It seems that across the world people are becoming more and more interested in food production. I think there are a number of reasons for this: 1) Growing populations need to eat and some are recognizing a real concern with the ability of our planet to feed everyone adequately. 2) Environmental impact of food production. 3) Global warming -- whether you subscribe to human-causation, or not, doesn't matter because enough people do to make it an issue. 4) Periodic weather events that disrupt agriculture.
I have recently been working with some folks from England regarding a project which they hope eventually to take to the AIM market (Alternative Investment Market -- similar to NASDAQ in the U.S., but on the London Exchange). They have indicated that the taste for longer-term investments in agricultural technology is something very popular on that market and seek to take advantage of it. I find that interesting -- the words "longer term." Here in the U.S. most investors are worried about quarterly reports and fear "long term" operational horizons for their investments.
I mention that because this morning as I perused the Reuters News I came across two articles related to food production. The first had to do with a vertical greenhouse and the second with a global network of satellites to map heat which is expected to be a useful tool for agriculture.
The vertical greenhouse mentions some of the very ideas that I referred to in yesterday's post regarding proximity of vegetable production to the marketplace. It is investment intense, yet the advantages on reduced transportation and reduced land-mass footprint are also large. It allows for better control of pests and invasive plant species (weeds) than do traditional production practices.
The heat mapping is interesting because I believe it will show something that might be even more beneficial in surprising ways than the benefits to agriculture. I believe it will also show the impact of urban/suburban development on trapping heat. The earth is an integrated bio-physical "machine" in which what happens in one place affects what happens in others. I suspect far too little focus has been placed on the impact of urban development than is needed. Along with adressing some definite opportunities in agriculture production, we need to re-think how we build cities.
Anyway, just my thoughts this morning....
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