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With 'electro-agriculture,' plants can produce food in the dark and with 94% less land, bioengineers say. (www.sciencedaily.com)

submitted 3 weeks ago by Lugh to c/futurology

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[–] CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org 6 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

You missed the big one, which they empasise themselves: plants are really power-inefficient. They've already quadrupled it with their acetate-producing reaction from 1% to 4%. Meanwhile, solar cells can be 30-40% efficient. That means you can feed a lot more people with a lot less resources.

In a way, it's like the agricultural revolution happening all over again - we go down another trophic level, and now humans are the autotrophs. Apparently they've already gotten this method to work with mushrooms.

[–] Lugh 2 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Yes, I also forgot to mention this tech is a safeguard against supply-side shocks. like with wheat after Russia attacked Ukraine.

[–] SlopppyEngineer@lemmy.world 4 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Perhaps it can be scaled down easily to something that fits in a home. It could be a fridge sized machine that's hooked up to power and water and keeps producing fresh food. That'll cut out the middlemen.

[–] CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org 3 points 3 weeks ago

That would be dope, especially in places like where I live that are difficult to supply fresh produce to. Right now I just have to settle for a basement greenhouse.

I feel the need to point out this is way more expensive upfront than a patch of dirt, though, so we're not going to make the switch overnight even if it's earns itself back easily in the long run.