Re:Infarm wants to put a farm in every grocery store
by Dylan16807 on Monday June 26, 2017 @09:55PM
(#14641998)
>There's going to be an inflection point where the cost to transport lettuce from Mexico and California is going to be more than the cost of some vertical farm down the street.
How sure are you about that? Buildings are expensive, and you can fuel up trucks with solar arrays.
Re:Infarm wants to put a farm in every grocery store
by rtpg on Tuesday June 27, 2017 @02:27AM
(#14642938)
there was a planet money about getting a t-shirt made, and like... 40% of the cost was for the last couple mile deliveries.
No matter how automated 95% of the journey is, the last mile will require someone to be there and do deliveries. In theory local producers have less coordination problems with their consumers.
Re:Infarm wants to put a farm in every grocery store
by Dylan16807 on Tuesday June 27, 2017 @04:13AM
(#14643336)
A grocery store is pre-last-mile. The consumer handles it themselves.
Or the store does some kind of delivery, but that's no easier or harder because of producer location.
Re:Infarm wants to put a farm in every grocery store
by ant6n on Tuesday June 27, 2017 @12:45AM
(#14642645)
...or make rail shipping more efficient
Re:Infarm wants to put a farm in every grocery store
by brad0 on Tuesday June 27, 2017 @07:47AM
(#14644449)
Driverless trucks that run on sustainable energy is not that far away. Closer than this idea being cost effective.
But I don't think it's the same.
There's going to be an inflection point where the cost to transport lettuce from Mexico and California is going to be more than the cost of some vertical farm down the street.
There's also this slow drumbeat of "Save the Planet!" and "Oil is da DEBIL Bobby!". Making stuff local and "sustainable" is marketable - even at a premium. There's a reason people go to local farmers markets.
I can't say you're not wrong that "it's for the weed, man"... but I think you're limiting yourself if you think that's the ONLY reason - or even the biggest reason.