The Food Problem Is Bigger Than Lettuce

Michael Grunwald · 3 Jul 2023

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Vertical farming swaps a land problem for an energy problem, and the energy cost is what stops it feeding the world.

Their wordsI explain why in the essay; the TLDR is that they’re energy hogs. The sun is a really awesome source of calories, and it’s kind of dumb not to take advantage of it.

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Our reading
Vertical farming swaps a land problem for an energy problem, and the energy cost is what stops it feeding the world.
Mental modelBottlenecks

Their wordsI explain why in the essay; the TLDR is that they’re energy hogs. The sun is a really awesome source of calories, and it’s kind of dumb not to take advantage of it.
Our reading
The central problem of the food system is producing much more food on much less land.

Their wordsit’s going to be incredibly difficult, but also incredibly necessary, for the world to produce much more food with much less land.
Our reading
Vertical farms were valued as technology companies when they are in fact farms, which is why those valuations collapsed.

Their wordsBut vertical farms are not technologies. They’re farms.

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