How will our climate-dependent agricultural system cope with a climate switch, prolonged and extreme drought, a rapid climate change event, or worsening extreme weather events? How will we cope with a climate-forcing volcanic eruption (VEI 7) wiping out half a continent’s agriculture, while blocking out the sun and sharply cooling the planet for a couple of years to a decade afterwards?
The limited risk assessments in IPCC Assessment Reports (AR5), constrained in IPCC Articles 1 and 2, means our governments don’t have a publicly available plan for the above agriculture-disabling climate risk scenarios.
Climate- and Sunlight-Independent Indoor Farming
Large-scale greenhouses are already a well-developed means for creating a fresh supply of urban food. These highly automated, controlled environment agriculture systems are well suited for intensive food production in peri-urban locations. The integration of large-scale greenhouses with renewable energy systems will help control operational costs and improve the profitability of commercial greenhouses.[i],[ii],[iii],[iv]
Commercial indoor and vertical farming operations are sprouting up around the world and operating 24/7, growing a wide range of crops like fruits, vegetables, and herbs.[v],[vi] Indoor farms utilize optimized modular hydroponics and aeroponics food production systems, which control the main plant-growing conditions (i.e., temperature, light, nutrients, carbon dioxide) and permit automation and system monitoring. These production units are stacked vertically inside high-rise and purpose-built buildings.[vii]
In order to improve the economic viability of indoor farming, it will need to be employed on a very large scale, while utilizing or adapting existing greenhouse-controlled environment and automation technologies and systems.[viii],[ix]
Indoor farms (and greenhouses) have high operating costs, particularly as regards the supply of energy. They can be made more sustainable and profitable by housing them in energy efficient buildings and integrating them with renewable energy systems such as solar and wind, ground-coupled heat exchangers, and biomass energy recovery, as well as using renewable energy desalination systems for their water supply.
Indoor vertical farms can be located in and around cities, in the desert, on wasteland, in proximity to renewable sources of energy, and close to water. They can also be located close to where the food grown is consumed, ensuring high quality food supply while limiting transportation costs and reducing food waste.
Wealthier Middle Eastern and industrialized nations, countries rich in renewable energy resources, and large cities could all benefit from this type of climate-independent farming. It would provide decentralized food supply, emergency food supply, as well as improving overall food security. This type of farming, coupled with physical food reserves, could be used to provide the means of weathering a major food crisis.
Emergency Human Food Supply and Single Cell Proteins
Single-cell proteins are produced by an array of microorganisms, and have been used as protein supplements in human foods and animal feeds for decades.[x],[xi] Products for human consumption include the old standby brewer’s yeast and commercial brands like Pruteen, Torula, and the Quorn™ range of products.
Manufacturing processes for single-cell proteins use biomass and petrochemicals as starting ingredients. Production yields, orders of magnitude greater than for plant proteins, are rapidly achieved. This makes single-cell proteins highly suitable as emergency food.
Various microorganisms, including yeast, fungi, bacteria, and algae, have been used to produce single-cell proteins. These microorganisms can utilize a variety of starting materials like agroforestry and industrial waste, fossil fuels, and alcohols, to make food.[xii]
Single-cell protein food results in high quantities of uric acid in the blood, which is not good for human health in the long term because it usually causes gout. This medical risk has limited the use of single-cell protein in human foods. As emergency food on a short-term basis, this is probably less of an issue.
The relatively high cost associated with single-cell protein production has had an impact on the broader use of single-cell proteins in animal feeds. Grains and soya supply most animal feed protein at a fraction of the cost.
Single-cell proteins could be repositioned as sunlight- and climate-independent food for complementing emergency food stockpiles, or even as a partial replacement for current food stockpiles. Regulating the animal feed industry for a period of time (i.e., this grand solar minimum), while supporting the single-cell protein production industry financially, would help ensure that an economically viable industrial capacity for emergency food production is developed ahead of a climate or food supply crisis. This animal feed capacity could then be borrowed for emergency human production in times of food crisis.
Regulating the animal feed industry could ensure minimum quantities of single cell proteins were used in animal feeds, in lieu of irrigated crop and fishmeal resources. Financial support for the single-cell protein industry could be justified on the basis of investing in a “just-in-time” food stockpile production capability.
[i] R.R. Shamshiri et al., “Advances in greenhouse automation and controlled environment agriculture: A transition to plant factories and urban agriculture.” International Journal of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, 2018; 11(1): 1–22.
[ii] Erdem Cuce et al., “Renewable and sustainable energy saving strategies for greenhouse systems: A comprehensive review.” Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 64 (2016) 34–59. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2016.05.077.
[iii] Dries Waaijenberg, “Design, Construction and Maintenance of Greenhouse Structures.” Proc. IS on Greenhouses, Environmental Controls & In-house Mechanization for Crop Production in the Tropics and Sub-tropics. Eds. Rezuwan Kamaruddin, Ibni Hajar Rukunuddin & Nor Raizan Abdul Hamid. Acta Hort. 710, ISHS 2006.
[iv] Gene Giacomelli et al., “Innovation in greenhouse engineering.” July 2007. Acta horticulturae. DOI:10.17660/ActaHortic.2008.801.3.
[v] Examples of Hi-Tech Indoor Farms: 1) PlantLab. http://www.plantlab.nl/ 2) Plenty Unlimited Inc. https://www.plenty.ag/. 3) Sundrop Farms. http://www.sundropfarms.com/. 4) AeroFarms. http://aerofarms.com/.
[vi] R.R. Shamshiri et al., “Advances in greenhouse automation and controlled environment agriculture: A transition to plant factories and urban agriculture.” International Journal of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, 2018; 11(1): 1–22. [See Table 1, page 15 for examples of vertical farming, adapted from and citing F. Kalantari et al., “A Review of Vertical Farming Technology: A Guide for Implementation of Building Integrated Agriculture in Cities.” Advanced Engineering Forum, Volume 24, 76-91, 2017].
[vii] F. Kalantari et al., “A Review of Vertical Farming Technology: A Guide for Implementation of Building Integrated Agriculture in Cities.” Advanced Engineering Forum, Volume 24, 76-91, 2017.
[viii] R.R. Shamshiri et al., “Advances in greenhouse automation and controlled environment agriculture: A transition to plant factories and urban agriculture.” International Journal of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, 2018; 11(1): 1–22.
[ix] F. Kalantari et al., .”A Review of Vertical Farming Technology: A Guide for Implementation of Building Integrated Agriculture in Cities.” Advanced Engineering Forum, Volume 24, 76-91, 2017.
[x] A.T. Nasseri et al., “Single Cell Protein: Production and Process.” February 2011, American Journal of Food Technology 6(2). DOI 10.3923/ajft.2011.103.116.
[xi] Single-cell protein. https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/biochemistry-genetics-and-molecular-biology/single-cell-protein.
[xii] A.T. Nasseri et al., “Single Cell Protein: Production and Process.” February 2011, American Journal of Food Technology 6(2). DOI 10.3923/ajft.2011.103.116.
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