Has Agriculture Reached Its Peak?

[charlz]

Seems that irrigating arid land is one way to increase growing food crops. Large tracts of land in Mexico have made productive that way.

This whole part of Idaho is desert without irrigation. Unfortunately a lot of land under irrigation is getting turned into housing tracts and the water is going to lawns. However, everywhere I drive pivot sprinkler irrigation systems are being put in and more arid land is being turned into irrigated land. Not sure where the water is coming from though.

 

[DFB]

Well here we go with the artificial food...would-you-eat-lab-grown-burger?

 

[dave1949]

Well here we go with the artificial food...would-you-eat-lab-grown-burger?

“It’s all a bit daft really, isn’t it?” read one typical comment. “They should spend all those billions it’s going to take to get these things into supermarkets on a massive advertising campaign telling people ‘just eat broccoli.’ It’s sustainable, cheap, and doesn’t taste half bad tossed in a bit of garlic butter.”

If the broccoli has those little green worms left in it, it's probably a nutritionally complete food. :laughing:

Aquaponics in cold climates needs a good energy strategy to be functional year-round. Heat, lighting and pumping water takes energy. The heat would be the most of it as I don't think lots of water needs to be circulated from what I have read. In any case, it's all at low head pressures.

 

[forgeblast]

http://www.growingpower.org/aquaponics.htm is located in MI, they do aquaponics in an old warehouse. We have a place near us (Near scranton, pa) that is an old corning plant, that they are harvesting 12 times a year lettuce, and other crops.

 

[Depmandog]

.... Aquaponics in cold climates needs a good energy strategy to be functional year-round. Heat, lighting and pumping water takes energy. The heat would be the most of it as I don't think lots of water needs to be circulated from what I have read. In any case, it's all at low head pressures.

Keeping a breeding stock of fish alive year round would be key. Assuming each location would be unique, maybe the fish tank is built into the ground - inside a small greenhouse. If the fish tank is deep enough into the ground - it should keep the fish alive. How to filter and oxygenate would be a problem to overcome.

Seeds could be harvested to restart the vegetable growing process when seasonal conditions allow.

Power for pumping could easily be provided with a small solar panel. Light and heat not critical if the growing was suspended. Just a thought.

 

[DFB]

Ebb and flow...hydroponics is very effective especially for lettuce. Things like tomatoes lose flavor with too much water though. My nurse gf has one of those grow lamps thingys an Aero Garden. It actually is a mini hydroponic system. Works pretty effectively too. She loves growing her little stuff indoors.

NASA proven LED lighting

 

[tcreeley]

I've have been reading that after 20 years of gmo crops- the soil is dead with all of the no till crap that goes into the ground. Likewise- extensive irrigation/fertilzer areas are also doing a job on their growing areas.

We can always grow food- but we follow cheap labor- and that is in South America. The US with its growing droughts and high heat areas is doomed across the sun belt.

Local to Maine hydrophonics green house grows tomatos year round "Maine is ideally suited for greenhouses, because it is easier to heat up a greenhouse in the winter than it is to cool it down in the summer -With the new greenhouse, the company will almost double production from about 75,000 pounds of tomatoes harvested per day to about 150,000 pounds.
- See more at: Hydroponic tomato grower expands with 75 new jobs in our backyard
View attachment 351528

 

[DFB]

I would be pretty cool to imagine every home or urban apartment having a small indoor greenhouse system to supply the most basic produce needs... I remember reading about a fellow up in Maine growing greenhouse tomatoes during the winter energy cost both heat and lighting were the most prohibitive factors involved back then.

 

[Inventive1]

Prices at the grocery stores in this area have been steadily rising and quality seems to be declining somewhat. Higher prices encourage more people to plant gardens to cut their monthly grocery expense. More gardens mean more food is being produced.

It wouldn't surprise me if food consumes more of the average family's budget over the coming years. In recent decades, food has been very cheap in the US. When looking at the history of food prices, even 100 years ago, food was more expensive than it is today. (In inflation adjusted dollars) Prior to the mechanization of agriculture, folks spent a large portion of their time in obtaining food.

 

[dave1949]

Tilapia, probably the least finicky fish to raise, likes water around 75*F minimum. Trout is doable with better water quality and cooler temps supposedly. Yellow perch can take cool water. Yellow perch love earth worms, so you could add vermiculture to the aquaponics.

http://www.growingpower.org/aquaponics.htm

I could see community-scale greenhouse and aquaponic operations that produce a lot of local food. There would be some economy of scale available. One family set-ups would be more difficult. It would be something like milking cows, someone has to tend to the thing on a fairly regular basis probably.