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I think this sort of work is important because it gives us data to focus on improving. Like solar power efficiencies, I think there is lots of room to improve o
by arminiusreturns 6y ago
I think this sort of work is important because it gives us data to focus on improving. Like solar power efficiencies, I think there is lots of room to improve on vertical farming output which will be vital for a few reasons.
Reason one, is that I think one lesson we've learned and are still learning is that the original model of the internet that senses damage and routes around it is still a strong model, and I think the same applies to food. To reduce the impact of food shortages, we need to get more people farming again essentially, and a small vertical farm can be had for those people regardless of if they have land or suitable land for traditional growing, and the cost are likely to be similar to solar panels and be one that is subsidized at first or at least given tax breaks.
Reason two is that I think the same work will be of vital importance for future space faring missions. If we can get closed loop ecosystem sustainability heavily improved we might be ready for something like a real Mars trip/settlement etc. Personally I advocate for adding other systems to the closed loop to feed off each other, aka auqoponics, etc to add a meat source (fish) into the loop etc.
So we have a decent study on wheat. Now lets get the yield potentials for everything else under the sun so we can start optimizing better. Probably end up with focus on whatever has the highest calorie output to price to produce ratio.
- cagenut 6y ago> Now lets get the yield potentials for everything else under the sun so we can start optimizing better. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsaufB5F8dk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsaufB5F8dk That presentation is by one of the same scientists referenced in the linked paper, Dr. Bruce Bugbee, the one who grew wheat on the ISS. He has a whole youtube channel that goes into more detail than you can imagine: https://www.youtube.com/c/Apogeeinstrumentsincorporated/videos https://www.youtube.com/c/Apogeeinstrumentsincorporated/vide...
- yourapostasy 6y ago> ...the original model of the internet that senses damage and routes around it is still a strong model... I wonder if "packetizing" food production in a vertical permaculture food forest form factor is feasible? In other words, instead of vast monoculture swaths, use interdependent crops in interlocking planting patterns, predicated upon the assumption that robot-vision-assisted labor is practical.
- AlotOfReading 6y agoAgriculture already has widely deployed vision-based machines with human-level intelligence. They're called farm laborers. The way the market currently exists in much of the world, they're barely paid peanuts, let alone minimum wage. If it's a practical business model, it should be practical somewhere in the world simply using existing human workers.
- jkinudsjknds 6y agohuman intelligence might not meet the bar here. General intelligence isn't better than dumb neural nets for doing a task well and at a big scale.
- pm90 6y agoLook up crop rotation. Before we had modern mass produced synthetic fertilizers, crop rotation was essential in restoring nutrients in soil that would be depleted by monocultural farms. I believe the reason it’s not practiced today (at least on industrial farms) is simply because it’s much cheaper simply to use fertilizers and grow more of the same kind of crops.
- pbhjpbhj 6y agoCo-planting too (just like in Minecraft!) - some crops give mutual 'support' to one-another (sometimes literally).
- nradov 6y agoFood shortages are caused by natural disasters and political problems such as wars, not by lack of places to grow crops. We have plenty of farmland and farmers. If your vertical farm is caught in the middle of a war or flood then it won't be able to operate.
- sudosysgen 6y agoYou can build vertical farms underground or at high ASL to avoid these issues.
- Spooky23 6y agoUntil your substation gets shelled or bombed.
- nradov 6y agoUnderground spaces don't get flooded? Soldiers aren't able to walk up hills?
- sushshshsh 6y agoI could think of a few designs that would fight the flooding problem actually
- sudosysgen 6y agoThere are ways to design underground spaces to avoid flooding, yes. Basically, you put them on a hill :) Now you have an underground farm at high ASL. Problem fixed.
- handmodel 6y agoI'd like to see crop prices listed by expenditures. Something like this: For every $10 of wheat produced it costs - $X for gas for production $X for transportation and packaging $X for human labor $X for machinery $X to buy the land etc. I'm guessing that land ownership is a tiny minority of this - and if you are building towers that are 50x more expensive than an empty field it would make the process more expensive and less energy efficient if you factor in upfront costs. Making land more efficient is great but I don't think it is the limiting factor for supplying ample food for everyone in the country or the world.