Granted, I'm talking about a cultural shift and you can't force people to enjoy gardening, but there are some people who are doing incredible experiments in urban farming which is still mostly low-tech. Even though he is an extreme example, Rob Greenfield shows what is possible with a typical 1/8 acre city/suburban lot. He is currently experimenting with growing/foraging 100% of his diet in a city.
http://robgreenfield.tv/foodfreedom/
The biggest shift will be to convince people that turfgrass lawns are the one of the biggest waste of resources in the modern world, and a silly cultural relic.
I agree so much I started a side project, https://automicrofarm.com/
Rob Greenfield's project only works because nobody else wants to forage the city and he says he farms yards of some people who don't do it themselves.
https://news.berkeley.edu/2015/05/07/soil-depletion-human-se...
The US needs more farmers and people living choosing a sustainable simple life, not smart tractors.
Depending on your climate, you might enjoy mushroom cultivation. It's very low-effort and climate resistant to grow shiitakes or winecaps if you have some shade in your garden
I'm currently looking at places where growing some of my own food might be possible and I'm curious what is possible.
(I'm working on a blog post to answer the space needed question.)
I don't believe any of these ideas should be an all-or-nothing venture but if individuals can take back just 10% -20% of their diet from unethical agri-business, it's a MASSIVE win for health, self-reliance, environmental awareness, and community building
Essentially vertical farms would be limited to 0.01% of food production, but could be profitable.
Basically, because of a huge apple crop failure in the Santa Clara Valley, as well as having recently laid railroad crossing the area (this was in the 1800’s), apple growers in the Pajaro Valley (between Santa Clara and Salinas) began shipping their apples to markets farther away than usual. This eventually boomed into a global scale thing, with Pajaro Valley apples being sold in New York, then London, and even places like South Africa.
After developing a successful global distribution model, growers in Washington state took notice. Apples were shipped on northern rail lines after the growing season in Fall. No ice needed.
Soon, other industries followed (Salinas Valley lettuce included). This blossomed into the global food system we know today.
Tl;dr: Money in proto-silicon valley was used to start up the global food system
Is it all for nothing? I imagine such building could be closer to city centers, but would have to face sun at premium. Maybe even integrated with regular buildings from south side?
Link? Not doubting your claim, just thought it would be interesting to watch.
In theory we can get a lot of efficiency by converting wavelengths plants cannot use wavelengths plants can use. However after accounting for all the system losses it is really hard to make up the difference. This assumes too that you use the best available solar panels, which are generally only in labs, real world solar installations are generally less efficient (just the chlorophyll vs solar cell number). Most of the losses in photosynthesis still exist either way as well.
Unless we suddenly gain some form of near unlimited clean energy it doesn't make sense (except for some very limited circumstances like expensive micro-greens for classy restaurants)