Difference between revisions of "Talk:Food"

Revision as of 17:50, 8 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. Luther Burbank . Free seed exchanges
• Semi-wild food production - forest gardening, home gardens  like in Tanzania etc.
• 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.
  • As a really easy application, I can envision autonomous lobster pots that have sensors to tell when they've caught a lobster. This sensor would activate a mechanism to either haul the pot back in along a cable, or else to release a weight so it rises to the surface.
• 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. He goes on to say, "In a good but somewhat sloppy design, you need about 500 square feet ( 47m² ) per person MAXIMUM. In a very good design, 200 square feet ( 19m²) will do the job."
• 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).
• [5] ""It takes about 15,000 to 30,000 square feet of land to feed one person the average U.S. diet," he says. "I've figured out how to get it down to 4,000 square feet. How? I focus on growing soil, not crops." " 4000 square feet = 372m²
• [6] "Ecology Action has dedicated almost a quarter-century to rediscovering the scientific principles that underlie these traditional systems. The people in Biosphere II in Arizona have been using techniques based on those outlined by Ecology Action: they raised 80 percent of their food for two years within a "closed system." Their experience demonstrates that a complete year's diet for one person can be raised on the equivalent of 3,403 square feet!" 3403 square feet = 316m²
• [7] 1000 square feet = 93m²
• At the very inefficient end of the spectrum: [8] "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.

So figures vary wildly for organic farming. I tend to believe the higher estimates, 300-400m², as there's a lot of hype around organic farming issues. (Though the quote from David Blume is interesting; he does seem authoritative.) For controlled-environment growing, figures are consistent at about 20m², coming from credible sources based on actual experience.