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I don't think Manhattan real estate is a strawman-- the point is, in order for this concept to work, you would need to be able to buy a city block in whatever m
by michael_dorfman 16y ago
I don't think Manhattan real estate is a strawman-- the point is, in order for this concept to work, you would need to be able to buy a city block in whatever metropolitan area for cheaper than you could buy enough land in the outskirts to grow an equivalent quantity, plus the transportation costs.
And sub-10-story warehouses only magnifies the problem-- then you need to buy even more city blocks.
- puredemo 16y agoA city block in many metros is not that much money though. Think Cleveland.
- michaelchisari 16y agoThe problem this is seeking to fix is to localize food production as best as possible. And that's in the context of the current situation, where food is not produced in the outskirts, but halfway across the world. Purchasing land 30 miles outside of a city falls well within the confines of urban agriculture, especially since indoor ag means a year-long growing cycle. This means that Detroit or Iceland don't need to rely on South American growers for certain seasonal items. The small shipping distance necessary for putting these in New Jersey, greater Chicagoland, etc., there's no argument against that, but yet, people keep citing downtown Manhattan as impractical for farming. Of course it's impractical for farming, it's damn near impractical for living.