3 ms·
There are similar numbers for conventional farming, and historical estimates too. There's a whole field of study on the EROI of agriculture. And yes, for all of
by perrygeo 4y ago
There are similar numbers for conventional farming, and historical estimates too. There's a whole field of study on the EROI of agriculture. And yes,
for all of human agriculture until roughly the industrial revolution, the EROI was over 1. By definition. 1 unit of labor + sun better equal at least 1 unit of food! When solar energy is the only external input and all mammalian labor provides the rest (which must be fed by the same crops that you're trying to grow), if you got less crop calories than it took to run the farm, you and your livestock would be dead.
- lifeonlars 4y agoSince the choice is not between these new types of farming and pre-industrial-revolution agriculture, that comparison doesn't matter much.. And even pre-industrial agriculture had specific elements which had a yield of less than 1 by this metric, in order to make specific things that humans wanted to eat. Since most humans don't like a diet of grass and oats, the huge excess calorie yield from those crops could subsidize low-yield farming of vegetables, meat and other delicacies.