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That's until they manage to stack vertically six layers of planted wheat, then you have 156x the yield per acre. You don't need to move all farming indoors eith

by lp4vn 4y ago

That's until they manage to stack vertically six layers of planted wheat, then you have 156x the yield per acre. You don't need to move all farming indoors either to create a big impact, if some countries manage to move indoors only 20% of the farming for instance, that's already a huge change by any possible measure, be it environmental, economic or geopolitical. And also your remark about the energy cost doesn't seem correct, if that were true any kind of indoors agriculture would be too expensive to be possible.

timmaxw 4y ago
But if you stack six layers, each layer needs its own set of LEDs, or else the lower layers wouldn't get any light; so the energy usage per unit of wheat is the same. (In fact, if you look at the photos and video on https://www.infarm.com/vision https://www.infarm.com/vision, it seems like they're already doing multiple layers, each layer with its own set of LEDs; so the energy-usage-per-acre is probably already significantly more than direct sunlight.) > And also your remark about the energy cost doesn't seem correct, if that were true any kind of indoors agriculture would be too expensive to be possible. My understanding is that commercially-viable indoor agriculture works by focusing on expensive foods that are not very energy-dense, like fresh leafy greens. According https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-018-0706-x https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-018-0706-x, the cost of electricity to grow fresh leafy greens indoors is 1% of what they can be sold for. But to grow tomatoes, the cost of electricity is 18% of the selling price; and to grow grains, the cost of electricity is 10,000% of the selling price!
forgetfreeman 4y ago
Ok so let's run with this a bit. The US uses on average 90 million acres of land annually for grain production. If we stack 10 deep we'd need a 8-10 story structure the size of Vermont.

by lp4vn 4y ago

timmaxw 4y ago

But if you stack six layers, each layer needs its own set of LEDs, or else the lower layers wouldn't get any light; so the energy usage per unit of wheat is the same. (In fact, if you look at the photos and video on https://www.infarm.com/vision https://www.infarm.com/vision, it seems like they're already doing multiple layers, each layer with its own set of LEDs; so the energy-usage-per-acre is probably already significantly more than direct sunlight.) > And also your remark about the energy cost doesn't seem correct, if that were true any kind of indoors agriculture would be too expensive to be possible. My understanding is that commercially-viable indoor agriculture works by focusing on expensive foods that are not very energy-dense, like fresh leafy greens. According https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-018-0706-x https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-018-0706-x, the cost of electricity to grow fresh leafy greens indoors is 1% of what they can be sold for. But to grow tomatoes, the cost of electricity is 18% of the selling price; and to grow grains, the cost of electricity is 10,000% of the selling price!

forgetfreeman 4y ago

Ok so let's run with this a bit. The US uses on average 90 million acres of land annually for grain production. If we stack 10 deep we'd need a 8-10 story structure the size of Vermont.