Don't blame me, I voted for Hillary.

Honestly maybe it's time for Bluexit. Let the blue states have their country, and let the Red States burn.

(May 12, 2018 at 5:08 pm)Wyrd of Gawd Wrote: If the farms were in the cities they could attract more workers.

If they were in the cities, they probably wouldn't even be much in the way of farms, would they?

There's only so much an indoor or rooftop garden can produce, and I highly doubt it's going to make people anything resembling a decent living, except maybe if they manage to jack up the prices and people become willing to pay extra for something for the novelty of like, I dunno, a fully formed ear of corn grown in some guy's basement. Or if a major crop failure forces prices so high that it becomes a viable option, but, if the French Revolution is any indication, things are likely to get really politically unstable before we reach that point.

Quote:There is this odd thing with many left wing people, where they are against sending jobs overseas, but fine with illegals coming and doing them here. It seems contradictory to me.

No it's not .

(May 13, 2018 at 8:52 pm)Rev. Rye Wrote:

(May 12, 2018 at 5:08 pm)Wyrd of Gawd Wrote: If the farms were in the cities they could attract more workers.

If they were in the cities, they probably wouldn't even be much in the way of farms, would they?

There's only so much an indoor or rooftop garden can produce, and I highly doubt it's going to make people anything resembling a decent living, except maybe if they manage to jack up the prices and people become willing to pay extra for something for the novelty of like, I dunno, a fully formed ear of corn grown in some guy's basement. Or if a major crop failure forces prices so high that it becomes a viable option, but, if the French Revolution is any indication, things are likely to get really politically unstable before we reach that point.

If you live in a metropolitan area how close is the nearest farm to you?  Would you do a daily commute to it every day to do farm work for low pay?

(May 13, 2018 at 11:43 pm)Wyrd of Gawd Wrote:

(May 13, 2018 at 8:52 pm)Rev. Rye Wrote: If they were in the cities, they probably wouldn't even be much in the way of farms, would they?

There's only so much an indoor or rooftop garden can produce, and I highly doubt it's going to make people anything resembling a decent living, except maybe if they manage to jack up the prices and people become willing to pay extra for something for the novelty of like, I dunno, a fully formed ear of corn grown in some guy's basement. Or if a major crop failure forces prices so high that it becomes a viable option, but, if the French Revolution is any indication, things are likely to get really politically unstable before we reach that point.

If you live in a metropolitan area how close is the nearest farm to you?  Would you do a daily commute to it every day to do farm work for low pay?

I live in the Chicagoland area, and the nearest farm is probably a county away. No, I don’t think I’d like to do a commute that far every day even if I was being paid handsomely. Then again, it’s not like this is a problem that can be solved as easily as you seem to suggest. That was my whole fucking point, you bowl of monkeyspank.

The primary reason to hire migrant labor..in ag... is skill, not cost.  Migrant haters need to learn a fuckin trade, lol.


Personally...I used to commute two hours a day to farm.  Factoring in the length of the days and cost of travel I think I was making something like $8 bucks an hour, lol....-but- I love it and we were building the sort of operation you're all going to be familiar with, in cities, in coming years.  All those big box retailers that are getting pushed out leave an amazing piece of land behind them for integrated hydro.  It's right in the middle of the market with massive frontage and parking, and the infrastructure is already set up.

In chicago, for example..theres a millionaire waiting to happen with RAS trout/tilapia, prawn and marine shrimp in a combo dwc/vert facility. In a one acre parking lot, you can grow a simulated 8 acres of strawberries - 100k lbs, and @ 2.5/7tons of fresh.. as in never frozen, seafood. It;s the establishment cost, not the productivity..that;s the issue. Quarter mil for the hydro if it;s facility based, another 150k ish for the ras*. That;s just to set it up (and if you did it yourself instead of hiring some asshole like me to do it), operating cost would be near 200k yearly. Could tilt it towards the RAS and produce many times as much seafood if you run yuppie chow in a biofloc system. The average (successful) integrated system goes black in 2 to 3 years despite upfront costs approaching 1mil in the first year.

The only real limitation in the urban setting is phosporus disharge regulation into muncipal water - and it;s usually not an issue (not an issue at all with trout and strawberries). The city rarely cares about it;s residents and favors high taxpayers. That and the purchasing agreements @ the fuckin kroger.....;(

*People have done it a hell of alot cheaper..buyt it;s usually one or some combo of sweetheart deals, redneck macguyver setups, and subpar control systems. Guys who, for example, trickle water through a 55gal drum filled with netting rather than pay 8kUSD per 20m3/water for bioreactive mechanical filtration.

I live in Iowa and I am counting the days until the state economy tanks. Iowa exports over 80% of our food, a lot of which goes to China.