Difference between revisions of "Talk:Food"
From AdCiv
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− | * Vertical farms | + | * Vertical farms (feed 40,000-50,000 people) |
* Look into algae as a food source. Spirulina etc. | * Look into algae as a food source. Spirulina etc. | ||
+ | ** Seaweed is an underexploited food source. | ||
* Make the point about using the best strains of plants (possibly GM) for food. Free seed exchanges | * Make the point about using the best strains of plants (possibly GM) for food. Free seed exchanges | ||
* In-vitro meat | * In-vitro meat | ||
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* Automated agricultural equipment. Robot farmers | * Automated agricultural equipment. Robot farmers | ||
** Tractors and combine harvesters could be fully automated with today's technology. Application of GPS, vision system and cut-off safety boundaries near roads and habitation. | ** Tractors and combine harvesters could be fully automated with today's technology. Application of GPS, vision system and cut-off safety boundaries near roads and habitation. | ||
+ | * As fishing has become more and more hi-tech lately (sonar to find shoals of fish etc.) might it be possible to build autonomous fishing boats? This would save people from doing dangerous work. I can envision autonomous lobster pots that have sensors to tell when they've caught a lobster. This sensor would activate a mechanism to haul the pot back in. | ||
+ | * LED grow lights may actually improve yield by supplying just the right wavelengths, but the evidence is not in yet. | ||
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+ | ==How much land is needed to feed one person?== | ||
+ | * [http://urbanevolution.org/thinktank/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=11] "The data I keep coming across on the web and in gardening books suggests that, to provide an adequate, year-round vegetable diet (excluding grains) for a family of four using standardized organic gardening methods, you would need a garden plot about 4000-5000 square feet" That's 1000-1250 square feet per person, 93-116m<sup>2</sup> | ||
+ | * [http://tribes.tribe.net/permacult/thread/6ef985a6-1fc4-46d5-b5ab-6d04329afacd] "On approximately two acres-- half of which was on a terraced 35 degree slope--I produced enough food to feed more than 300 people (with a peak of 450 people at one point), 49 weeks a year in my fully organic CSA on the edge of Silicon Valley . If I could do it there you can do it anywhere." 2 acres = 8094m<sup>2</sup>. For 300 people, that's 27m<sup>2</sup> per person. For 450, it's 18m<sup>2</sup> | ||
+ | * Hydroponics: [http://www.carbon.org/senegal/india1.doc] "SH garden produces 2 kilos of vegetables a day per 20m<sup>2</sup> space." | ||
+ | * [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BRfvnCDOvE] 20m<sup>2</sup>, according to one of the guys who designed food production systems for NASA (probably aeroponics, though he doesn't specifically mention aeroponics in the video). | ||
+ | * At the very inefficient end of the spectrum: [http://www.cookinggarden.com/grow-garden-vegetables/how-many-acres-of-typical-land-would-it-take-to-grow-enough-vegetables-and-fruit-to-feed-a-person-for-a-year] "The current typical American’s food footprint load, including area left to meat, is approximately 2.1 acres. Traditional Victorian wisdom was that two acres would feed a person." 2 acres = 8094m<sup>2</sup>. |
Revision as of 16:02, 6 July 2010
- Vertical farms (feed 40,000-50,000 people)
- Look into algae as a food source. Spirulina etc.
- Seaweed is an underexploited food source.
- Make the point about using the best strains of plants (possibly GM) for food. Free seed exchanges
- In-vitro meat
- Seawater greenhouses
- Automated agricultural equipment. Robot farmers
- Tractors and combine harvesters could be fully automated with today's technology. Application of GPS, vision system and cut-off safety boundaries near roads and habitation.
- As fishing has become more and more hi-tech lately (sonar to find shoals of fish etc.) might it be possible to build autonomous fishing boats? This would save people from doing dangerous work. I can envision autonomous lobster pots that have sensors to tell when they've caught a lobster. This sensor would activate a mechanism to haul the pot back in.
- LED grow lights may actually improve yield by supplying just the right wavelengths, but the evidence is not in yet.
How much land is needed to feed one person?
- [1] "The data I keep coming across on the web and in gardening books suggests that, to provide an adequate, year-round vegetable diet (excluding grains) for a family of four using standardized organic gardening methods, you would need a garden plot about 4000-5000 square feet" That's 1000-1250 square feet per person, 93-116m2
- [2] "On approximately two acres-- half of which was on a terraced 35 degree slope--I produced enough food to feed more than 300 people (with a peak of 450 people at one point), 49 weeks a year in my fully organic CSA on the edge of Silicon Valley . If I could do it there you can do it anywhere." 2 acres = 8094m2. For 300 people, that's 27m2 per person. For 450, it's 18m2
- Hydroponics: [3] "SH garden produces 2 kilos of vegetables a day per 20m2 space."
- [4] 20m2, according to one of the guys who designed food production systems for NASA (probably aeroponics, though he doesn't specifically mention aeroponics in the video).
- At the very inefficient end of the spectrum: [5] "The current typical American’s food footprint load, including area left to meat, is approximately 2.1 acres. Traditional Victorian wisdom was that two acres would feed a person." 2 acres = 8094m2.