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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
@Fighteer: Aeroponics? I know hydroponics, but what's that?
edited 11th Apr '16 11:25:20 AM by desdendelle
On empty crossroads, seek the eclipse -- for when Sol and Lua align, the lost shall find their way home.Yes. Aeroponics is basically soil-less farming: growing plants in air with nutrients infused into the roots. Advantages of aeroponics include:
- Due to being done in an enclosed environment, water is recycled, with a potential 95% reduction in net water consumed.
- Aeroponic farms can stack vertically, making optimal use of land.
- There is no dependence on soil quality or conditions, no dependence on rainfall, and no need for pesticides.
- Plants never touch one another, making isolation of diseased specimens trivial and preventing systemic crop loss due to disease.
- Due to the ability to control growing conditions, aeroponic farms can grow many more crops in a given time period than land-based farms.
When you watch the process it is pretty much hydroponics but the amount of liquid used on the root is pretty just a spray bottle. Plants actually grow faster that way oddly enough if it works, if it fails then the plant needs to be put into a hydroponics bay to recover.
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Plants are never completely closed off so disease can still be a problem.
edited 11th Apr '16 11:35:56 AM by Memers
Yes, but there's no soil to transmit it. So if you catch it fast enough you can quarantine just the diseased specimens.
Natural diversity has declined throughout human history, but right now it tends to be crashing - and agriculture is far from the only cause - so anything that risks making the decline even worse is at the very least worth discussing.
Not really. Small loops and small exploitations can work wonders, it's just that your advanced countries tend to ignore it - also because they are not advertised, and admittedly require an effort from the consumer compared to "go to Mall, buy stuff". It is also much more environment-friendly.
It does not work for everything, but when it is properly developped, it works wonders.
edited 11th Apr '16 11:38:26 AM by Julep
"More environment-friendly"... [citation needed]
Nobody in America practices "traditional" farming, unless they enjoy bug-ridden, diseased crops that nobody will eat. The per-acre use of fertilizers and pesticides doesn't magically decline because you have fewer acres.
edited 11th Apr '16 11:42:00 AM by Fighteer
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"Well, a good thing I do not live in America then :D
Now, I understand that personal background and place of residence are essential here. But since quite a lot of domestic commercial US decisions tend to magically get adopted in the rest of the world (or, more accurately, sold), and that the rest of the world does not always have too much land to grow wheat crops as tall as trees, I prefer to be careful.
As a rule, how lenient are U.S. politics with politicians that get convicted for fraud?
edited 11th Apr '16 11:58:47 AM by Julep
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We are in the U.S. Politics thread, I'd remind you. And I really don't give a damn about massive factory farms versus small private farms; both are stupidly, almost criminally inefficient ways to grow food.
edited 11th Apr '16 12:02:46 PM by Fighteer
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"The Constitution allows a convicted felon, such as Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens, to be a member of Congress, even if in prison. Congress has to actually vote you out of office.
As for state offices, different laws apply in different places. I have no clue on Texas law.
edited 11th Apr '16 12:07:21 PM by Memers
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True, true, but Monsanto and many other extremely influential agricultural companies are American, so any decision taken in the US is bound to have an effect in the rest of the world. It is rather poetic really, because like GMO crops, it is a matter that easily crosses the borders of the area it was initially created for, and can easily create some legal issues.
Oh okay, I thought it would be harsher.
edited 11th Apr '16 2:14:47 PM by Demonic_Braeburn
Any group who acts like morons ironically will eventually find itself swamped by morons who think themselves to be in good company.How much profit did GS earn off of said securities, hmm? 5 billion sounds like a lot, but to them?
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"“The Donald,” which will be released on Tuesday and stars adult film performers Evan Stone and Britney Amber, is described as a “fantasized look at how the Republican Party front-runner might select his vice presidential running mate.”
This is what this election was missing.
edited 11th Apr '16 2:24:16 PM by Demonic_Braeburn
Any group who acts like morons ironically will eventually find itself swamped by morons who think themselves to be in good company.Nevermind the fact Monsanto, an "evil big corporation", is only so big because anti-GMO activists imposed an absurd level of regulations that choked competition to the point that only they could afford it: Mandatory labeling of GMOs isn't just feel-good nonsense without scientific basis, it's actively supported by the lobbying of the billion dollar organic food industry in order to get rid of competition.
Notably, the organic food industry does not at all push for mandatory labeling for pesticides. Because they would lose huge amounts of money if they did, and so are quite content with people's cheerful misconceptions.
What I'd support is A) getting people educated on the issue and B) cracking down on the efforts to willfully misinform consumers.
Heh. It wouldn't surprise me at all if the driver behind the anti-GMO crowd is the organics industry — after all, Dr. Oz is paid big bucks to shill his snake oil, and that comes from someone. But I have to call [citation needed] on the claim.
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"Land isn't the only reason to go to aeroponics. California recently got hit by a pretty bad drought, and while we're mostly out of it now, it was causing serious damage to farms, both factory-style ones and family ones.
Which brings us to the problem with aeroponics (or any sort of farming other than what people are already using): Cost of change. A farm has tractors and harvesters and all other machinery that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not more. That's a lot of equipment that is absolutely worthless for aeroponic farming. That creates a huge amount of inertia preventing anyone from switching over to new methods, when the methods they're currently using have been mostly unchanged for generations. It's going to take something big to make people switch.
Writing a post-post apocalypse LitRPG on RR. Also fanfic stuff.I also suspect psychological inertia - a change from regular farming to aeroponics looks like an enormous change in how a farm operates.
That said, I wonder if aeroponics discussion should go to the science thread.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman

Also, WTF De Blasio? Goddammit, could Democratic leaders please stop revealing their hidden racial prejudices? It makes it really hard to take you credibly.
edited 11th Apr '16 11:24:03 AM by Fighteer
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"