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I am ignorant about agricultural research budgets, but $10M does not seem like a very serious amount to prove the basic concept and, much more importantly, the
by onthecanposting 3y ago
I am ignorant about agricultural research budgets, but $10M does not seem like a very serious amount to prove the basic concept and, much more importantly, the viability of scaling an industrial process. This is interesting, but I am guessing this is perceived by the program managers as a total moonshot.
- ianai 3y agoThey remediate certain superfund sites with spinach leaves iirc. And I think it’s bacteria that make nutrients from inorganic sources available for the rest of us (ie rocks). As for budget, 10M seems pretty great for what reads as a “proof of concept” level effort. You can buy a farm for ~1M and 9M left over. (They won’t do that I imagine but just to illustrate.)
- onthecanposting 3y agoThe land would be the easy part. Hiring a PI, a team of subject matter experts on botany, metallurgy, and genetics, a few skilled lab technicians, a couple programmers or statisticians, an environmental compliance expert, and whoever else I forgot, probably costs more than $1M/yr and ideally there would be more than a single team. I have no idea what reagents and bespoke GMO plants cost, but it can't be cheap.