Agriculture is in crisis: the world's population is growing and traditional agricultural methods consume too much energy and yield too little food. The solution: skyscrapers with farms of hydroponic crops, robotic workers and laboratories for growing meat
Farming in the sky
By 2025, the world's population will increase from 6.6 billion to 8 billion people. Scientists predict a prolonged drought in the central part of the American West and widespread flooding of agricultural areas in Africa and Asia. Was the mathematician Thomas Malthus right, who predicted 200 years ago that agriculture would not be able to provide enough food for the world's population? So far, innovations in agriculture have helped overcome the problems, but resources are still limited.
There is no doubt - without rethinking the way food is grown, many people in the world may starve. Environmental scientist Dixon Despomia from Columbia University, as well as other scientists, offer a revolutionary solution: to establish agricultural farms in skyscrapers in city centers. In order to reduce energy consumption and increase food yield, a hydroponic growing method will be applied in the towers, without dirt [and the sewage that will flow from the environment will be used as a source of energy]. The transfer of agricultural farms to towers will make it possible to clear agricultural areas for planting trees, in order to reduce the carbon dioxide content in the atmosphere. Moreover - the vertical farms make it possible to grow the food near the place where it is eaten, and beyond saving expenses, this also reduces the amount of pollutants that are emitted during transport: this has a significant saving, since if you add to the emission of pollutants during the processing and transport of the crop and the cattle, the methane gas that they emit is also added Farm animals, agriculture is responsible for 14 percent of the greenhouse gas emitted in the world.
It is still not possible to purchase food products grown in vertical farms. Until now, the projects of urban agriculture have been limited to small-scale experiments carried out in neighborhood parks. Despomia's vision goes much further: a 30-story, $200 million tower that would span an entire block of buildings and provide enough fruit, vegetables, and poultry for 50,000 people. "With sewage entering and food exiting, the vertical farm may operate as a kind of machine in constant motion that feeds many people," he says. Most of the technology already exists, according to him, and with certain improvements, the project may start operating soon - with a budget of about 0.25 percent of the subsidy paid to American farmers in the last decade, that is, about 500 million dollars.
Despomia advises investors from Abu Dhabi and South Korea who are considering setting up vertical farms in new eco-cities. In Seattle and Las Vegas they invest in similar projects but on a smaller scale. Turn the page and discover the farms of the future - which we drew inspired by advanced research by agricultural companies and scientists. If the initiative succeeds, Malthus's grim vision may be pushed back another 200 years.
"aquaponic" pools
In both hydroponic crops and fish ponds it is possible to get a high yield, but a lot of maintenance work is necessary. Soilless hydroponic systems require frequent addition of nutrients, and fish ponds require constant cleaning of the water. However, when the two are combined into one "aquaponics" system, the disadvantages become advantages: the waste of the fish nourishes the plants, while the plants clean the water.
The system of the "automatic conveyor belt", invented by the Israeli company OrganiTech, which specializes in automatic agricultural systems, promotes "aquaponic" agriculture by another step. In the slow current of the pond, floating trays of plants are carried, pass through feeding mechanisms and at the end of a cycle of several weeks they are ready for harvesting. Protein-rich tilapia fish swim in the pond and the ammonia-rich waste they emit sinks into a gravel bed that contains bacteria that convert it to nitrogen.
The nitrogen-rich water is pumped to plants that consume the nitrogen and the clean water is returned to the fish.
Robots take care of plants
Hydroponic methods already give farmers 30 times higher yield per acre than traditional agricultural methods. In vertical farming, it is possible to reach an even higher yield - many times more - with the help of special feeding mechanisms and lighting 24 hours a day.
However, not all crops respond well to hydroponic methods. Some of them - for example potatoes or citrus fruits - must be rooted in a semi-hard material, such as dirt or coconut fibers. The design that appears here - by the Canadian company Omega Garden - makes this possible. In the growing system that resembles a ferry propeller, the plants are grown in porous trays that are filled with vermiculite stones and arranged in a cylindrical device that occasionally moves in a rotary motion to immerse each row of plants in a channel of nutrients.
David Moshe had a lab coat
Since the plants will not be able to adapt for millions of years to growth cycles in an indoor hydroponic environment, the botanists will find out and multiply the varieties that produce the best results. Other scientists will develop special fertilizers that will ensure that the plants contain nutrients important to the human diet, such as selenium and zinc.
For fear that insects or various disease agents will succeed in penetrating the protected environment, the farmers who enter the building will be required to wear special suits and pass through sealed doors. The scientists will cover the plants with genetically engineered bacteria that glow when dangerous or harmful diseases are discovered - in order to warn farmers of an outbreak.
Raising cattle is not worthwhile - only 3 percent of the energy invested in raising a cow ends up as protein on the plate. Scientists prefer to grow chicken, pig or cow stem cells in the laboratory, based on a diet of water, sugars and natural proteins. To improve the texture of the meat, the muscles are activated with the help of electrical signals. The rich texture of good umza is hard to recreate, but lab-grown sausages or chicken snacks will become commonplace in a decade.
Energy from the sewer
The vertical farm is not a manufacturing plant and nothing else. It also makes it possible to redesign the urban infrastructures in a way that simulates the cycle of resources in nature. This is especially evident in the tower's basements, where the sewage helps provide the farm's most essential resources: energy and water. The municipal sewage system will be routed from around the tower to the farm, and about half of the amount will go through the SlurryCarb machine developed by the start-up company EnerTech from Atlanta. The machine heats the sewage under pressure, and breaks it down into its basic components - carbon and water. The water is then separated and the solid suspension is burned to drive steam turbines to generate electricity.
The remaining sewage is treated with germicides and converted to topsoil in a heating and drying process developed by N-Viro, an Ohio-based company specializing in the recycling of solid biological materials. The water that is separated in both processes is filtered using natural biological means, such as zebra snails or red reeds, until it is clean enough for agricultural needs - or to the level of drinking water. All waste from the farm is converted into fertilizer or methane gas that can be burned to produce energy.
Residents of the area purchase food products that are produced in the vertical farm in the supermarket on the ground floor of the tower, and electric trucks transport the goods to more distant markets.
16 תגובות
Giving up on the idea of the pig. Besides, it is possible to produce animal proteins from animals that do not exist today
Hahaha... Bilderberg for his exclusive club group, can only dream of my life of simplicity and basicity!
By the way, as time passes and the density increases, it turns out that the same things that have always happened in nature (tsunamis, earthquakes, volcanoes, floods, etc.), simply kill more people. Add to that the countless human reasons for mass extermination (infection, cancer, the race to develop vaccines/mutations in bacteria, car accidents, wars, etc.) - and you will get the possibility that the world's population will drop below one billion, it is not an imaginary thing at all. Sometimes we are so full of confidence in our reality, and forget that it rests on such shaky foundations...
Toing, everything is true, provided that the population of the earth drops below a billion people. Is this what conspiracy buffs claim Bilderberg wants to achieve? are you a member there
I don't know what shocks me more; The physical state of agriculture, or the state of thinking and self-responsibility of humans.
In the simplest calculation, it is possible to summarize the agricultural areas on which vegetables and fruits are grown, which are the nutrients, in a tiny percentage compared to the areas where grains are grown for the global meat industry. Beyond a complete and healthy diet, even before saving on health problems and diseases, will give a completely different picture regarding vacant land areas.
Instead of continuing in the direction that developed agriculture in its industrial/corrupting directions, it is better to go back to the past and take it to its original reason - producing nutritious food and not food that necessarily enriches those involved in it.
With the right support and copying the attention, it can exist and will exist for many, many more years!
What is Israel doing in this regard, for agriculture in the future, to prevent shortages and hunger. With proper planning, up to 25 billion people can be fed. Beyond that, it would be necessary to develop a pill that provides all the nutrients in one meal.
Therefore there is no reason for there to be hunger in the world, even in a population of 6 billion
About twenty years ago, a facility like this was built at the directorate of agricultural research, Volcani Institute, seedlings were planted in holes in styrofoam boards, every few minutes the roots were sprayed with a food solution,
There was control over the light, the temperature and in such a facility, without soil, tomatoes and other vegetables could be grown, and wheat could also be grown there. All this about twenty years ago,
And why doesn't Habarakah now remind us of such a nice Israeli past?
It's a paradox, that the improvements in agriculture in the last 200 years have jumped miraculously, the efficiency of crops has increased miraculously, and there are still millions of hungry people in the world.
There always will be, if the rate of human population growth remains the same.
Why do Gadaluf and his friends always chant in their songs of praise to Africa "give them food".
Has anyone thought of sending them condoms?
Everything has already been written in "Ishmael" by Daniel Quinn. You are welcome to read the following quote from Wikipedia and continue reading the book:
"...humanity is captive to a wrong cultural assumption, which motivates it to conquer and destroy the world, and harm the other organisms that share the world with it.
Ishmael says that on the face of the earth there are two human cultures with different and opposing values. The Takers - the "civilized" human culture that emerged after the agricultural revolution (99% of all humans), and the Leavers - the primitive human culture that believes that man is part of the whole of nature and was not created to control it. They take only what they need to live on, and leave the rest.
The predatory culture ignores the law that all animals enforce, the law of limited competition, and works in three ways to save itself: 1. It destroys its competitors. 2. It destroys the food sources of its competitors, to make room for its own food. 3. She denies her competitors access to food..."
http://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%99%D7%A9%D7%9E%D7%A2%D7%90%D7%9C_(%D7%A1%D7%A4%D7%A8)
Hand. You're right, but you have to be careful:
The readers here will surely guess that I have other reasons why I strongly support the cancellation of grants that encourage childbirth, but here I want to point out another aspect of this type of action - if it is taken carelessly.
One of the reasons for the upheaval that the United States economy is going through is the fact that the Baby Boom generation is getting old and retiring and no similar economic (productive and consumer) power comes under it.
European countries also suffer from a similar problem and in order not to collapse they have loosened the reins of immigration a lot - something that leads - gradually - to their Islamization.
Therefore, one should be very careful when trying to intervene in the course of affairs on this issue.
Assaf is right and it does not contradict what Michael says.
What bothers me is that there is almost no discussion (mainly in Israel, by the way) about the issue of childbirth.
It is much easier to have 2 children instead of 3 than to reduce by a third your nitrogen emissions/waste production... People understand this, but refuse to internalize and apply. In my opinion, limiting the birth rate (not a limit like in China, but encouraging not having a baby by taxing the place and allowances) is an important step in the right direction - which, as mentioned, does not contradict the technological progress in the various fields. The article is very interesting, by the way.
It will be good and not consume a lot of electricity if all the external walls are covered with solar energy panels
Asaf:
Your words are of course correct but are not in contradiction with the rest of the things said here.
All in all, we must continue to work on expanding the earth's carrying capacity (which is indeed limited, but the size of the limitation is a function of our efforts to increase it)
Any development will not be useful without the fundamental understanding that: our ball is limited in its capacity
To support living and plant populations, an understanding that will lead to the necessary decision:
Limit the size of the human population:
It has already been said:
It's time to:
Instead of controlling the environment for the sake of the human population,
There will be control over the human population for the sake of the environment!
I think the development will be done in a completely different way, and much cheaper!.
Varieties will be genetically developed that can use salty water, for example a combination of tomato and seaweed,
and fruits that grow on mangrove trees.
Really ready for the salad of the grandchildren of the science responders,
Especially the vegetable ones.
How am I for you Michael?
enjoy your meal!
Sabdarmish Yehuda
But the plants will not see the sunlight.
The whole tower will consume a lot of electricity and then what good are the sages?