Joe Dirt to No Dirt: The Future of Farming is Vertical

September 29, 2018

Future Farmers may Have Vertical Mobility.

Below, slightly different take on same idea in California:

Posted by greenman3610
Filed in Crock of the Week

11 Comments »

11 Responses to “Joe Dirt to No Dirt: The Future of Farming is Vertical”

indy222 Says:

September 30, 2018 at 1:10 am
This looks much more expensive per Kale leaf than the old fashioned way. Don’t we have enough starving people who can’t afford food?

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- Keith Omelvena Says:
  
  September 30, 2018 at 9:48 pm
  Yep, looking for the most complex solution to the simplest of problems!
  
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- rhymeswithgoalie Says:
  
  October 2, 2018 at 12:11 am
  By “the old fashioned way,” do you mean outside in the rapidly changing climate? Perhaps you mean the crews of people stooping and cutting for 10 or more hours a day (if you can get them) when they are ready to harvest. Then there’s the old-fashioned insecticides and herbicides needing to be applied (timed to avoid the rain) to protect the vegetables.
  
  As for grain crops (as fish guy says, too high-volume for hydroponic scaling), check out the level of GPS-guided automation used to prep, plant, apply fertilizer or pesticides, and harvest. And before we turn up our noses at this start-up technology for still being to costly to feed starving people, remember that a lot of the crops in the US are grown as animal feed (or fecking ethanol!).
  
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dumboldguy Says:

September 30, 2018 at 10:05 am
Move over Solar Roadway—-here’s another “technical advance” that CAN be done but shouldn’t have any more time and $$$ wasted on it.

Yes, Louise, it is WAY more expensive per Kale leaf than the old-fashioned way, so much so that it is WAY beyond what we can afford to grow the rice, wheat, and corn that the starving people on the planet rely on so heavily.

As a project for a Botany class in college around 1960, I grew some radishes in a 2′ x 3′ hydroponic tank. Wasn’t all that difficult or expensive but would be if scaled up. Scratching up some soil in the back yard and dropping in the seeds would have taken little effort—maybe some watering during dry spells. It is hard to understand why people can’t just listen to Mother Nature on growing food—-our early ancestors did.

When the SHTF, no one is going to be “vertical farming”—the collapse of industrial farming in many places because of water and electricity shortages and rising heat, as well as difficulties of transporting food will have many people doing “horizontal farming” in their yards or in the nearest park or highway median.

Basically, This is a another “toy” for the well-to-do. A meal at the Viognier restaurant featured in the second clip costs $150 and the delivery vehicle for the kale is a freaking TESLA? ROTFLMAO!

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- dumboldguy Says:
  
  September 30, 2018 at 10:14 am
  Sorry—-indy222, not Louise in second paragraph.
  
  I had her name stuck in my head after reading her comment on another post that we hadn’t heard much about Musk lately—-there IS news of Musk—-this AM’s WashPost has an article about how he and Tesla were sued by the SEC, each paid $20 million fines by way of settlement, and Musk was removed as chairman.
  
  Reply
  - Gingerbaker Says:
    
    September 30, 2018 at 1:57 pm
    Did that article happen to mention that Trump appointed the new head of the SEC, who promptly dropped well-documented cases against Exxon Mobil before he went after Musk? No?
    
    Probably no reason to bring it up ……
    
    Reply
    - dumboldguy Says:
      
      September 30, 2018 at 3:24 pm
      Definitely no reason to bring it up….
      
      Unless, of course, you are a charter member of the MMM (Mu Mlux Musk) and are always ready to shoot a rocket towards Mars each and every time someone speaks TRUTH about Musk—-as I did here in a strictly NON-judgmental way.
      
      Tell us, GB, does the MMM use flamethrowers from The Boring Company to light the rockets? Do I need to worry about a group of MMM members riding up to my house in Model 3’s (if and when they’re finally delivered) and launching a rocket on my front lawn?
      
      Reply
      - Gingerbaker Says:
        
        September 30, 2018 at 3:49 pm
        You needn’t worry. They are nice fellows, and would respect the “Keep Offa My Lawn!!!” signs you have posted every seven feet around the perimeter of your property. ;>D
        
        Btw, members of the biggest Elon Musk fan club are called “Musketeers” and you can read about them here:
        
        https://www.theringer.com/2016/10/4/16044804/meet-the-internets-biggest-elon-musk-fans-6590531f1fe6
        
        And, if this article is to be believed, someone should enlist Musk to spearhead a Millenial voting registration drive:
        
        https://www.forbes.com/sites/deeppatel/2017/07/06/why-millennials-love-elon-musk/#5bd953da296c
      - dumboldguy Says:
        
        September 30, 2018 at 4:39 pm
        Yes, cults are a wondrous thing. Watched a PBS special on Jim Jones and the People’s Temple the other night. 900+ people DID die for Jim Jones. I wonder how many of the Musketeers are really willing to die for Musk while going to, landing on, or trying to survive on Mars?
        
        (And I AM glad that I won’t have to buy more signs for my property, although it DOES sound like the typical Musketeer wouldn’t see them unless he tripped over one—-don’t think many belong to Mensa)
      - rhymeswithgoalie Says:
        
        October 2, 2018 at 12:15 am
        There’s a difference between fawning over Musk and acknowledging that Trump uses the power of the Executive Branch to go after anyone who annoys or criticizes him (while dropping investigations or regulations on his friends).
Vertical Farms and Automation Says:

September 30, 2018 at 2:14 pm
[…] H/T to Climate Denial Crock of the Week for posting the video. […]

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