Automated Strawberry production by Dyson

[rcjordan]

https://old.reddit.com/r/Damnthatsinteresting/comments/1lmudd4/automated_strawberry_production_by_dyson/

[littleman]

This reminds me of something you would see in a space voyage movie.  I do wonder about cost making such a setup unviable. I'd like to see a breakdown compared to more traditional greenhouse growing.

[Brad]

I read an article a few years ago in Costco's print magazine and they were experimenting with their suppliers with vertical greenhouse strawberry production.  I don't remember the details but perhaps not quite as sophisticated as this.

Makes sense with strawberries, which are darn hard to grow.

[ergophobe]

>> traditional greenhouse growing

The fact that that phrase makes sense to use indicates how fast things are changing in ag. It's not *that* long ago that only a tiny portion of food was grown in greenhouses. Now the Netherlands is a major food exporter, mostly thanks to greenhouse technology.

Anyway, I think "traditional" greenhouses are already pretty damn high tech

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8APpeti82hw

I think someone, maybe me but probably RC, posted this before on the Core
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/interactive/2022/netherlands-agriculture-technology/

[Brad]

About two miles from me, there is a large hydroponics place.  They grow fancy salad greens for the Chicago restaurant market.  No greenhouse although maybe they have skylights in the roof, the walls are all concrete.  No dirt, no bugs. Perfect.

It's interesting, this area used to be a big truck farming area for Chicago until the 1960's.  Now there are subdivisions sprawled out in the former fields and they grow lettuce in an industrial park.

[rcjordan]

My old feeds had articles about vertical vegetable farms converting old Bronx warehouse buildings.  The veggies would be delivered within NYC only.  Makes sense ...IF they can get the prices in range OR have such high quality that people would pay the price.

[ergophobe]

Now there are subdivisions sprawled out in the former fields

This would always blow me away reading Philip K Dick. In his futuristic sci-fi, Walnut Creek, CA is a backwater walnut farming town.

It would be nice to have tech that would bring farming back to the city.

When TED first went on the web and went viral, one of the most popular talks was William McDonough's Cradle to Cradle talk. He had slides of a city he planned in China where people lived in large apartment complexes with arable roofs. This thread motivated me to check in to see what happened.

Answer... nothing

https://e360.yale.edu/features/chinas_grand_plans_for_eco-cities_now_lie_abandoned

[ergophobe]

The official Dyson page with the official Dyson video is worth checking out. As impressive as the Reddit clip is, this is even more jaw dropping

https://dysonfarming.com/strawberries/

BTW - I didn't initially realize the header is a click-to-play video that opens full screen when clicked.