4 ms·

Ah, I got the impression from the comment that it was not space efficient (massive fields). It seems like smaller fully automated fields could also do?

eru 1y ago
Oh, the bigger fields still have very high yield per acre. > It seems like smaller fully automated fields could also do? In principle, yes, but your machines will probably be idle much of the time, if there's not enough land to keep them busy. So it's not worth it, unless the machines get really cheap.
- hinkley 1y ago
  The reason you see people planting rice seedlings in wet fields in movies and TV is that the rice being planted is already the second or third crop of the year. Someone somewhere sowed rice seed densely in a single plot, to use to replant several times as much acreage by transplanting. They can also in some cases raise fish in the same terrace, and herbs or other crops on the walls between them. Farmers of Forty Centuries is an out of copyright book from ~1903 that details the findings of a research group from IIRC England who wanted to understand how the Chinese have been farming the same fields for four millennia without exhausting them. They were doing three crops a year back 120 years ago. A lot of it is down to accumulating silt over time by irrigating with silty water, and dredging the irrigation canals every so often to start new fields with the take.
  - dr_dshiv 1y ago
    The rice attract bugs. The fish eat the bugs. The fish excrement fertilizes the rice. Fish-rice farming is an excellent example of Harmony in design.
    - hinkley 1y ago
      My African violets were always amazing when I still kept fish. Any time they were looking ragged, a cup of fish tank water would not only restore them but force a bloom within a handful of weeks.
    - eru 1y ago
      > The rice attract bugs. The fish eat the bugs. The fish excrement fertilizes the rice. How does this square with conservation of matter?
      - hinkley 1y ago
        Venus fly traps work because insects have a larger range to forage and they bring protein to the plants in an environment where soil nitrogen is a challenge.
OneDeuxTriSeiGo 1y ago
It also might depend on what they mean by yield. Rice has a high yield in terms of resulting food content/calories but rice is generally pretty cheap per kilogram. Other higher profit crops may result in a higher yield in terms of revenue but lower yield in terms of calories/nutrition.

eru 1y ago

Oh, the bigger fields still have very high yield per acre. > It seems like smaller fully automated fields could also do? In principle, yes, but your machines will probably be idle much of the time, if there's not enough land to keep them busy. So it's not worth it, unless the machines get really cheap.

hinkley 1y ago
The reason you see people planting rice seedlings in wet fields in movies and TV is that the rice being planted is already the second or third crop of the year. Someone somewhere sowed rice seed densely in a single plot, to use to replant several times as much acreage by transplanting. They can also in some cases raise fish in the same terrace, and herbs or other crops on the walls between them. Farmers of Forty Centuries is an out of copyright book from ~1903 that details the findings of a research group from IIRC England who wanted to understand how the Chinese have been farming the same fields for four millennia without exhausting them. They were doing three crops a year back 120 years ago. A lot of it is down to accumulating silt over time by irrigating with silty water, and dredging the irrigation canals every so often to start new fields with the take.
- dr_dshiv 1y ago
  The rice attract bugs. The fish eat the bugs. The fish excrement fertilizes the rice. Fish-rice farming is an excellent example of Harmony in design.
  - hinkley 1y ago
    My African violets were always amazing when I still kept fish. Any time they were looking ragged, a cup of fish tank water would not only restore them but force a bloom within a handful of weeks.
  - eru 1y ago
    > The rice attract bugs. The fish eat the bugs. The fish excrement fertilizes the rice. How does this square with conservation of matter?
    - hinkley 1y ago
      Venus fly traps work because insects have a larger range to forage and they bring protein to the plants in an environment where soil nitrogen is a challenge.

OneDeuxTriSeiGo 1y ago

It also might depend on what they mean by yield. Rice has a high yield in terms of resulting food content/calories but rice is generally pretty cheap per kilogram. Other higher profit crops may result in a higher yield in terms of revenue but lower yield in terms of calories/nutrition.