I like this. Not because it's a good idea (it may be, but IMO is not), but because its exactly the kind of high level, open ended, open minded approach that i

I like this. Not because it's a good idea (it may be, but IMO is not), but because its exactly the kind of high level, open ended, open minded approach that is needed. I think that a lot of folks approach this problem thinking that land, fertilizer and water are the main issues. It makes sense, they are indeed the main inputs to plants. They are not however the main costs and inputs for large scale agriculture. For large scale ag the main costs from a societal standpoint are energy, labor and waste. Land where you farm is cheap and plentiful. Same with water and fertilizer (relatively). Labor needs to be imported, along with energy and managing storage and waste, including the food/grain market fluctuations are the main challenges. These are not solved by vertical farming. These are solved by automating tractors and harvesting equipment, making the path to market from the farm more straightforward and efficient, and figuring our our labor issues and not just ignoring them or hand waving saying robots will do it.