[gaijin]

Later

[arthurus]

The Israelis should put up one of these things in Gaza to watch the arabs destroy it because it covers up enough semiarid sheep pasture to feed half a sheep.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

LEDs! Winning!

[Dr. Bogus Pachysandra]

I wonder what the Co2 level is inside that building? 8^)

[PGR88]

I have no doubt the US FDA and USDA will make this a requirement within 20 years

[cuban leaf]

For the sheer fun of it, I’ve annoyed liberals by making the comment that the planet could support probably 100 billion people. This article supports that it really might be possible, thanks to human ingenuity.

[mad_as_he$$]

25,000 square feet grows 10,000 heads of lettuce per day? Not buying it.

[alloysteel]

Urban farming is very much the way of “sustainable” food supply, even in the face of sharply rising population numbers, both through extended life spans and the natural exponential increase of humanity over time. The time is coming when only the most productive means of food production will even have space to operate on Spaceship Earth.

To make this possible, the collection and extraction of energy shall have to be optimized to a much higher level than now is considered acceptable.

We have the technological capacity, and we are rapidly developing the economic incentive. When shall the will to institute this new technology be exerted, and the methods more widely adopted?

And yes, people, it is going to require carbon dioxide to make this system work. Lots of it. As much as we can produce.

[PapaBear3625]

Interesting. In an enclosed space, you can exclude bugs and weed seeds, thus eliminating the need for pesticides and herbicides. And being local to the consumers would eliminate a lot of transport costs. I would assume the LEDs are supplements for sunlight, rather than the only source of light.

These would be useful in northern European climates, so fresh food could be grown locally in cold months.

[GraceG]

Just wait ... China will build these next to their coal plants, vent the CO2 into them and use the excess power during non-peak hours to power the things...

with LED lights and extra CO2, this could truly feed the world very effectively, extra bonus pulling in the nuitriets from waste processing plants.

[mbarker12474]

... Japan ... 25,000 square feet producing 10,000 heads of lettuce per day ... plants grow up to two and half times faster ... this place ... the 2011 earthquake and tsunami ...

[maddogtiger]

Open field farming will always be preferable because natural soils contain hundreds if not thousands different micro-nutrients that are not defined. Just like chicken or hogs confined to facilities and only fed processed feed that cannot possibly replicate a natural diet, what will be the long term effect on us?

[Resolute Conservative]

Hydroponics is for more than tomatoes and marijuana.

[miliantnutcase]

We could use this tech to easily grow enough food on Mars for human expeditions.

[SpaceBar]

This would be interesting with a crop that can store appreciable amounts of starch and vitamins like sweet potato or turnip (and associated greens), instead of something that is mostly water and has relatively little nutritional value... like lettuce.

[mosesdapoet]

There is a similar but much smaller plant doing the same thing in a suburb of Chicago, Beford Park, near Midway airport.

[Steven Scharf]

not really ground breaking. Backyard Farms has been growing tomatos indoors in Maine since 2010. Backyard Farms Our Story: On a cold February day in 2004, we noticed that every tomato in the grocery store was grown in Canada. Or Mexico. Or Holland. So they weren’t really ripe. They had just turned red while traveling long distances. As lovers of great tomatoes (like the kind we get from our own backyards in summer), we wondered, wouldn’t it be great to grow fresh tomatoes right here at home all year long? The seed was planted. Through a lot of hard work and a bit of New England ingenuity, Backyard Farms was born. Today, Backyard Farms delivers great tomatoes to the Northeast all year long. Even during the long, cold New England winter. We’ve introduced a new way of doing business to the tomato industry. One where freshness and quality of the tomatoes comes first. One built on relationships with our community. And one where we never compromise. To us, that’s the only way it should be.
 From Our Backyard: We think people should know where their food comes from and who’s growing it. We believe in and support local produce—particularly the desire of people to have a higher-quality, fresher, better-tasting tomato. Quality comes first. Quantity second. That’s why we are just as excited as you to enjoy a local, garden-grown tomato in late summer. We know great tomatoes don’t come easy, and we’re all for anyone that wants to join in our pursuit, or simply enjoy the fruits of our labor. http://www.backyardfarms.com/ 60 Minutes last night had a story on a major indoor marijuana grow operation in Colorado. It is the future of some type of plant production. I don't see it working for wheat, corn, potatos or some other plants, but it is a business RIPE for growth.

[central_va]

Does this thing come pre loaded with its own all Mexican staff?

[Hotlanta Mike]

Sounds like they have a solution for populating Mars...

[jettester]

imagine all of the “indoor urban farms” that could be set up and producing food in the shells of factories closed down in the big cities? What about the shuttered malls across America?