Human Sperit

Futuristic Farming/Agricultural Ideas and Techniques

John Steinbeck’s novel, The Grapes of Wrath, explores how the “Okies” lost their farms and moved to California during the Great Depression. The geographical crisis known as the Dust Bowl caused farm production to sharply decrease. The Dust Bowl was started due to poor farming techniques. Brought on with decades of extensive farming without crop rotation and other techniques that prevented erosion. The removal of grass during the plowing of fields caused the soil of the Great Plains to be exposed, which allowed it to become dehydrated during the drought. This resulted in the transformation into dust, which was easily blown away by strong winds.

The lesson was learned and groups such as the CCC worked hard to undue the harm done. Once restored, the land was farmed in a more efficient fashion that made sure that the past mistakes did not repeat. Although there hasn’t been another incident like the Dust Bowl of the 1930s, how effective are modern farming techniques? Lately educated people have been creating and proposing farming practices that would by more healthy and useful. With the current population growth, more land and food is being needed to accommodate this growth. With the growth people are moving more and more into urban centers. A solution to lack of land for agricultural development is farming vertically. This idea is to put farming inside into buildings with an artificial farm on every floor. It would not cost much since each building could be several stories high in the heart of urban centers. There are many benefits to farming vertically as opposed to horizontally and outside. First of all since it has climate control and everything can be controlled, there could be year-round crop production. Also, space would be saved since one indoor acre is approximately equal to 6 outdoor ones. There would be no weather-related problems such as droughts, floods, and pets/bugs. Farming organic food would be easier to do and would generate the most profit with the recent public popularity. Farmland could be returned to its natural state and restore ecosystems. Water could be recycled and reused. The use of fossil fuels and subsequent pollution would be reduced, and the space allotted for farming would be used more efficiently. Environment would always be healthy and controlled for growth of the crop. Also this would create more jobs since monitoring and such would be necessary. By using this technique of farming vertically, many problems can be eliminated. It would be efficient and obviously has benefits even outside of solely providing food. Crop production would be more stable and reliable. The future is coming to us through the development of technology. Farming hasn’t been dramatically affected yet, and this is its chance. Besides with all the growing going on, the only way to go is up!