Episode-2575- Thoughts on Tactics and Tech for Changing the Global Food System
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One thing we know is the current food system works, shocked that I said that? Okay when is the last time you had money, wanted food and could not get any? This is true in most of the world, people that go with out food do so from poverty not scarcity. In fact billions of tons of good food it thrown away annually. So when I say works, I mean the main stated goal of the managed Global Food System is produce enough food to feed the world. It does that. We must start there or no meaningful discussion about correcting the many problems in this system can be had. Yes it works.
You know what also works? Nuclear bombs work! They do exactly what they are supposed to do, that doesn’t make them a good idea to drop on a whim though does it. Our current food system has many problems, some chief among them are….
- Ruins land, causes floods, creates deserts
- Pollutes water ways and oceans
- Using massive amounts of fossil fuels
- Destroys entire eco systems
- Treats animals with cruelty few can even imagine
- Centralizes control of commodity crops enabling harsh use of “soft power”
I could go on but honestly there is no need. No one actually involved in agriculture at a policy level denies any of this, it is seen for now as a “necessary evil” by most and a system of control by many psycopaths in high levels of power. (In that I am including bureaucrats, politicians, tecnocrats and oligarchs alike).
Into this world of problems there is a huge movement growing of “solutions” and that is great but like many such solutions there is an almost religious like attachment to individual solutions. Vertical farming will “save the world” is one cry while many (including me at one time) found the concept of paying for electric light when we have a sun, retarded on its face. Yet I just listened to a presentation showing that in 10-15 years the indoor production of rice, rice for God’s sake will be economically viable. You can see that here.
I find that to possibly be something that can be done, but likely not something we really need to do. I mean to me rice is the one grain that can really be grown in a truly sustainable system in the right environment. That said I can see why some nations may want to develop the ability to produce grain with such a technology for national defense reasons alone.
I can hear some of you screaming, “what about ReGen Ag Jack”? My response is totally, we need it, but I don’t think anyone doing real ReGen Ag is now or ever will be growing lettuce at commercial scale. The more I did into the many proposed solutions the more I am convinced as usual a decentralized holistic approach is the way to go. I am going to cover 4 solutions today, rest assured there are more, a lot more.
Join Me Today to Discuss…
- Solution One – Growing Food at Home
- Back yard gardens
- Small live stock – requires feed
- Indoor vertical farms – 500 bucks to start and produce over 100 dollars in food a month
- Other ideas
- Reality – society is not ready or willing to scale this beyond may be 10% of our needs
- Solution Two – Indoor Vertical Farming
- Does some things very well – shot turn and low growing crops (herbs and greens)
- Tech is now about 10 years into development, still early in the game
- Production is 100% predictable and control is complete and total
- Cost of start up is exceptionally high, operation cost is high, profit is solid for many
- Barrier to entry is high, technocrats are developing systems at a high rate of progress
- Solution Three – Greenhouse Farming
- Can use soil, hydro or aquaponics, most operations going in today are hydro
- Exceptional for greens and herbs, very good at crops like tomatoes, peppers, egg plants, cucumbers, etc
- High degree of control of climate
- Energy costs range from very high to very low
- Start up costs range from cheap to very expensive, but large scale is very expensive
- Barrier to entry is high but much lower than indoor farming, there are a lot of abandoned greenhouse operations
- ReGen Agricluture
- Does some things very well, livestock, trees, shrubs, perennials
- Alley cropping does well producing annuals but mainly is used to fund start up and establishment costs
- Requires large amounts of land, significant equipment for earth works
- Requires detailed knowledge of animal husbandry and some external feed
- In most instances can not be done near urban areas to due a combination of costs, regulations and scarcity of land
- Cost of entry is high yet financing is more available to many
- The Concept of Holistic Solutions
- Home production does what it can
- Indoor farms grow what they grow best
- Green houses grow even more and get better at what they do
- ReGen Ag produces perennials and meat and heals the land, rivers and streams
- We grow less grain, surrounded by perennial and grazing systems
- In time I think it and more will happen, why, we really don’t have a choice
Resources for today’s show…
- Follow Life With Jack on Instagram
- TSP Facebook Group
- Join the Members Brigade
- Join Our Forum
- Walking To Freedom
- TspAz.com
- Some Pretty Amazing Videos
- Fully Automated 110,000 dollar Shipping Container Farm
- Beautiful Example of a Greenhouse – Vertical Farm Hybrid
- Another interesting Greenhouse Based Hydro System
- Vertical Farm Where the Computer is the Boss
- Incredible Vertical farm in New Jersey
- PBS Segment on Indoor Farming in the Netherlands
- Glass House Vegetable Production in the Netherlands
- Great Playlist on Indoor Farming Includes Projections on Indoor Rice I Mentioned
- Rooftop Greenhouse in Canada
- Evil Woman – ELO
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Hi Jack, I’m really digging (no pun) the deep dive into high density hydro greenhouse growing. If you haven’t already, I suggest you take a look at your neighbor over in Collin County.
https://profoundmicrofarms.com/
Jeff’s business is serving 80+ DFW chefs and he is actually Doing everything you have discussed. He’s got some nice stuff posted to YT. I’ve learned a lot from watching him run his business.
Dang it why can’t any of this cool shit be on the Ft. Worth side. That drive is though the pit of hell of the mid cities but looks worth the trip. On the list.
We’ve got two similar, mid size operations in the Houston area and they’re selling some product to HEB, who likes buying from local farms. If USMCA increases Mexican Veg produce pricing, this could get much more profitable in TX.