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Comment by trophycase | Hacker News Reader

I guess I was always under the impression that vertical and urban farming would be done for "specialty" crops like herbs or kale or something, never for high volume cash crops like potatoes or corn. I can see a benefit for these "specialty" crops because they aren't done to the same scale (maybe I'm wrong about that)

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The parents comment certainly is accurate for most staples, cereals, and even meat (raised on corn) but entirely misses the need for more fresh veggies and leafy greens in the US. In the states it generally costs more to buy food made with fresh vegetables. That’s where indoor and vertical ag shines. Many developed countries have plenty of empty calories. Too many. Indoor Ag provides an opportunity to provide scale and freshness to a number of non-grain foods, with less pesticides and preservatives. I hope the field is successful at that goal.

So you plan is to replace calories with mostly empty (calorie and nutrient-wise) greens...

Yeah that was my take as well. I think there's some sort of trade-off point here, though I don't know where it is. Yes modern outdoor agriculture is hyper efficient, although I think the author's comments about cash flow self-sufficiency gloss over a lot of government subsidies and bank bridge loans. In any case, indoor ag should be able to exploit the lower weather/pest risks, lack of need for damaging pesticides, consistent conditions, 365 day growing season, proximity to markets, etc. at least for some combination of products.

Even for specialty products, you’re competing with cheap travel and labor.

Guatemala or Peru are short hops.

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