Greenhouses & vertical farms can't transform ag for a very simple reason. They can *only* grow high-value fruit & veg (because energy & money). That's maybe 10% of global ag. Staple crops are the backbone of our diet & you can't grow em indoors (energy & money!). www.wsj.com/tech/larry-e... - ThreadSky

tamarhaspel.bsky.social • 3 days ago

Greenhouses & vertical farms can't transform ag for a very simple reason.

They can *only* grow high-value fruit & veg (because energy & money). That's maybe 10% of global ag.

Staple crops are the backbone of our diet & you can't grow em indoors (energy & money!).
https://www.wsj.com/tech/larry-ellison-hawaii-greenhouse-farm-food-2d260e1f

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markzecwrites.bsky.social•3 days ago

They also can't be used to grow meat, which is the bigger issue when it comes to agricultural emissions.

arkhamfantasy.bsky.social•3 days ago

They can already grow a 100% authentic whey that’s affordable and only uses a fraction of the resources of traditional dairy, as long as states and countries don’t ban it then fermented meat will be what most people eat because it’s a lot more effecient only to grow the parts you want.

jamesheathers.bsky.social•3 days ago

And this has been the case for ages, turns out cereals and the sun are pretty known quantities in the ‘light into calories’ malarkey

nonviolence.bsky.social•3 days ago

Every window in every heated building could act as a greenhouse and grow food? We deploy CO2 machines in greenhouses instead of using our own CO2. We could enjoying more plant O2 and better air.
https://bsky.app/profile/nonviolence.bsky.social/post/3lgayon5bxc2r

lettucewrangler.bsky.social•3 days ago

Heated Greenhouses only barely make sense for growing high value produce. It's not clear to me that vertical farming EVER pencils out.
It just adds so much labor and energy cost for nominal productivity gains.
My hot house basically only works bc it helps generates seedlings which make my field

lettucewrangler.bsky.social•3 days ago

And cold houses more productive

satyric.bsky.social•3 days ago

It seems like this is something that would have been figured out on a napkin before any money was invested into this, if anyone was allowed to criticize the rich guy in charge.

tamarhaspel.bsky.social•3 days ago

To be fair, there is a place for greenhouses - tomatoes, strawberries, some greens, can be grown that way and it will fill a niche. Vertical farms not so much.

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