FUTURE FOOD VIA AEROPONICS 

DURING THE EARLY DAYS OF THE INDUSTRIAL AGE THE BIG INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITIES WERE IN MECHANICAL INVENTIONS AND THE THEN -- MODERN PRODUCTION LINES OF AUTOMOTIVE AND OTHER FACTORIES. TODAY, THE EMPHASIS AND THE BIG OPPORTUNITIES LIE IN THE BIOLOGICAL "FACTORY", THE PRODUCTION IN VATS OF NEW FOODS, GENETIC MANIPULATION AND NEW METHODS OF GROWING "INSIDE" FOODS PREVIOUSLY GROWN OUTSIDE ON LAND.

ONE FAST MOVING FIELDS HAS BEEN THE PERFECTING OF HYDROPONIC (GROWING PLANTS WITHOUT SOIL) METHODS OF RAISING FOOD.

WHILE THIS HAS CREATED SOME AMAZING RESULTS WITH TOMATOES, LETTUCE, CUCUMBERS, ETC., IT HASN'T YET REACHED REALLY UNIFORM COMMERCIALLY PROFITABLE LEVELS. BUT NOW AN ADVANCED FORM OF THAT TECHNIQUE MAY BE THE TYPE OF FARMING THAT WILL PRODUCE MUCH OF OUR FOOD IN THE FUTURE. IT'S "AEROPONICS"! NEW POSSIBILITIES FOR PRODUCING THIS TYPE OF FOOD FOR IS EMERGING FROM RESEARCH INTO METHODS OF FEEDING THOSE THAT MAY LIVE IN OUTER SPACE TOMORROW.

AT THE EPCOT (EXPERIMENTAL PROTOTYPE COMMUNITY OF TOMORROW) CENTRE, A PART OF THE 27,000 ACRE DISNEY WORLD NEAR ORLANDO, FLORIDA, THEY ARE GROWING (SOMETIMES WITH THE HELP OF NEARBY NASA SCIENTISTS) CROPS THAT JUST HANG IN THE AIR. LONG CONVEYORS CARRY THE PLANTS AROUND THE KRAFT FOODS "CREATIVE HOUSE". DURING PART OF THE CYCLE, PLANT ROOTS PASS THROUGH A SPRAY BOX AND RECEIVE A SHOWER OF WATER AND NUTRIENTS SUITABLE FOR THAT STAGE OF GROWTH. IN ANOTHER TECHNIQUE, LETTUCE IS GROWN ON LARGE A-FRAMES AS ITS ROOTS ARE SPRAYED FROM THE INSIDE WITH HYDROPONIC/AEROPONIC SOLUTIONS. IT IS SIMILAR TO A PROCESS I OBSERVED THREE YEARS AGO IN TSUKUBA, JAPAN.

THERE, DURING A SIX-MONTH PERIOD, 15,000 TOMATOES GREW FROM ONE SEED! THE PLANTS GREW 15 FEET HIGH AND 30 FEET ACROSS AND THE SEEDS WERE NOT EVEN GENETICALLY ALTERED! THEY DID THE SAME THING WITH CUCUMBERS (700 FROM ONE SEED) AND MUSK MELONS, A TYPE OF CANTALOUPE. THEY WERE GROWING LETTUCE - PRACTICALLY WHILE YOU WAIT - IN JUST FOUR DAYS! AND IT WAS ALL DONE INSIDE IN THE SHADE!

ANOTHER EMERGING POSSIBILITY WITH VAST IMPLICATIONS, IS THE TYPE OF AGRICULTURE IN WHICH THE MARRIAGE OF COMPUTERS AND GENETIC ENGINEERING IS HELPING TO GROW CROPS IN VATS!

CROPS SUCH AS STRAWBERRIES, PINEAPPLES, BANANAS AND SWEET POTATOES ARE ASEXUAL PROPAGATED CLONES. THEY ARE NOT GROWN FROM SEEDS. USING TISSUE CULTURE, A BIOTECHNOLOGY THAT REGENERATES WHOLE PLANTS FROM TINY PIECES OF LEAF OR EVEN SINGLE CELLS, STAFF AT "THE LAND" PAVILLION DISSECT SUCH LEAVES UNDER A MICROSCOPE. THEY THEN PLACE THESE TINY PIECES IN A VITAMIN-LADEN HYDROPONIC SOLUTION ALONG WITH SUGAR AND HORMONES. THOUSANDS OF TINY NEW PLANTLETS QUICKLY SPRING FROM THIS RICH NUTRIENT SOLUTION. ALONG THE WAY SCIENTISTS ARE INCORPORATING NEW CHARACTERISTICS INTO VARIOUS TISSUE CULTURES -- TO PROVIDE PLANTS WITH A TOLERANCE OF DROUGHT AND SALT AND RESISTANCE TO PESTS WHILE IMPROVING PLANT GROWTH.

ONE U.S. COMPANY ESCOGEN, SEES THE DAY WHEN THEY WILL GROW CHERRIES AND ORANGES WITHOUT TREES ! IN MEAT PRODUCTION ATTEMPTS TO ELIMINATE DISEASES IN CATTLE, SUCH AS THE HARM DONE EACH YEAR BY THE PARASITIC LARVAE OF THE HEEL FLY ARE BEING TACKLED IN NEW FASHION. THIS PROBLEM CAUSES A DOLLAR LOSS RUNNING INTO HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS EACH YEAR IN MEAT AND HIDE DAMAGE IN NORTH AMERICA ALONE. IF THIS CAN BE PREVENTED OR EVEN MINIMIZED RETAIL MEAT COSTS MIGHT BE PARTIALLY STABILIZED. HOECHST CELANESE CORP. AND THE CODON CORP. OF SAN FRANCISCO ARE WORKING TOGETHER TO DEVELOP A VACCINE AGAINST SUCH CATTLE GRUBS. THEY WILL ATTEMPT TO ISOLATE AND CLONE THE GENE FOR THIS IMMUNOGENIC PROTEIN. AGAIN, A DEVELOPMENT UTILIZING METHODS UNKNOWN A FEW YEARS AGO.

NOT THAT LONG AGO 98 PERCENT OF THE THEN-SMALL POPULATION OF NORTH AMERICA WERE FARMERS. TODAY THAT TOTAL IS DOWN TO TWO PERCENT, YET WE PRODUCE MORE FOOD THAN OUR PRESENT POPULATION OF 250 MILLION CAN EAT.

OUR IMAGE OF THE HARD-WORKING, MUSCULAR RURAL FARMER IS CHANGING, BUT NOT AS FAST AS THE INDUSTRY. THE FARM OF THE FUTURE WILL BE A HIGHLY SCIENTIFIC OPERATION WITH COMPUTERS AND ROBOTS REPLACING THOSE TRADITIONAL ATTRIBUTES OF A FARMER IN THE PAST. IT HAS ALREADY STARTED TO HAPPEN.

THE IMPLICATIONS WILL BE REVOLUTIONARY. FIVE THOUSAND YEARS AGO AN EGYPTIAN FARMER FROM HIS ONE-ACRE PLOT COULD FEED, EVEN ON THE THEN-FERTILE LAND ALONG THE NILE, BUT FIVE PEOPLE. FOUR THOUSAND YEARS LATER IN ENGLAND A FARMER THERE WITH HIS FIVE ACRES COULD ONLY FEED THREE PEOPLE. BY 1875 WITH THE NEW HORSE-DRAWN MACHINERY AN AMERICAN FARMER PLOWED 140 ACRES, FED HIS FAMILY AND SIX OTHERS. IN 1986 THE AVERAGE AMERICAN FARMER WORKED 435 ACRES AND FED 50 PEOPLE. THE TOTAL VALUE OF MACHINERY REQUIRED TO DO THAT THEN, FOR ALL AMERICAN FARMERS, TOTALED $111 BILLION. THE TREND CONTINUES. LARGER FARMS, MORE CAPITAL INVESTMENT. FAR TOO OFTEN THE INTEREST BURDEN ON BORROWINGS CRIPPLES THE FARMER AND FORCES HIM INTO BANKRUPTCY. YET THE FUTURE WILL BE EVEN MORE CAPITAL-INTENSIVE. TOMORROW THE COSTS WILL APPEAR ASTRONOMICAL COMPARED TO TODAY BUT THE RESULTS WILL BE MATCHING. FARM DEVELOPMENTS ARE POSSIBLE TODAY THAT COULDN'T BE IMAGINED YESTERDAY. THEY CAN'T BE CARRIED OUT BY THE SAME TYPE OF "MOM AND POP" FARM OPERATIONS OF THE PAST.

IN THE FUTURE YOU MAY EVEN PULL YOU CAR UP TO A FARM FOR REFUELING: A DESERT PLANT, EUPHORBIA LATYRIS IS NOW BEING GROWN AS A POSSIBLE SOURCE OF GASOLINE.

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