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  • From: georg parlow <g.parlow@gmx.at>
  • To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] soilless crop production
  • Date: Wed, 12 Sep 2012 19:28:41 +0200

Hm, in one of the linked articles it says
"Indeed, even in today's single-storey glasshouses, artificial lighting is needed to enable year-round production. Thanet Earth, a 90- hectare facility which opened in Kent in 2008 and is the largest such site in Britain—it provides 15% of the British salad crop—requires its own mini power-station to provide its plants with light for 15 hours a day during the winter months. This rather undermines the notion that vertical farming will save energy and cut carbon emissions, notes Mr Head, who has carried out several studies of the idea. Vertical farming will need cheap, renewable energy if it is to work, he says."
Sure does not sound like a sustainable idea, or does it?

Georg



Am 09.09.2012 um 04:25 schrieb venaurafarm:

On 9/8/2012 10:09 PM, venaurafarm wrote:

That was it, efficient, effective ways to grow food in a space
environment. Petri dish for cultured muscle tissue for the grill or
microwave. This was part of a Google+ conversation in comments on a
Google+ post with a friend.

Still, sprouts need only water while grasses and other plants need
growing medium that is soil-like i.e. sunflower, a recyclable scaffold
for the roots to grow into with nutrient, similar with spirulina and
chlorella, container and nutrient. In a space environment I would assume
they would maintain a culture library of beneficial microorganisms for
use in food production and sewage treatment, recycling humanure as
soil-like growing medium and nutrients and secondary biological
treatment of liquid back to potable water; they already do this.

More of my comments in this thread:

Needless to say we need to conserve and protect our best farmland
for production of the cleanest, most natural, most nutritious food for
mankind. Elimination of toxins, contaminants, gmo's, all categories of
pesticides will be mandatory. Full engagement with soil building
programs for 1) season extension 2) water and nutrient conservation 3)
building soil quality through the right kind of tillage, cropping
system, application of soil amendments, mineral, macronutrient,
beneficial organisms will also be mandatory. Using permaculture methods
will make all this possible. Here's to health and happiness!

<>

Need less food with better, more complete, maximum nutrition. This is
here now. Food combining for maximum digestion for maximum nutrition for
maximum health and longevity. Raw foods is one of the strategies used to
achieve this goal. Food combining for raw foods dieting = combining
foods at a meal that are compatible, not antagonistic, i.e. no acid
foods with starchy foods, only one kind of protein at a meal, no protein
with starchy foods, eat separately; vegetables with starches or
vegetables with protein, fruit alone: sweet along, acid alone, some
subacid can be eaten with vegetables, i.e. peaches and tomatoes with
vegetable salads - there's lots to this type of raw foods diet. For more
info obtain a used copy of Viktoras Kulvinskas book: Survival In The
21st Century: A Planetary Healer's Handbook (with artwork by Peter Max).
This is a really good book. Other works include those of Ann Wigmore on
sprouts, raw foods and cultured foods such as seed cheese. There's lots
on all these people on the Web, try a Google search. Add traditional
Japanese macrobiotics nutrition - very excellent, controlled dieting,
excellent nutrition, fermented probiotic foods, kim chee, kraut, kefir
and more.

With permaculture and natural, biological, biointensive agriculture in
harmony with nature and Gaia, the Earth will be able to support life for
much longer than with the present dominant method, chemical and gmo.
Tree of Life Web Project http://tolweb.org/tree/

There is vertical farming, a fascinating new concept though expensive:

An important book on this subject:
The Vertical Farm: Feeding the World in the 21st Century by Dickson D.
Despommier (Oct 12, 2010)
http://www.amazon.com/The-Vertical-Farm-Feeding-Century/dp/B0055X6F1A/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1347125638&sr=8-1&keywords=vertical+farm

The Vertical Farm Project - Agriculture for the 21st Century and ...
www.verticalfarm.com

Images for Vertical Farming
https://www.google.com/search?q=Vertical+Farming&hl=en&client=firefox-beta&hs=e84&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&prmd=imvnsb&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=83tLULnLBoH00gGz1YDABQ&ved=0CC4QsAQ

Growing Skyscrapers: The Rise of Vertical Farms: Scientific American
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=the-rise-of-vertical-farms
Oct 24, 2009 – Growing crops in city skyscrapers would use less water
and fossil fuel than outdoor farming, eliminate agricultural runoff, and
provide fresh ...

<>

Hydroponics, aquaponics, aeroponics do that. It is a matter of designing
equipment and processes scaled to the need at hand. Nothing wrong with
automation, auto-harvesting and placing in refrigeration or prep for a
meal. Much work has been done with growing blue-green algae and
chlorella; that could easily be scaled
to home food production. SPROUTS! Grow sprouts in trays and recycle the
growing medium and stubble. Wheatgrass, barley grass, alfalfa, sunflower
(black oil seed), buckwheat (buckwheat lettuce) are gourmet food. I have
eaten all of them except barley grass. I think sprouts could become a
major source of plant-based nutrition when depending on soilless growth
medium. Very many vegetable seeds can be sprouted for human consumption.
Next, consider the potential for soilless growth of certain wild,
exotic, heirloom, international foods, including some fruits. What
about fruit; how could one do without that. Quality meat grown in a
Petri dish sounds like future food. Google "future food" and see
pfaf.org, Plants For A Future. I think cultured meat product could be
made to taste great. "Seed" or starter tissue could be frozen for years
to ensure a supply for future use.

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