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What vertical farming and ag startups don't understand about agriculture

thinkingagriculture.io

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Re: What vertical farming and ag startups don't understand about agriculture

#11

Post by Brajeshwar »

About two years ago, I started with a much fancier AgTech with Hydroponics. Went all the way to the YCombinator interview in Mountain View (the last one for Indians), and rejected with something in the lines of "not advanced enough".

Spent time researching, talking, and more researching about the core problems of Agriculture in India. It is one sector where everyone loves to toss and play around, the most politically involved and abused, with huge numbers but contributing less than 20% of the total Indian GDP. Everyone seem to have a vested interest -- both good and bad.

At times, I'm shit-scared that I'm trying to help solve something so massive and gigantic that if I can make an iota of difference, it would be huge.

Of course, my hammer is Technology and I'm trying to find just the precise nail-heads to hit, one at a time.

Re: What vertical farming and ag startups don't understand about agriculture

#12

Post by thomasfromcdnjs »

akajakaj wrote: post #6

Of course they don't understand it, their field is technology. Agriculture requires years of specialisation and most people here if they do have a degree are computer scientists, doctors, biologists, etc. But it's rare to find someone who has genuine passion and knowledge of agriculture. It is far removed from the city lifestyle and it is incredibly hard to break into, both for land reasons and because it's a hard jo…

Agreed. I grew up in rural Australia, when I moved to the city it was funny to see people talk about farmers in a willy nilly fashion. Farms are extremely hard to build, and the knowledge to run them has to be built into tradition. I'd wager if a governments policies bankrupted a large amount of them, you could almost starve the nation with no remedy. It would take lifetimes before anyone learnt how to till the land again.

Re: What vertical farming and ag startups don't understand about agriculture

#13

Post by degraafc »

I spent a few months at a consulting company working with a precision agriculture startup, and my mind was totally blown when I first learned how much technology goes into agriculture these days. I feel like a lot of tech people have a mental image of outdoor farming still being somewhat primitive (I certainly did!) which could cause the misconceptions mentioned in the article.

Re: What vertical farming and ag startups don't understand about agriculture

#14

Post by logicNSci »

akajakaj wrote: post #6

Of course they don't understand it, their field is technology. Agriculture requires years of specialisation and most people here if they do have a degree are computer scientists, doctors, biologists, etc. But it's rare to find someone who has genuine passion and knowledge of agriculture. It is far removed from the city lifestyle and it is incredibly hard to break into, both for land reasons and because it's a hard jo…

Specialization sure, but science is universal.

Unless agriculture is built on trade secrets or art, you can contribute.

This is one of my criticisms of Medical. It's not a science or the barrier to entry would be significantly lower, and as a result cost would be lower.

Degrees are good, but not necessary if you can do math and get experience.

Re: What vertical farming and ag startups don't understand about agriculture

#15

Post by antoniuschan99 »

I really like this video series from Exa Cognition on Vertical Farming that goes over many of the issues the article posts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnCQuwCtqJg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGyAeqdkkbw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGyAeqdkkbw

And here's a video from Techno Farm he mentioned

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEfyPlyJfKA

Re: What vertical farming and ag startups don't understand about agriculture

#16

Post by cyberbanjo »

Valgrim wrote: post #10

I believe I've never actually eaten soy, and I rarely eat corn. I'm also pretty sure the amount of wheat humans eat is less than what we feed to poultry and livestock. The author seems to conflate the purpose of the "modern row-crop farmer" (which is mainly to repay their huge debts and to feed cows and chickens), and the solution touted by vertical-urban-aqua-dome-whatever-ponics: to provide year-round, local, fresh…

You've probably eaten more corn than you know.

1:Corn has made its way into everything: a Washington Post article

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/07/14/how-c...

Re: What vertical farming and ag startups don't understand about agriculture

#17

Post by MattGaiser »

AndrewKemendo wrote: post #8

I would hope that the savviest of SV or startup folks recognize that the actual planting, growing and harvesting of crops isn't the thing that they are trying to innovate on. Rather it's the disastrous logistics chain and resultant waste, leading to overproduction and augmentation of our food system, is the problem trying to be solved.

> actual planting, growing and harvesting of crops isn't the thing that they are trying to innovate on.

There are enormous problems there, such as a heavy reliance on human labour for picking and processing.

The problem with going after waste reduction is that the tab for that is picked up through subsidies. The inefficiency is in policy.

Re: What vertical farming and ag startups don't understand about agriculture

#18

Post by julianeon »

Brajeshwar wrote: post #11

About two years ago, I started with a much fancier AgTech with Hydroponics. Went all the way to the YCombinator interview in Mountain View (the last one for Indians), and rejected with something in the lines of "not advanced enough". Spent time researching, talking, and more researching about the core problems of Agriculture in India. It is one sector where everyone loves to toss and play around, the most politically…

You seem like the right person to ask about this.

My sense was that hydroponics were so expensive that they really only made sense for one crop: marijuana. If your plant is selling for $1000, then spending $50 per plant to increase its yield and 'baby' it so that it sells for $1200 makes sense. But for most plants, it doesn't make economic sense. (Tomatoes, maybe. But they're going to have to sell for a higher price point, in more expensive markets).

Is that accurate? I'm an amateur so if this is uninformed, feel free to correct me.

Re: What vertical farming and ag startups don't understand about agriculture

#20

Post by Justsignedup »

coderintherye wrote: post #3

The author here has a good premise, although glosses over many things. Yes, "vertical farming" is over-hyped. That said, the author didn't mention weather or pesticides/fertilizers at all. Statements such as "Current agriculture doesn’t need an artificial energy source" are plain wrong. Producing fertilizers takes quite a bit of artificial energy and the bulk of the corn and soybean farmers the author is pointing to…

I would like to build on top of your point:

- Indoor farming would not have to worry about things like drought. As a water feeding system can be led all the way to the ocean and the salt removed using pure sunlight as power.

- Indoor farming has shown to yield crops with 96% less water in many cases, again solving the problem mentioned previously.

- Many areas don't have ready access to tons of water so these water conservation techniques will be absolutely necessary.

- The lack of need for pesticides and weed killers and other poisons will also have major advantages.

- The indoor operation can be significantly less emitting in terms of greenhouse gasses. Without the need for large gas powered machines for harvesting, these crops can be way more efficient.

- The indoor operations can be built vertically thus allowing cities to feed themselves without having to ship food across the globe, further providing exhaust benefits.

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