Farming of the future?

[TylerDurden]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2831841/Farming-future-Toshiba-s-clean-factory-farm-three-million-bags-lettuce-grown-without-sunlight-soil.html

[eveheart]

When I started reading this article, I thought, "Ho-hum, it's just another hydroponics farm." But then, the really important implication of this article struck me: It's the bacteria/insect/fungus-free environment on this farm that is the shocker!

No more sauerkraut! - It's dependent on surface bacteria to ferment.
No more birds! - So many need to eat insects.
No more athlete's foot! - okay, okay, J/K. But seriously, in a soil-free environment, fungus' role in decomposition is redundant.

Sure, this would never happen on a large scale, where there would be a lot of environmental impact. But still, projects like this can take hold while minimizing big-impact problems that lie ahead.

[Brad462]

Is this future before or after the nuclear war?  Sorry, I am a glass half-full kind of guy. 

[goodsamaritan]

Might be good for space exploration.

[TylerDurden]

Is this future before or after the nuclear war?  Sorry, I am a glass half-full kind of guy. 

I would expect  that a nuclear war would concentrate nuclear blasts on the cities leaving the wild areas free if a little contaminated. So we might, in the countryside, encounter a few oddly-shaped leaves or the occasional wildlife with two heads or three legs but otherwise things would be fine.

[TylerDurden]

Might be good for space exploration.

I wonder if eating raw meat might help alleviate some of the health problems that astronauts experience routinely in space?

[eveheart]

I would expect  that a nuclear war would concentrate nuclear blasts on the cities leaving the wild areas free if a little contaminated.

Exactly. This farming model is more suited for overcrowding, not a decimated population. The main advantage is in terms of possible length of food storage without decomposition. In post-nuclear  times or in space exploration, simple light-and-nutrient hydroponics would do.

[JeuneKoq]

I wonder if eating raw meat might help alleviate some of the health problems that astronauts experience routinely in space?

If you're talking about bone decalcification, an unavoidable consequence of working for long in microgravity, then the answer is  raw meat diet probably has little impact on this issue. In this situation the body is just automatically switching its functioning and "adapting" to the fact that bone mass is not needed in space. At least that's what I understood.

[RogueFarmer]

I hate the ignorance of which some of these news outlets publish their reports. Only I am allowed to be so ignorant! They write this almost as if hydroponics wasn't already a thing, like no body has already been doing this. Plenty of places like this in America. I guess their not all completely sterile but I think a lot of them are. The good ones use diluted ocean water.