Feeding the masses

[Stonecarver]

Any idea if all those land consuming crops ie wheat or corn can be grown in vertical farms? We really need to get much much smarter about food. Singapore should be copied all over world in my opinion in their food tech

[Arzosah]

Very interesting! That'll cut their food miles right down Also interesting that people are openly talking about food security these days. Even with a getup like this, there'll need to be somewhere separate that grows the seeds, and I also think they'll want to consider the air pollution that goes with being in a city, because currently it all looks like it's in the open air (may not be, of course). I wonder what's involved with their animal feed production.

I'm starting to think that with the extremes of temperature happening at random times of year, an enclosed growing space like a polytunnel or a greenhouse, with the ability to heat or to shade, might become really important.

Thanks for this stonecarver.

[jansman]

It will be all about effort v profit.It has to be.I doubt if cereals would be viable on anything but a field scale.I have had an active interest in permaculture and intensive growing systems for nigh on 30 years,and never encountered cereals grown in that way.However,I am happy to be otherwise informed!

http://blog.zipgrow.com/best-crops-for- ... l-farming/

[Appin]

Just for the record tha EPGLA ministry stew recipe would give about 120 servings but the calorie value is much less than 1200 kCal. ( By the way what is commonly known as the calorie in common use is actually a kilocalorie or kcal. I have a friend who is a dietitian who would kill me if I got this wrong.)

Meat has roughly 1500 kCal per kg and barley 3540 kCal per kg.


So 16lb meat is approx 7.25 kg so 7.25 x 1500 =10,875 kcal per batch

8lb barley is approx 3.6 kg So 3.6 x 3540= 12,872 kcal per batch.

Total 23,747 kcal per batch

Which gives per serving (assuming 120 per batch) 200 kcal

No where near 1200.

[Arwen Thebard]

Filling bellies with something hot in the short term, worry about the starvation later.

[Stonecarver]

Just for the record tha EPGLA ministry stew recipe would give about 120 servings but the calorie value is much less than 1200 kCal. ( By the way what is commonly known as the calorie in common use is actually a kilocalorie or kcal. I have a friend who is a dietitian who would kill me if I got this wrong.)

Meat has roughly 1500 kCal per kg and barley 3540 kCal per kg.


So 16lb meat is approx 7.25 kg so 7.25 x 1500 =10,875 kcal per batch

8lb barley is approx 3.6 kg So 3.6 x 3540= 12,872 kcal per batch.

Total 23,747 kcal per batch

Which gives per serving (assuming 120 per batch) 200 kcal

No where near 1200.

So if the UK had a proper Strategic Food Reserve , what should they be filling it up so as to get most bang for your buck.

[jansman]

The original Strategic Reserve consisted mainly of flour,sugar,corned beef and fats and oil. There was apparently a supply of high energy biscuits too,made in the 60's! It was all sold off in 1991.So as we have discussed before,the reserves are on the shop shelves or in the back of lorries.

I don't think the food that would be produced with the above ingredients ( or the hypothetical Ministry Stew) would be acceptable to the modern stomach.Of course,other points of view are available!

[Stonecarver]

The original Strategic Reserve consisted mainly of flour,sugar,corned beef and fats and oil. There was apparently a supply of high energy biscuits too,made in the 60's! It was all sold off in 1991.So as we have discussed before,the reserves are on the shop shelves or in the back of lorries.

I don't think the food that would be produced with the above ingredients ( or the hypothetical Ministry Stew) would be acceptable to the modern stomach.Of course,other points of view are available!

Curry Reserve

[jansman]

Now you are talking!

[Arzosah]

Curry reserve! I just happen to have half a teaspoon of turmeric in my porridge every morning

Used to love corned beef as a teenager though. Yum.

Went off searching on google again, and found a paper published in English by the Overseas Development Institute, of a German ministry of some sort, by a British/Irish sounding person:
https://www.odi.org/sites/odi.org.uk/fi ... s/8620.pdf

"In the wake of the 2008 price crisis there has been an active debate on establishing both regional and international emergency [food] reserves, to complement national emergency reserves. The potential for risk pooling suggests an opportunity for cost savings in holding regional reserves. However, no regional reserves are currently operational. The challenge of establishing arrangements for governance and releases has proved to be a largely insurmountable obstacle."
That's just great. Confirms the point previously made, most recently by jansman - there are no reserves except what's in the shops or what's being driven to the shops in lorries. Supermarkets have socking great distribution centres (like the Tesco one near the Dartford Tunnel (no link sorry, I googled to get it and the link was 10 lines long) but they add comparatively little to the foodstocks held in the country.