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But what about vertical farming? It should continue to get more efficient.

by dmautz 5y ago

NortySpock 5y ago
You'd have to make it more efficient by either (a) adding IP (gengineering crops to grow more efficiently (b) driving down the cost of inputs (light/water/nutrients) (c) making production really dense to offset the cost of building a skyscraper even more than just buying cheap farmland I'm curious how much more cost efficient vertical farming can really get.
atatatat 5y ago
Something's missing, there, as far as properly reproducing conditions, but I haven't figured it out yet.
PaulDavisThe1st 5y ago
It needs more than efficiency. It's a great way to produce flavor and nutrient-dense food, but is almost unusable for calorie-dense food. That has to change before it's more than an interesting idea.
imtringued 5y ago
You are losing out on free energy from the sun. You'll have to generate it yourself.
dredmorbius 5y ago
Historically, the cheapest way to "grow" farmland has been to make marginal land more productive. And of methods for doing that, irrigation is the most effective. This speaks directly to Liebig's Law of the Minimum, which states that whatever factor is most critical in limiting plant productivity is the one whose adjustment will have the greatest impact on productivity. For plants, water is a cheap addition, it's frequently the critical missing factor in increasing land productivity, and will literally take you from 0 to 100% alone. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liebig%27s_law_of_the_minimum https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liebig%27s_law_of_the_minimum) By this reasoning, "vertical farming" is taking land as the limiting factor and literally requires building more land, substrate, water, sunlight, and nutrients in order to increase areal productivity. This is close to a maximally expensive expansion option. To date, vertical farming has been utilised only on very high-value crops, or those for which freshness is at an absolute premium. (Fresh crops can be moved across and between continents in days or hours, though quite often a 14-day transport with refrigeration retains freshness.) For bulk cereal staples, overall land area remains the principle limiting factor, with sunlight, water, topsoil, fertiliser, and pest control as principle inputs. Weather is another key factor, with freezing, damaging storms (hail, winds), and heat as major concerns.

But what about vertical farming? It should continue to get more efficient.

by dmautz 5y ago

But what about vertical farming? It should continue to get more efficient.

You'd have to make it more efficient by either (a) adding IP (gengineering crops to grow more efficiently (b) driving down the cost of inputs (light/water/nutrients) (c) making production really dense to offset the cost of building a skyscraper even more than just buying cheap farmland I'm curious how much more cost efficient vertical farming can really get.

atatatat 5y ago

Something's missing, there, as far as properly reproducing conditions, but I haven't figured it out yet.

PaulDavisThe1st 5y ago

It needs more than efficiency. It's a great way to produce flavor and nutrient-dense food, but is almost unusable for calorie-dense food. That has to change before it's more than an interesting idea.

imtringued 5y ago

You are losing out on free energy from the sun. You'll have to generate it yourself.

dredmorbius 5y ago

Historically, the cheapest way to "grow" farmland has been to make marginal land more productive. And of methods for doing that, irrigation is the most effective. This speaks directly to Liebig's Law of the Minimum, which states that whatever factor is most critical in limiting plant productivity is the one whose adjustment will have the greatest impact on productivity. For plants, water is a cheap addition, it's frequently the critical missing factor in increasing land productivity, and will literally take you from 0 to 100% alone. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liebig%27s_law_of_the_minimum https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liebig%27s_law_of_the_minimum) By this reasoning, "vertical farming" is taking land as the limiting factor and literally requires building more land, substrate, water, sunlight, and nutrients in order to increase areal productivity. This is close to a maximally expensive expansion option. To date, vertical farming has been utilised only on very high-value crops, or those for which freshness is at an absolute premium. (Fresh crops can be moved across and between continents in days or hours, though quite often a 14-day transport with refrigeration retains freshness.) For bulk cereal staples, overall land area remains the principle limiting factor, with sunlight, water, topsoil, fertiliser, and pest control as principle inputs. Weather is another key factor, with freezing, damaging storms (hail, winds), and heat as major concerns.