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I would assume that the biggest factor in this would be that the racks and solar panels make it very difficult to use large machinery such as tractors and harve
by Gasp0de 3y ago
I would assume that the biggest factor in this would be that the racks and solar panels make it very difficult to use large machinery such as tractors and harvesting machines? Somehow this isn't even addressed.
- 867-5309 3y agothese look geared towards small-scale, high $/kg farming for berries, veg, and other hand-picked food. I'd imagine anything on a larger scale for high-yield grain farming would be a waste of land
- MadcapJake 3y agoYou're correct that this is limited to manual harvesting but isn't that pretty common for partial shade crops?
- Valgrim 3y agoIt's also pretty common to use solar fields for pasturing, especially where the slopes are too steep for heavy machinery.
- baron816 3y agoPartial shade crops include broccoli, asparagus, kale, carrots, brussels sprouts, peas…basically all the healthy stuff. Adding a whole second revenue stream to their production would make them more competitive with the unhealthy stuff (corn, rice, wheat).
- ianai 3y agoCorn is an absolute miracle. It probably took hundreds of years for native Americans to cultivate and domesticate corn to the nutrient crop we know. Those three crops feed humanity. They shouldn’t be shunned for what modern food processing practices. The US alone produces enough corn to feed well over 2 billion people per year.
- baron816 3y agoSure, but it’s just imbalanced in people’s diets, partially because of the cost differential.
- toomuchtodo 3y agoThe racking is either spaced to allow machinery between rows, or panels are suspended using cables and a structure above the machinery max height. Not a consideration for crops that are hand harvested. https://www.farmersjournal.ie/agrivoltaics-can-crops-and-solar-panels-be-co-located-753181 https://www.farmersjournal.ie/agrivoltaics-can-crops-and-sol... https://d3mdtxxgfz6upn.cloudfront.net/WEBFILES/000/753/181/1964818-753181.jpg https://d3mdtxxgfz6upn.cloudfront.net/WEBFILES/000/753/181/1...
- __MatrixMan__ 3y agoIf you're already putting structures in the field with the plant, I wonder if they could support the movement of smaller machines that do the same task. Instead of driving a factory over the crop, imagine a variety of smaller robots zooming around on rails or something. Like https://farm.bot https://farm.bot but huge.
- sholladay 3y agoI would also like to see that discussed. There may be enough space on the ground for more compact machinery to do a similar job. Each machine might be less productive, but they would cost less, so you could have more of them and the operation would be more parallelized.
- samwillis 3y agoFarm machinery got "big" because it enables one human to be more productive, cover more area in one unit of time. Human time is one of the most expensive resources in farming. As we automate more farming, and move to self operated machinery, we can shrink those machines down again. We can design fleets of machines to work in tandem, and operate around other structures, such as solar. The age of the tram lines is going to come to an end. This also provides opportunities for replacing chemicals with small robots, such as for weeding.
- Throw73849 3y agoOr maybe use illegal cheap labour from another country. Something like feudalism, but more modern!
- samwillis 3y agoYou joke, but there are a lot of crops that can't easily be machine picked, and probably never will be. Although I'm a proponent for legal safe immigration for sessional work with a route to permanent residency. The lack of legal routes results in unsafe working conditions and modern slavery.
- Throw73849 3y agoWhy would I joke? People are cheaper than machines. Edit: "illegal" in terms of work law, minimal salary and safety standards. Legally imported workers are probably even cheaper and easier to exploit! Until we establish socialism, human labour will always be exploited and cheaper than machines!
- samwillis 3y agoMy mistake, I usually assume someone openly proposing illegal immigration, rather than safe legal immigration, as a solution is joking.
- ianai 3y agoAh but now supplemented with a push to legalize child labor in the US.
- epistasis 3y agoSeems pretty straightforward to seeing appropriate machinery and use that instead of machinery designed for an entirely different setting.