I'd like to see crop prices listed by expenditures. Something like this:
For every $10 of wheat produced it costs -
$X for gas for production
$X for transportation and packaging
$X for human labor
$X for machinery
$X to buy the land
etc.
I'm guessing that land ownership is a tiny minority of this - and if you are building towers that are 50x more expensive than an empty field it would make the process more expensive and less energy efficient if you factor in upfront costs. Making land more efficient is great but I don't think it is the limiting factor for supplying ample food for everyone in the country or the world.
How can you return the land to the environment when you still consume the same amount of energy (or more because LEDs arent 100% efficient)? During farming most of the energy comes from the sun. Vertical farms consume more land the denser they are. All that freed up land has to be filled with solar panels or wind turbines. Considering that plants are basically collecting solar energy for free that's a huge step backwards.
I suppose it's like I said: it depends on how you get that energy. Geothermal, nuclear are options, as are coastal wind farms (minimal environmental impact once up). Solar, Yes, I hear you.
For every $10 of wheat produced it costs -
$X for gas for production $X for transportation and packaging $X for human labor $X for machinery $X to buy the land etc.
I'm guessing that land ownership is a tiny minority of this - and if you are building towers that are 50x more expensive than an empty field it would make the process more expensive and less energy efficient if you factor in upfront costs. Making land more efficient is great but I don't think it is the limiting factor for supplying ample food for everyone in the country or the world.