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You seem like the right person to ask about this. My sense was that hydroponics were so expensive that they really only made sense for one crop: marijuana. If
by julianeon 6y ago
You seem like the right person to ask about this.
My sense was that hydroponics were so expensive that they really only made sense for one crop: marijuana. If your plant is selling for $1000, then spending $50 per plant to increase its yield and 'baby' it so that it sells for $1200 makes sense. But for most plants, it doesn't make economic sense. (Tomatoes, maybe. But they're going to have to sell for a higher price point, in more expensive markets).
Is that accurate? I'm an amateur so if this is uninformed, feel free to correct me.
- pvaldes 6y agoThere are lots of really expensive products that can be cultured indoors, are perfectly legal, and aren't drugs
- julianeon 6y agoI'm not being dense here - I really thought there weren't? Like the core problem with ag as a business is that it's very low margin and it's extremely hard to make money. I can only think of a handful: marijuana, fancy tomatoes at Whole Foods, maybe coffee or vanilla (?) beans... but even there, notice how there's either fierce competitive pressure, or it's possible to easily overwhelm the market (vanilla beans have to compete against synthetics). I mean there are surely some I'm forgetting, but it's a small number, and I thought that deterred VC investment. For your staples - corn, soy - that's still much cheaper to grow outdoors, so hydroponics can't win that market.