Agriculture without Sunshine
Twilight at Noon
“Humanity shares a single, closed system.” Ron Garon, astronaut
Every day the news mentions global food shortages, impending famine, starvation threats, food chain shortfalls, fertilizer shortages, food security issues, a super El Nino, yet life keeps on going.
“The food system needs a fundamental reset.” CEO, Plantible Foods.
Occasionally, we are shocked into panic shopping and empty grocery shelves of toilet paper, or bottled water, or canned tuna, and then….. life returns to normal.
Emergency Preparedness: is 72 hours enough?
“Emergency Preparedness” advice given to Canadians is designed to provide 72 hours of independence from the services citizens take for granted. In fact, most serious crises take longer than 72 hours to correct themselves.
Abrupt Sunlight Reduction Reduction Scenario: ASRS
If some serious catastrophe reduces global sunlight, for the long term, and therefore temperatures, today’s agriculture, ceases to be viable
This possibility is taken seriously by legitimate scientists in reputable universities. The science for alternative agriculture scenarios already exists. The issue is one of scaling up food production quickly enough to prevent mass starvation. As is the degree of international cooperation needed for a functional food trade. Not every country will be self sufficient in food.
Nuclear Winter
The term Nuclear Winter, was first coined by Dr Brian Toon, a student of renowned the Dr Carl Sagan. He saw Nuclear Winter as another extinction age, whereby only 25% of life survived, over 66 million years ago. Dr Toon and cohorts influenced Ronald Reagan to calm the cold war by signing, with Mikhail Gorbachev, the historic Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty in 1987.
Nothing is Black & White
The terms Nuclear Winter and ASRS are often used interchangeably But present day research is more nuanced than just predicting another Ice Age. ASRS includes phenomena such as Autumn Winter, Global Food Shock, Volcanic Winter.
Global Catastrophic Infrastructure Loss: GCIL
ASRS and GCIL would likely occur together. The issues of a GCIL are in my next article.
This is not science fiction.
Science has already produced single cell proteins (SCP) out of thin air as well as by fermenting inedible plants. Single cell proteins are served as powders or as meat substitutes (think A & W).
Four food strategies to prevent global starvation
- food conservation
- land based solutions
- water based solutions
- high-tech solutions.
Food Conservation
Presently, Canada wastes 35.5 million tonnes of food annually. Mass production of resilient food sources could take up to two years to produce, depending on many factors.
Get Life is the Purpose’s stories in your inbox
Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.
Grocery stores generally stock a few days of supplies and wholesalers only a few months. Canada presently exports over 50% of its total agriculture production yearly, with 61.9% of that going to the USA. Eating less calories, reducing beef consumption, redirecting seed stores away from beef and biofuel production, and reducing all food waste are the major conservation interventions.
Animal Feed vs Human Feed?
Presently 36% of global food production goes towards animal feed, which is the least efficient way to produce protein. Thirty calories of grain goes to produce one calorie of beef. Redirecting 70 % of existing global crops away from animal feed, towards human feed, could provide food for an extra four billion people, in the short run.
Land Based Solutions
Food foraging, especially in the tropics, is a viable nutrition source. Konjac, wild cassava, safou, and vegetable amaranth can sustain life. Hardy crops which now grow well in northern climates would have to be relocated to southern ones. Mushrooms grow quickly in dim light. Waste from mushroom growing creates soil substrate or feeds other organisms, like edible grubs.
Eating Insects
An Ag-tech entrepreneur based in Calgary, presently harvests the larvae from black soldier flies for animal feed and fertilizer. Cricket farming occurs at Ontario’s Entoms farms. Another innovative Canadian company, Landish, already uses cricket powder, algae, mushrooms, and duckweed in some of their food products.
Entomophagy is thousands of years old; two billion of the world’s population already eat two thousand species of edible insects. Earthworms thrive in the dark. Earthworm flour is now available and contains 65% protein.
Greenhouses
If an ASRS fell on the planet, Canada could only grow food in greenhouses. According to Dr Joshua Pearce, of Western University in Ontario, low tech open source greenhouse plans are available. Finding enough timber, steel nails, and plastics, globally, to build enough greenhouses is the challemge.
Montreal is already a world leader in urban rooftop greenhouse food production utilizing the flat spaces on top of the Wall Marts, Warehouses, and IGA’s of the urban scape.
The Canadian arctic also showcases innovative greenhouse projects. The Inuvil Community Greenhouse uses their hockey arena as a greenhouse. Gjoa Haven Hydroponic Project in Nunavut uses shipping containers and renewable energy to grow lettuce and strawberries. And Green Iglu Domes constructs Growing Domes to increase local food security. As the north has very long summer light, foods grow at twice the rate as further south. The irony of looking to the Arctic for enhanced growing seasons is clear.
Very recently, the Canadian government allocated $750,000,000.00 towards
- greenhouse production
- vertical farm
- controlled environment agriculture (CEA).
The vulnerability of food production to weather is receiving political attention, at least in Canada. The Canadian Prime Minister is actively pursuing a ten year National Food Security Strategy with a $3 billion investment.
Water Based Solutions
Seaweed and micro algae farming could provide up to 10% of global caloric needs, if ramped up quickly. Massive amounts of ropes and buoys are needed.
Duckweed (or water lentils), are easy to grow and valued for their type of protein called Rubisco. Duckweed can be grown in ponds or buckets of water with very little light. Numerous companies, such as Plantible Foods, Fyto, GreenOnyx, AIProtein, have pioneered this plant as a viable food source. Fyto already makes an egg substitute from duckweed.
Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture
China presently leads the world in an agricultural concept called IMTA or integrated multi-trophic aquaculture, whereby the waste from one aquatic species feeds another. Or a fed fish species is combined with a filter fish species (ie mussels) with a deposit feeder (sea urchins and kelps), to form a complete ecosystem. Fisheries and Oceans Canada is actively funding the development of this industry.
High Tech
Biochemists and Ag-tech professionals shine here. Single cell proteins are already made from air, from lignocellulosic, industrial byproducts, and gases. Companies such as Farmless and Air Company are scaling this SCP for mass consumption.
“In the next ten years we’re going to see rubisco be one of our main proteins.” Leaft Foods
Leaf protein concentrate or LPC is used in humanitarian programs to feed children because it is sustainable, cheap to produce, and highly nutritious. Leaft Foods from New Zealand are extracting the protein called rubisco from leaves.
Ann Wigmore’s (1909–1994) clinic in Puerto Rico grows massive trays of wheat grass using grow lights, then grinds the grass, and serves the resulting elixir in shot glasses. The deep green liquid, an acquired taste, promises numerous health benefits. Companies such as Leaft, Rubisco Foods, Day 8, and The Leaf Protein Company replicate Anne Wigmore’s original premise, but use leaves instead.
Start now to look to the future
Anyone can eat less meat and waste less food. Acquiring an appetite for cricket protein or micro algae help grow markets for the Ag-tech innovators of the food security space. Or learning how to grow duckweed in a tank or potatoes in a milk crate can bring simple food production home. As can learning plant identification or mushroom growing or hardy resilient seed collecting. Earthworms can thrive under the sink in Rubber Maids, eating kitchen waste. Resiliency feeds the stomach.
Or how about growing food on your coffee table? Plantaform, a Canadian company, offers an attractive table size dome which grows up to 15 plants with with fog and a 60 watt lightbulb.
