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Philips Is Revolutionizing Urban Farming With New GrowWise Indoor Farm
Kristine Lofgren writes: With arable land dwindling and the cost — both economically and environmentally — of growing and transporting food increasing, it's time to redefine farming. So Philips is creating a revolution with their new GrowWise indoor farm, which uses customized 'light recipes' in high-tech cells to grow plants that don't need pesticides or chlorine washes, and use a fraction of the water that traditional farming requires. The system can churn out 900 pots of basil a year in just one square meter of floor space, and bees keep things humming year-round for farming that is truly local, even in the middle of a city.
Overfertilization is an issue because farms can't economically control the runoff from their farm.
That's not an issue here as the hydroponic system fully contains the water.
Infact it is much more economical, with a system this size, to recycle the water as it finishes a run through your system instead of dumping it. A good amount of nutrients stay unused. So you scrub out the waste, fix the nutrient imbalances, and send it back through the system. That's why these guys claim as low as 5L of water for a kilo of tomatoes, instead of the 30-60L for other greenhouses and 214L for standard farming (from a quick google search).
I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it!
Doesn't the government still pay farmers to NOT grow food as part of a subsidy program to reduce supply and thereby artificially raise prices?
I'm a libertarian and hate subsidies, but having many farmers as relatives, feel I have to correct your misinformation.
Lets say the price of corn hits something insanely high like $10/per bushel.
You might think to yourself "I should get into this corn farming thing" and invest money in starting up a farm.
As you do that starting a farm is expensive. Equipment for farming corn is unique and can't be used for something like Peas. But the price of corn is so high, it's worth it.
After you harvest you get your money... whew! What a good investment! But by the 2nd year you realize a lot of other people had the same idea you did and they started corn farms as well. The market is glutted with corn, the price crashes to $1/bushel
But you notice Peas are selling really high so you switch to farming peas. It costs you a fortune for new equipment but you get your peas planted...
and 2 years later, you run into the same problem, everyone switched crops at the same time you did, Pea prices fall through the floor and you're trying to buy back your corn equipment.
This happened at the turn of the century a LOT. No individual farmer can be expected to accurately predict the price of corn the following season. So the feds do it for them. They offer a floor on the price of their crops, and they pay farmers not to plant. This stabilizes the market, prevents over-saturation and allows farmers to be more efficient. The cost to the government is actually a net profit because those wild swings in the market price cost them a lot of tax revenue.
Milk a woman
Not practical unless you are talking Kate Upton or a clone. But the clones are generally augmented and therefore not as suitable for milk production.
"Currently I'd bet yes, this meets the necessary requirements for Organic"
No, Organic certification forbids the usage of artificial irradiation.
Indoor lighting != natural radiation.
Indoor lighting == non-ionizing radiation. Irradiation == ionizing radiation (usually, and most certainly here).
Of course news about a fake are Fake News.