3 ms·

It seems pretty clear to me that high labor farming can use land area and water more efficiently per unit of food produced.

• Animats 5y ago
  Mechanization of agriculture has generally increased yields per unit area. By a lot. This kind of futurism is solving the problems people thought would be important a few decades back - overpopulation, insufficient food supply, declining energy sources, and nuclear war. Instead, we have population leveling off and declining in many areas, obesity, cheap solar and wind, and no use of nuclear weapons for 75 years. But we have a big problem with climate change, parliamentary democracy keeps deadlocking, and better communications led to each group of nuts finding soulmates and becoming a faction.
  • shkkmo 5y ago
    Do you have a source for that? My understanding is that irrigation, fertization and genetic improvements are what increased yields per unit area. All mechanization does is reduce labor costs. I would love to know what exactly you think mechanization itself does to improve yields.
    • Animats 5y ago
      Just as an example, here's a video of a field full of rocks in New England being prepped for planting.[1] Farming is not just planting and harvesting. There's tilling and plowing. Both of which are hard to do well in poor soils and need power to drive steel through soil. Mules and oxen just don't put out that much power. Humans even less. [1] https://youtu.be/3BfUsEGSSTg https://youtu.be/3BfUsEGSSTg