131–140 of 266 posts
I used to work with a company that modified shipping containers for a whole slew of uses, including hydroponic growing of vegetables. Shipping containers present a great solution to food production but sadly many of the companies I've seen attempt to do this sort of thing get bogged down in the details of implementing them to various clients (such as the article's mention of testing in Ethiopia). One company, however…
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Not specifically related to the farm. Ethiopia is a very non-free country, as is nearby Eritrea. We just don't hear much about it because journalism is impossible and the government is pro-west.
Can you explain "pro-west"? I suspect it means somebody who says "I like West. West will help us", not a liberal mind. Liberal philosophy roughly means freedom and same rights to everyone, including very bad persons, in exchange to strict execution of written laws. So to be truly pro-west, person must advocate same right to everyone, including e.g. gays, and strong independent court for everyone, including e.g. top l…
For comparison, see this article in Modern Farmer.[1] This guy has revenue of about $100K per acre and has books and tools on how to replicate his farming techniques. He's working on a turnkey small farming package, and has a track record of making small farms work.
It comes with WiFi, but not a tractor. Or even some small powered push-type tiller. Do they assume the farmer has an ox or a pair of mules? For $50K, they should at least throw in a decent garden tractor with a 3-point hitch and some basic attachments. Priorities. For comparison, see this article in Modern Farmer.[1] This guy has revenue of about $100K per acre and has books and tools on how to replicate his farming…
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If I was designing a two-acre farm to feed my family, I wouldn't devote much space to corn. Corn is a very useful crop but mostly once it's processed and you need a lot of it. Here's what I think I'd grow: Potatoes - Incredibly easy to grow. Produces a ton of food. Can be grown in trash cans on otherwise unusable land. Very versatile and useful in so many cuisines. If I had to place my bets on one staple crop, it's p…
> Potatoes - Incredibly easy to grow. I lost my entire crop to the Colorado Potato Beetle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_potato_beetle in 2016. Note: "However, many chemicals are often unsuccessful when used against this pest because of the beetle's ability to rapidly develop insecticide resistance." If that was my staple crop, I'd be dead of starvation right about now.
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>Don't forget the refrigeration system ... WHICH refrigeration system? I cannot find any mention of it: "Every unit comes equipped with a renewable power system, internet connectivity, basic farm tools, micro-drip irrigation system and water pump that can be adapted to fit either a groundwell or municipal water supply. Every Farm from a Box unit can be customized with optional components including sensors, water puri…
"A new thing that we’re deploying now is an internal cold storage system to make sure that we’re able to keep the crops fresher, longer, post harvest, before the crops actually get to market."
AFAICU the US$ 50,000/60,000 is for the "current" thing, not for the "new" one.
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> Potatoes - Incredibly easy to grow. I lost my entire crop to the Colorado Potato Beetle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_potato_beetle in 2016. Note: "However, many chemicals are often unsuccessful when used against this pest because of the beetle's ability to rapidly develop insecticide resistance." If that was my staple crop, I'd be dead of starvation right about now.
The target market for this container seems to be Africa, which does not seem to have the Colorado potato beetle.
Of course the idea is not to hate on potato as a crop but rather to stress the importance of genetic diversity in one's food supply.
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As much as it's fun to think about, food doesn't need to be grown in urban areas with expensive real estate. Green houses and hydroponics are great, but they can just as well be done on cheap land. The biggest difficulty in food production isn't land, water, and sunlight - its management at scale. This is why the vast majority of everyone's calories comes from large tractor managed commodity crops. As a metaphor, the…
> food doesn't need to be grown in urban areas with expensive real estate. It doesn't need to . But there's an increasing push towards looking for ways to cut the environmental effects of farming, and there transport is part of the challenge. There's also an increasing push for cutting time to market, despite traditional farms being further and further away from most consumers. Hydroponics in urban areas is likely to…
After experimenting with the hydroponics, vertical growing, etc. I've come to realize the best way to cut the environmental effects of farming is to make traditional boring broad acre farming restorative and regenerative. Moving farms into cities simply won't produce enough calories profitably enough to make any meaningful positive environmental impact.
Amazingly enough, there are a large number of well-educated farmers out there that are moving to no-till, alley cropping, key line design for water retention, and perennial crops.
One of the best voices for this new generation of farmers is Mark Shepard:
1. Most people in undeveloped countries know how to farm, but just lack specific necessities.
2. Unless you have knowledge of these electronic components, how would you ever fix them if they broke? That isn't very sustainable..
3. What is the point if you have Amazon? Instead of a large container, FedEx drop's it off.
in other word's, they are attempting to create a business where there is no need.