More Thoughts on Food Production

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....