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>The protein yield per acre for soybeans vs mung beans is 6x. While this is probably not too unfair for mung vs. soy, it's important to remember that yield per

by scythe 6y ago

>The protein yield per acre for soybeans vs mung beans is 6x. While this is probably not too unfair for mung vs. soy, it's important to remember that yield per acre can't always be compared directly across crops that grow in different climates. Tropical climates can average well over 50" of rain per year while cold climates are wet if they hit 25", and the conservation of mass already affects cold-climate growth before taking into account any other factors. Hence chickens, which can live almost anywhere.

jcampbell1 6y ago
The optimal crop certainly depends on weather. In northern Brazil they double crop corn for insane yields of 22M calories per acre. In Wisconsin they grow wheat for 4m calories per acre. Farmers in the Midwest split between soybean (oil/protein 6m calories per acre) and corn (carbs 11m calories per acre). Optimizing yield per acre, adjusting for the value of oil/protein/carbs and weather is the best explanation for the current state of what gets planted. If you have a desert with access to cheap labor, water, and transportation, then the best thing to do is sell organic strawberries to rich people. Rich people don’t like spots on their fruit. I am a believer that the invisible hand is what drives farm decisions. As soon as someone invents a robot that can pick blueberries and deliver them to a store, I’ll never eat another banana.
- distances 6y ago
  I didn't quite get your last comment. Don't you have blueberries in your store already? Or was it a point about price? I definitely prefer bananas over blueberries so maybe I'm just confused.
GordonS 6y ago
Another factor is the amount of protein that each contains: Google says soy beans are 36g per 100g, whereas it's 24g for mung beans, so you'd need less quantity of soy to yield a given amount of protein. As a separate comment: wow, I had no idea mung beans contained that much protein!

by scythe 6y ago

jcampbell1 6y ago

The optimal crop certainly depends on weather. In northern Brazil they double crop corn for insane yields of 22M calories per acre. In Wisconsin they grow wheat for 4m calories per acre. Farmers in the Midwest split between soybean (oil/protein 6m calories per acre) and corn (carbs 11m calories per acre). Optimizing yield per acre, adjusting for the value of oil/protein/carbs and weather is the best explanation for the current state of what gets planted. If you have a desert with access to cheap labor, water, and transportation, then the best thing to do is sell organic strawberries to rich people. Rich people don’t like spots on their fruit. I am a believer that the invisible hand is what drives farm decisions. As soon as someone invents a robot that can pick blueberries and deliver them to a store, I’ll never eat another banana.

distances 6y ago
I didn't quite get your last comment. Don't you have blueberries in your store already? Or was it a point about price? I definitely prefer bananas over blueberries so maybe I'm just confused.

GordonS 6y ago

Another factor is the amount of protein that each contains: Google says soy beans are 36g per 100g, whereas it's 24g for mung beans, so you'd need less quantity of soy to yield a given amount of protein. As a separate comment: wow, I had no idea mung beans contained that much protein!