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Maybe but there's other theoretical benefits too; food grown closer to it's consumption point releases less CO2 being transported and could be fresher, reduced
by rtkwe 7y ago
Maybe but there's other theoretical benefits too; food grown closer to it's consumption point releases less CO2 being transported and could be fresher, reduced run off from fertilizers and pesticide use, and reduced land use from building vertically. It's not just the attraction of the clean look, though that is part of the appeal, but there are real benefits.
- spurdoman77 7y agoI've understood transportation costs are less than 5% from the overall production cost/carbon footprint of vegetable production. So it really makes sense to transport veggies and fruits from far away if even minor benefits on other production steps can be achieved. Similarly also plastic packaging has minor footprint compared to the overall production of the vegetable. So, if the food waste is reduced even a little bit with plastic packaging, it is enviromentally better to wrap the veggies in plastic.
- ses1984 7y agoWater management needs to be weighed against carbon footprint. It might be better to increase the carbon footprint slightly, reduce carbon footprint elsewhere, so that water can be managed smarter.
- rtkwe 7y agoThere's a lot more to the environmental impact of our current farming than just the CO2 though. Water run off is a big pollutant as farms have to spray way more fertilizer onto the ground in order to get the plants to grow than they strictly need, in a hydroponics system for example added nitrogen that doesn't get absorbed would just continue to cycle until it is. In a similar vein current farms' usage of herbicides and pesticides have huge impacts on the environment near and downstream of farms. An indoor farm would require low to no herbicide and pesticide use because the environment is contained and controlled, plus any use would be more easily contained reducing run-off again.