For this week’s class, I would like us to think about the intersection of two big topics we have talked about already this quarter in a format slightly different from the discussions we have had so far. We will be returning to the topic of vertical and computerized farming that Francisco brought to our attention earlier in the quarter but we will be looking at it more in terms of the societal effects on farmers, consumers, and farm labor issues that Amy brought to our attention last week. For Thursday, I am going to ask everyone to read just one article about the rise of vertical farming but I am going to ask half of the class to read it from the perspective of pro-vertical farming and half of the class to read it from the perspective of anti-vertical farming. Take a few notes while you read because in class on Thursday we will come together for a small debate from those two perspectives.
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/01/09/the-vertical-farm
Groups:
Pro vertical farms- Amy, Amy, Siani, Ruzhen, Sharayu, Rachel, Francisco, Dejah
Anti vertical farms- John, Annika, Siwook, Kylah, Ke, Na Young, Megan, Sam
Some guiding questions:
How is computerized farming versus traditional farming incorporated into education? How could they be incorporated? How could vertical and computerized farming in education affect school lunches?
How does the price of vertical farm produce affect the consumers/which consumers does it affect?
Who has access to the food? If you had control over this what would you do to make vertical farming food more accessible?
How would vertical farming influence farm labor issues? Will it reduce the number of people subjected to human trafficking and unethical working conditions? Would it reduce the number of jobs available to people who need them or could vertical farming work in a way that would still provide those jobs but without labor issues of maltreatment?
Some of these questions may have clear answers and some may require some imagination to fill in details that you aren’t as familiar with- that’s ok. The goal is to create a discussion in which we can exchange ideas and knowledge about some benefits and issues that could arise from vertical/computerized farming and what some arguments to those benefits and issues might be. Get creative!
For the blog post I would like everyone to create a small outline of some points that they could address in the debate, either from the article or other thoughts you may be having. You don’t need to submit all of your ideas in detail, but keep them in mind for class discussion/debate on Thursday.
Example blog post (mine contains points from both perspectives but yours should reflect which perspective you are assigned to):
Benefit to vertical farming- computerized farming in urban schools can get kids interested in healthy eating and cooking
Issue of vertical farming- currently, products of vertical farms are pricey, thus only bringing greens to upper/middle classes and not doing anything to help feed people already battling food insecurity
Benefits of vertical farming: Less space, more accessible to urban and city areas, year round crop growing, no agricultural runoff, no failure of crops due to weather.
ReplyDeleteIssue of vertical farming:
ReplyDeleteIn short-run: demand less farmer, more unemployment, larger income gap, less social stability
Thanks for bringing us back to this subject, Clare. I think there’s a lot to be considered when it comes to thinking about the role of computerization and “improved” technology; I’m looking forward to thinking through this subject as a class.
ReplyDeleteHere are some (potential) benefits of vertical farms that I identified:
• Potential for education and getting children invested in what they eat – the students at Philip’s academy use the prototype mini vertical farm as an educational tool to talk about science and math, as well as get to eat the food that it produces
• Could be used to grow just about anything locally – this means that people might have access to locally grown foods which could not be grown naturally in those areas and that food would not have to be trucked across the country
• Doesn’t take up as much space as traditional farming – it seems like these processes would be particularly useful in large cities without sufficient open space
• Increased control over growing environment – these vertical farms would make it easier to address issues like climate change, freak storms or frosts, etc.
• Could possibly lead to improved working conditions – these systems may reduce the amount of backbreaking labor that needs to be performed outdoors in the heat
• Uses less water – our current growing practices require an immense amount of water
I think there are also a HUGE number of drawbacks to these systems; tomorrow’s class should be interesting!
Based of the example you provided here are my points I’d like to talk about:
ReplyDeleteBenefits of vertical farming: more efficient in terms of plants needing less water, structure meaning that the farm takes up less spaces, can be placed in urban areas all over so it transportation will be minimized, there will be no pollution run-off, these farms can produce a variety of crops and a large enough quantity to feed the masses easily, and because of a few of the things mentioned above (the less water and the lower transpiration costs) the prices of these products will be lowered.
Issue of vertical farming- takes away the human-environment connection; currently not affordable; currently not accessible meaning that it takes a lot to grow these foods in the cost of the equipment; lack of research on whether or not the spray affects the human body negatively
ReplyDeleteIt's probably good that you are encouraging me to think about the "pro" side of the argument, since that's more of a challenge for me. Two "pros" I can think of relate to living spaces in which soil and air is so polluted that growing food crops outdoors would not be a good idea. (However, I can't help adding, this means importing energy,infrastructure, and nutrients from somewhere else and it would be important to make sure the raw materials for those were being harvested in a way that wasn't making yet another ecosystem unsuitable for growing food.)
ReplyDeleteSo, for people who are living in landscapes that are this polluted, growing indoors could be a way for them to get fresh greens and a way for kids whose schools don't have fertile schoolyards to get some hands-on food-growing education.
One question I'd be really interested to hear everyone's answer to is whether you all think that hydroponic, aquaponic, and aeroponic systems should fall under "organic" agriculture or not. This question has been under debate for the last year at the National Organic Standards Board and it is far from settled, as they have thus far been unable to finalize a decision.
Benefits of Vertical farming:
ReplyDelete• Aeroponic farming can cut down on water by 70%
• Can help feed the world’s growing population with a smaller space
• No runoff is produced
• Year round production of food
• Can adapt environment to accommodate crop (more diverse planting)
• Children can interact with this process and become more interested and potentially gain some “food literacy”
Pro: Available to many places around the U.S., such as Brooklyn, Houston, Chicago and Detroit.
ReplyDeleteCon: The food products grown in the facilities are very expensive and may not be available for many members of the community.
Anti-vertical farming (I’m glad I’m in this one, although being in the pro-vertical farming would've pushed my critical thinking a little further): Instead of addressing the problem at hand (ie. our removal from nature) we are creating even more round-about solution that does not actually address an issue that we have. Current agriculture system is built on fossil fuels which is worsening climate change. How will these structures be built? How can we ensure that they are built solely using renewable resources?
ReplyDelete