Solarpunk Farming

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Venture Capital’s AI-Run Lettuce Farms Start to Go Bust (ghostarchive.org)

submitted 2 years ago by DevCat@lemmy.world to c/farming

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The pitch for vertical farming had all the promise of a modern venture capital dream: a new way to grow crops that would use robots and artificial intelligence to conserve water, combat food insecurity and save the environment.

But after firms poured billions of dollars into these startups, pushing valuations into the stratosphere, the industry is now facing a harsh new reality: funding is drying up, profits remain elusive, and creditors are circling.

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[–] rewarp 4 points 2 years ago

I know an elderly couple who tried their container farm project seriously. The vegetable was great, but wildly expensive compared to the stuff grown conventionally. The labour and resources involved to make it sustainable would still have to be less than conventional agriculture, as long as we live under market capitalism.

[–] Cannacheques 1 points 2 years ago

Well that sounds rather ominous

[–] poVoq 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Yeah, as much as I like the general idea of dense integrated farming of fresh produce, we are better off without such venture-capital funded companies.

[–] JacobCoffinWrites 3 points 2 years ago

Yeah there's definitely room in our society for food grown closer to where it's consumed - and this has appeal for that. But in the end, it will probably have to come down to distributed efforts by regular people starting victory gardens or expanding what we already have, rather than counting on tech companies to feed us.