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The "Economic Revolution" of the title is fascinating and exciting: > About 35 percent of food expenditures—more than $2.5 trillion globally—is up for grabs as

The "Economic Revolution" of the title is fascinating and exciting: > About 35 percent of food expenditures—more than $2.5 trillion globally—is up for grabs as consumers shift to dining at home and experimenting with new buying channels. This could be the end of cruel factory farms and the resurgence of smaller, healthier and more humane farming. Check out "SPIN farming": it stands for "Small-Parcel INtensive", a kind of turn-key farming business that is meant for small (down to 1/4 acre) urban farms. Combine that with "Syntropic farming" and you've got the makings of a economic revolution. (Normally I would supply links but I've only just recently learned about them so I don't have anything in particular to recommend.)

DuskStar 6y ago
> This could be the end of cruel factory farms and the resurgence of smaller, healthier and more humane farming. It could also cement their lead, as there's less signalling to be had when eating at home - so fewer reasons to buy "high-status" food - and easier to compare prices and see what that status costs you. The true believers will continue, but will it be easier or harder for that belief to spread?
- ornornor 6y ago
  But... not eating meat is an order of magnitude cheaper (most vegetable or tofu don’t cost 20+$/€ per kg) so both incentives are still there: status and much lower cost.
  - naavis 6y ago
    A lot of meat doesn't cost that much either. The cheapest minced meat here in Finland (which is a relatively expensive country) is less than 5€/kg.
dbcurtis 6y ago
> This could be the end of cruel factory farms and the resurgence of smaller, healthier and more humane farming. Yes, well, you're going to have to show me the math. We eat incredibly well, with decent nutrition (could be better, yes), 365 days a year. On a modest expenditure. Modern agriculture is sufficiently productive that world hunger is a distribution problem, not a production problem. I would like to see improvements in soil management and reductions in chemical usage, certainly, but new production practices you suggest need to pencil out. If you are going to argue for market forces driving us to smaller farm operations, you need to show me the math. Show me how we get there. And make a net improvement in nutrition for everyone. Without inconveniencing the city dwellers that have forgotten that the phrase "seasonal produce" used to exist. Go grow some food. Keep good records, and share the results with us.
redis_mlc 6y ago
I come from a farming area. When I read the drivel on HN about urban farming, my response is, "Talk is cheap" and "What are the details?" - 1/4 acre in SV starts at $1 million - farming is a job. My family's small garden (30'x30') was like a part-time job in itself. - when there's an immigrant farm labor shortage and unemployed locals are recruited for farm work, they don't make it to lunch on the first day - it's back-breaking and often dangerous work Thanks to the ag insider who did the 2-part post on ag economics earlier this week.
- carapace 6y ago
  It's just something I discovered on the Internet on Thursday. Could be crap for all I know. They have this doc on their website FWIW: "Farming in Philadelphia: Feasibility Analysis and Next Steps" http://www.spinfarming.com/common/pdfs/STF_inst_for_innovations_dec07.pdf http://www.spinfarming.com/common/pdfs/STF_inst_for_innovati...
- 082349872349872 6y ago
  Our farms were doing fine with underemployed locals. One article I've read indicates they simply used twice as much field labour as they had with guest workers, so the work was only half as back-breaking.
  - redis_mlc 6y ago
    Serious question: what city and what year?
    - 082349872349872 6y ago
      Switzerland, 2020. So far I've read articles about asparagus and leeks. There are probably more stories in the ag coop magazine, but I haven't been by the coop since February, having my feed delivered instead. https://www.srf.ch/news/regional/basel-baselland/corona-ernte-spargelstecher-aus-der-region-statt-erntehelfer-aus-polen https://www.srf.ch/news/regional/basel-baselland/corona-ernt... The newbies need not work as hard as harvest workers from the east. "We're twice as many as in a normal season. So everyone has only half the work." ==== Ganz so hart arbeiten, wie die Erntehelferinnen- und Erntehelfer aus dem Osten, müssen die Neulinge aber nicht. «Wir sind doppelte so viele, wie in einer normalen Saison. Also müssen auch alle nur halb so viel arbeiten»

DuskStar 6y ago

> This could be the end of cruel factory farms and the resurgence of smaller, healthier and more humane farming. It could also cement their lead, as there's less signalling to be had when eating at home - so fewer reasons to buy "high-status" food - and easier to compare prices and see what that status costs you. The true believers will continue, but will it be easier or harder for that belief to spread?

ornornor 6y ago
But... not eating meat is an order of magnitude cheaper (most vegetable or tofu don’t cost 20+$/€ per kg) so both incentives are still there: status and much lower cost.
- naavis 6y ago
  A lot of meat doesn't cost that much either. The cheapest minced meat here in Finland (which is a relatively expensive country) is less than 5€/kg.

dbcurtis 6y ago

> This could be the end of cruel factory farms and the resurgence of smaller, healthier and more humane farming. Yes, well, you're going to have to show me the math. We eat incredibly well, with decent nutrition (could be better, yes), 365 days a year. On a modest expenditure. Modern agriculture is sufficiently productive that world hunger is a distribution problem, not a production problem. I would like to see improvements in soil management and reductions in chemical usage, certainly, but new production practices you suggest need to pencil out. If you are going to argue for market forces driving us to smaller farm operations, you need to show me the math. Show me how we get there. And make a net improvement in nutrition for everyone. Without inconveniencing the city dwellers that have forgotten that the phrase "seasonal produce" used to exist. Go grow some food. Keep good records, and share the results with us.

redis_mlc 6y ago

I come from a farming area. When I read the drivel on HN about urban farming, my response is, "Talk is cheap" and "What are the details?" - 1/4 acre in SV starts at $1 million - farming is a job. My family's small garden (30'x30') was like a part-time job in itself. - when there's an immigrant farm labor shortage and unemployed locals are recruited for farm work, they don't make it to lunch on the first day - it's back-breaking and often dangerous work Thanks to the ag insider who did the 2-part post on ag economics earlier this week.

carapace 6y ago
It's just something I discovered on the Internet on Thursday. Could be crap for all I know. They have this doc on their website FWIW: "Farming in Philadelphia: Feasibility Analysis and Next Steps" http://www.spinfarming.com/common/pdfs/STF_inst_for_innovations_dec07.pdf http://www.spinfarming.com/common/pdfs/STF_inst_for_innovati...
082349872349872 6y ago
Our farms were doing fine with underemployed locals. One article I've read indicates they simply used twice as much field labour as they had with guest workers, so the work was only half as back-breaking.
- redis_mlc 6y ago
  Serious question: what city and what year?
  - 082349872349872 6y ago
    Switzerland, 2020. So far I've read articles about asparagus and leeks. There are probably more stories in the ag coop magazine, but I haven't been by the coop since February, having my feed delivered instead. https://www.srf.ch/news/regional/basel-baselland/corona-ernte-spargelstecher-aus-der-region-statt-erntehelfer-aus-polen https://www.srf.ch/news/regional/basel-baselland/corona-ernt... The newbies need not work as hard as harvest workers from the east. "We're twice as many as in a normal season. So everyone has only half the work." ==== Ganz so hart arbeiten, wie die Erntehelferinnen- und Erntehelfer aus dem Osten, müssen die Neulinge aber nicht. «Wir sind doppelte so viele, wie in einer normalen Saison. Also müssen auch alle nur halb so viel arbeiten»