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As part of my job I keep close tabs on all alternative ways of farming. I have yet to find a model that is profitable and scalable. A lot of profitable "farms"

As part of my job I keep close tabs on all alternative ways of farming. I have yet to find a model that is profitable and scalable. A lot of profitable "farms" make money by selling their ideal to other wannabe farmers. Courses, books, influencer schemes, you name it. Or they sell their produce to rich, idealistic people, who can afford to pay 10x the price of regular produce. Or they are truly innovative, but make money by selling their technology. None of this is scalable or capable of replacing the system we have right now. Even vertical farms, with all venture capital that has flown into it, are basically incapable of competing with age old greenhouses.

na85 6y ago
>I have yet to find a model that is profitable and scalable. Too bad, because commercial farms are shitty in almost every way.
- spiderfarmer 6y ago
  "Please don't post shallow dismissals, especially of other people's work. A good critical comment teaches us something." https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
542458 6y ago
I don’t think the goal of this farm is to produce a lot of food or make money (the article talks about this), and so measuring it by those metrics is a bit misguided. Is an open source project a failure because it never makes a dime? Of course not. The goal isn’t to get rich or solve all the world’s problems. The goal of this farm is to give a few outcast people a place they can be happy. There are many interesting problems surrounding feeding the world, but nobody here is claiming to be trying to solve them - which is fine!
burntoutfire 6y ago
Current farming is strictly exploitative, it consumes tons of limited resources such as oil or quality topsoil - of course something more sustainable and responsible won't be able to compete with it. Perhaps in a couple of decades these resources will become more scarce (and thus more expensive) and alternative approaches will be closer to economic viability.

na85 6y ago

>I have yet to find a model that is profitable and scalable. Too bad, because commercial farms are shitty in almost every way.

spiderfarmer 6y ago
"Please don't post shallow dismissals, especially of other people's work. A good critical comment teaches us something." https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

542458 6y ago

I don’t think the goal of this farm is to produce a lot of food or make money (the article talks about this), and so measuring it by those metrics is a bit misguided. Is an open source project a failure because it never makes a dime? Of course not. The goal isn’t to get rich or solve all the world’s problems. The goal of this farm is to give a few outcast people a place they can be happy. There are many interesting problems surrounding feeding the world, but nobody here is claiming to be trying to solve them - which is fine!

burntoutfire 6y ago

Current farming is strictly exploitative, it consumes tons of limited resources such as oil or quality topsoil - of course something more sustainable and responsible won't be able to compete with it. Perhaps in a couple of decades these resources will become more scarce (and thus more expensive) and alternative approaches will be closer to economic viability.