarm 8y ago
    I don’t even know what to say when you claim that “The only people that can do this are the rich who are normally the ones causing droughts and destruction in the first place.”

jelliclesfarm 8y ago

I agree re how indoor farming starts with losing efficiency. But imagine if this is Iceland or on a cruise ship. At a location where a natural disaster has struck. Or in the Middle East. Or in the middle of a drought. Innovating in ideal situations has its pros and cons. Pros...it can be done without pressure of impending threat to growing. Cons...the tech may not be transferable to places that really need them. Which other third world country has uninterrupted power supply or internet connectivity for uploading to cloud etc. but it’s a start before creating the eco system. This will be a long and painful journey, it seems to me... But you are also right. The equipment needs to operate in freezing cold or dusty environments or humidity. Indoor growing inside hoophouses or greenhouses and glasshouses are a lot more effective. I agree. Pest issue is the Achilles Heel and weapon of wholesale complete destruction of harvest. They are trying to combat it with more technology. I want to say that I am really impressed by how Indoor Ag has evolved over the years. It’s not perfect but way better than how it was ten years ago.

KaiserPro 8y ago
The only valid place for this is a cruise ship. Everything else has either been done already, or stuff needs to be shipped in. Hydroponics in the middle of a drought is a disaster, it sucks huge amount of clean water. Yes, if you are careful you can use it to clean water, but again, its at the risk of importing fungus/pests. Most agriculture doesn't need high tech solutions, it needs simple ones. The biggest threat facing most farmers in the developing world are drought and pests. Drought can be managed by creating small simple dams that slow the passage of water to the sea. (lots of india for example used to do this.) The future of agritech is small, simple and cheap. The Netherlands has this other type of stuff nailed. In the developing world, land and labour are cheap, asking a farmer to buy into this style tech is like asking us to buy a small Caribbean island, impossible. The only people that can do this are the rich, who are normally the ones causing the droughts and destruction in the first place.
- jelliclesfarm 8y ago
  I don’t even know what to say when you claim that “The only people that can do this are the rich who are normally the ones causing droughts and destruction in the first place.”