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The greater problem to solve is maximizing nutrition for communities while minimizing the carbon costs of providing it. Vertical farms fit into that equation by
by hctaw 6y ago
The greater problem to solve is maximizing nutrition for communities while minimizing the carbon costs of providing it. Vertical farms fit into that equation by moving production closer to the people that eat the produce, and making it more available to food/nutrition deserts in urban areas.
Extending growing seasons or returning farmlands to wildlands miss that point. The bigger problem in the latter is livestock anyway.
- mannerheim 6y agoMost of the carbon costs of providing food comes from the process of growing it, not transporting it. Most of the carbon costs in transportation also come from consumers driving to and from grocery stores. See: https://www.salon.com/2012/06/16/eating_local_hurts_the_planet/ https://www.salon.com/2012/06/16/eating_local_hurts_the_plan...
- pfdietz 6y agoIn the US, we use more energy cooking food than we do growing it. Agriculture is only about 1% of total energy demand.
- mannerheim 6y agoFood has to be prepared in any event. On the other hand, a move to locally produced food to save energy from transportation can be more than cancelled out if the production requires more energy input.
- frankus 6y agoWhat you have to watch out for is displacing housing to build vertical farms. It’s absurdly cheaper and easier to move food for a person into a city than to move that person in and out of the city on a daily basis.