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posted by Fnord666 on Saturday December 29 2018, @07:41AM   Printer-friendly
from the terrace-farming dept.

Submitted via IRC for takyon

Urban farms could be incredibly efficient—but aren't yet

In some ways, hyper-local food is a counterculture movement, focused on growing herbs and vegetables in the same dense urban environments where they will be eaten. It trades the huge efficiencies of modern agriculture for large savings in transportation and storage costs. But is urban farming environmentally friendly?

According to researchers at Australia's University of New England, the answer is pretty complex. Within their somewhat limited group of gardeners, urban agriculture is far more productive for the amount of land used but isn't especially efficient with labor and materials use. But the materials issue could be solved, and the labor inefficiency may be a product of the fact that most urban farmers are hobbyists and are doing it for fun.

The researchers—Robert McDougalla, Paul Kristiansena, and Romina Rader—defined urban agriculture as taking place within a kilometer of a densely built environment. Working in the Sydney area, they were able to find 13 urban farmers who were willing to keep detailed logs of their activity for an entire year. Labor and materials costs were tracked, as was the value of the produce it helped create. The energetic costs of the materials and labor were also calculated in order to assess the sustainability of urban farming.

The plots cultivated by these farmers were quite small, with the median only a bit over 10 square meters. Yet they were extremely productive, with a mean of just under six kilograms of produce for each of those square meters. That's about twice as productive as a typical Australian vegetable farm, although the output range of the urban farms was huge—everything from slightly below large farm productivity to five times as productive.

For the vast majority of crops, however, the urban farms weren't especially effective. They required far more labor than traditional farms, and, as a result, the total value of the inputs into the crop exceeded the income from selling it. In other words, the urban farmers were losing money, at least by traditional accounting measures.

PNAS, 2018. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1809707115  (About DOIs).


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  • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Saturday December 29 2018, @09:34AM (19 children)

    by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Saturday December 29 2018, @09:34AM (#779641) Journal

    The watering and weeding are massively disproportionate to the yield.

    Watering, true. I don't get it why weeding is massively disproportionate.

    Cost? When you buy soil, make planter boxes, and buy seedlings: also excessive..

    No need to buy seedlings (unless you want to diversify), you can raise them yourself from seeds.
    On the run, in my case, watering is the main cost.

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  • (Score: 2) by MostCynical on Saturday December 29 2018, @09:40AM (10 children)

    by MostCynical (2589) on Saturday December 29 2018, @09:40AM (#779642) Journal

    S.O.'s laziness/desire for instant gratification, crossed with being time-poor means seedlings appear after trips to nursery.. Weeding is excessive, as I have to it all, as rest of family gets bored after a few minutes..

    Watering, at least, is automatic.

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    • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Saturday December 29 2018, @09:59AM (9 children)

      by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Saturday December 29 2018, @09:59AM (#779647) Journal

      Watering, at least, is automatic.

      Automatic as it may be, for the last 3-4 years the cost of water alone is higher than the cost of the produce that I'm obtaining from the veggie patch (about 80-90sqm in raised beds. Grass clippings make a fertilizer good enough between crops, I haven't bought manure or extra soil since I established the patch about 10 years ago).
      It still worth it for the taste.

      S.O.'s laziness/desire for instant gratification, crossed with being time-poor means seedlings appear after trips to nursery.. Weeding is excessive, as I have to it all, as rest of family gets bored after a few minutes..
      I'm not counting the human effort on top of the water prices. I'm doing in spare (i.e. unpaid) time anyway.

      --
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      • (Score: 5, Insightful) by VLM on Saturday December 29 2018, @03:00PM (3 children)

        by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Saturday December 29 2018, @03:00PM (#779686)

        Watering, at least, is automatic.

        I can't speak for anyone but its possible OP was being sarcastic; being east of the Mississippi I get near four feet of rain per year and I only actively water my container garden because it drains too well or there's a short term drought (two weeks or so). Fairly common to skip many watering days due to rain.

        This will never work in Las Vegas or CA in general, but bad places to live are just bad places to live. Kinda like don't move to the UP of Michigan if you don't like snow, don't live in a desert if you like to garden anything other than psychedelic cactus (which might be fun?)

        • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Saturday December 29 2018, @08:53PM (2 children)

          by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Saturday December 29 2018, @08:53PM (#779800) Journal

          I can't speak for anyone but its possible OP was being sarcastic

          Australia's weather patterns vary considerable in space/time (OP lives downunder too).

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          • (Score: 3, Funny) by gawdonblue on Saturday December 29 2018, @09:18PM (1 child)

            by gawdonblue (412) on Saturday December 29 2018, @09:18PM (#779805)

            Australia - that's in Texas, right?

            • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Saturday December 29 2018, @10:02PM

              by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Saturday December 29 2018, @10:02PM (#779819) Journal

              West Texas to be more precise

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      • (Score: 2) by tibman on Saturday December 29 2018, @05:53PM (4 children)

        by tibman (134) Subscriber Badge on Saturday December 29 2018, @05:53PM (#779758)

        Water is free if you have a rain barrels. My county sells barrels and conversion kits for 25$. Less water going into draining ditches is better for everyone.

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        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 29 2018, @06:50PM (1 child)

          by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 29 2018, @06:50PM (#779779)

          And that's probably illegal to do that. Here in Seattle, the city bought the water rights to most of the city, so if you're located in one of those areas, you're both free and encouraged to collect as much rain that falls on your property as possible. Due to most of the water immediately running off into the ocean, the water rights must not have been very expensive. It's also a bit of a benefit in that it helps those times when we get 5" of rain in a single day.

          But, in most of the country, it's not legal to collect rainwater as you don't own the rights to it. I don't think it's a commonly enforced law when it comes to people's houses, but it isn't legal.

          • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 29 2018, @11:42PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 29 2018, @11:42PM (#779848)

            That's not even uniform in the USA. It's mostly true in western states but it's not necessarily true in the east.

            There's a whole history this, related to how pioneers came in and then were in conflict with later settlers who violated their early norms ... complex topic.

        • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Saturday December 29 2018, @08:46PM (1 child)

          by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Saturday December 29 2018, @08:46PM (#779798) Journal

          Water is free if you have a rain barrels.

          I have rail water tanks, I just don't have enough rain.

          --
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          • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Saturday December 29 2018, @08:49PM

            by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Saturday December 29 2018, @08:49PM (#779799) Journal

            s/rail/rain/g

            --
            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 29 2018, @09:54AM (7 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 29 2018, @09:54AM (#779645)

    I don't get it why weeding is massively disproportionate.

    Compare manual work bent 90° or on your knees vs. a huge tractor that drags 69' wide cultivator at 6-10 mph autonomously, by GPS. It does not make sense to grow anything on small fields, unless you just want to.

    • (Score: 3, Interesting) by c0lo on Saturday December 29 2018, @10:08AM (6 children)

      by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Saturday December 29 2018, @10:08AM (#779648) Journal

      Compare manual work bent 90° or on your knees

      Why should I bend to 90° when 30° is enough? (grin)
      Raise beds means I get to spare at least my knees.

      It does not make sense to grow anything on small fields, unless you just want to.

      In any case, some produce don't need tractors - have a Toshiba lettuce [qz.com] grown in former clean rooms. Haven't tasted it tough.
      And yes, one can't self sustain oneself from hobby gardening - that's clearly a choice.

      --
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      • (Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday December 29 2018, @04:36PM (5 children)

        by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Saturday December 29 2018, @04:36PM (#779722) Journal

        And yes, one can't self sustain oneself from hobby gardening - that's clearly a choice.

        Humanity has had subsistence farmers for thousands of years. Today, we have ways of massively increasing yields, while reducing and automating the work. Maybe a hobbyist can sustain themselves with a shipping container sized garden. Of course, that might cost them $100k and they need some land to stick it on. But it could be a better investment than buying a boat.

        Fast forward 20 years and the hobbyists could be even better off. Imagine a container that had a plexiglass roof with an automatically retractable cover, and sensors to let in a fixed amount of sunlight. The outside of the container could be covered in flexible solar panels to power internal LED grow lights. You could have little robots inside capable of harvesting the produce at exactly the right moment. Sensors could determine the health of each plant and when a tomato, cabbage, whatever will not benefit from remaining unpicked. Aquaculture (fish) could be integrated into the system to provide nutrients. Etc. I can't guarantee this arrangement would provide the dietary variety you need, but excess produce could be sold, traded, or preserved/canned.

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        • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 29 2018, @04:47PM (2 children)

          by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 29 2018, @04:47PM (#779729)

          Bad news: the problem with cost is very real in the scenario you describe. You can get jaw-dropping levels of production if you use layered aeroponics, with solar panels feeding carefully placed, tuned LED grow lights, with doped water sprays and calibrated environmental controls, CO2 injection and drone-based maintenance.

          Of course, by then you'd damn well better be harvesting gold nuggets, or it's just not worth it.

          This is the problem with farming: it's a terribly capital-intensive industry, producing commodities, with wildly varying price structures based on unforeseeable events. Your cyberpunk farmtronic proposal will turn a profit possibly once a decade, and the rest of the time bleed money like a drunkard in Vegas.

          • (Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday December 29 2018, @05:00PM

            by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Saturday December 29 2018, @05:00PM (#779734) Journal

            No problem, just hand out some tax breaks and call them victory gardens!

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          • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Saturday December 29 2018, @09:52PM

            by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Saturday December 29 2018, @09:52PM (#779814) Journal

            Depends on the crops and weather conditions
            In Australia growing lettuce, kale, herbs in shipping containers [abc.net.au] is a reality. The investment is jaw-dropping ($200-300K for a 40ft module), but one has some advantages:
            - no weeding or using pesticides, sterile crops (or go bust) at harvest with no need for washing
            - the "farms" can be placed very close to highly urbanized area - there are the eateries and restaurants with a predictable volume so you can plan for capacity
            - no (chilled) storage space necessary, practically no transport cost
            - very fresh produce makes a premium produce - the affluence of people working in the business district means you can put a modicum premium on the price.

            In the linked:

            "In the farm itself we can grow up to 1,000 heads of lettuce a week, so about 52,000 lettuce heads a year."

            The retail price for a lettuce head in supermarket is around $2 - 2.5. At this price, my guts feel a ROI in 7-10 years (if ever; power prices is a killer in Australia) - quite far from being a highly attractive business proposition.
            However, in highly urbanized areas, like Hong Kong or Japan, it may make business sense.

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        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 29 2018, @05:44PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 29 2018, @05:44PM (#779756)

          What would you want a fixed amount of sunlight for? AFAIK there aren't many crops that are so dependent on daylight-length that this is necessary, and it would be cheaper just to go full-growlight for those. For temperature regulation, a purely mechanical system using pneumatic pistons to open/close a vent depending on the temperature is cheap and efficient (completely passively, dependent only on temp changing internal pressure).

        • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Saturday December 29 2018, @10:17PM

          by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Saturday December 29 2018, @10:17PM (#779824) Journal

          Fast forward 20 years and the hobbyists could be even better off. Imagine a container that had a plexiglass roof with an automatically retractable cover, and sensors to let in a fixed amount of sunlight.

          You mean something more like Modular Farms [modularfarms.com.au]?

          'Cause, no, if you don't stack the crop vertically, all you have is a(n automated) glass-house - you already are in the "diminishing returns" zone relatively to normal glass-houses. And if you go with vertical farming, a retractable roof won't get you enough light. Plus, the roof/wall surface won't get you enough PV surface to power all the LEDs you need to use.

          --
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