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Have you heard anyone with agricultural training saying that because every person in the industry I've listened to thinks vertical farming is a silly silicon va
by VBprogrammer 6y ago
Have you heard anyone with agricultural training saying that because every person in the industry I've listened to thinks vertical farming is a silly silicon valley hipster fad.
- LMYahooTFY 6y agoAre there some links to elaborate on this topic you could/would share? Vertical farming certainly seems like an awesome idea with obvious benefits, but there are clearly plausible obstacles and drawbacks that I don't know enough about agriculture to deem valid or not.
- VBprogrammer 6y agoSorry, I don't have time to dig much out. The tldr is that we tend to overestimate the inputs like water and fertilizers and underestimate the massive amount of energy added by the sun.
- mensetmanusman 6y agoSolar energy is getting so inexpensive and more TWhr installations will come online in the next century, it’s still possible we can use that energy. I’m thinking more on the 100 year timeline.
- quixoticelixer- 6y agoYes but plants have built in solar panels, you need to have solar energy that is much more efficient than plants and also very, very cheap
- netrus 6y agoBut then you will need the space freed from agriculture for the solar energy production, instead of forests? In the end, isn't a field of corn a massive solar energy plant?
- mensetmanusman 6y agoBut not nearly as much land would be required, if Nebraska was covered with solar panels, that would be enough for the world: https://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=200+W%2Fm%5E2+*+area+of+nebraska+%2F+world+power+usage https://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=200+W%2Fm%5E2+*+area+o...
- Polylactic_acid 6y agoA real improvement would be to reduce the amount of grain we need to produce. Cutting down on beef consumption would have a huge impact.
- mtalantikite 6y agoI saw this a while back when I went into a big research hole on this topic: https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2014/02/indoor-urban-farms-called-wasteful-pie-sky https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2014/02/indoor-urban-farms-... . LEDs have certainly gotten more efficient and cheaper since that lecture, but I think the general argument is still the same. The sun is pretty damn powerful.
- pvaldes 6y agoAgricultural training is not the same as landscaping or nature restoration. Agriculturally trained means "I know how to grow corn". Or potatoes, or maybe even 10 or 20 species of veggies in a monoculture, that must grow just for a limited amount of time before collapsing, following a set of very clear instructions and killing anything that stands in the path. Is the equivalent as being able to copypaste a small "hello world" program on internet.