https://blogs.cornell.edu/hort/2014/02/15/seminar-video-skys...
The largest human made solar collectors in the world are agricultural fields and clear glasshouses.
Thanks for posting this. I'm done with having my examples picked apart, so I'm not going to do it with him. The fact is that it's less crazy than it used to be, which is a good trend.
I subscribe to many channels like this on youtube, and sometimes interesting things show up years later. I expect at some point I'll need to weld 2 incompatible things together, but by then the folks at "Impulse Manufacturing Laboratory at Ohio State" will have figured out how to do it, for example.
Edit; I guess the video says most countries, but this idea still seems ridiculous for so many reasons.
Yields are significantly higher when you use indoor farming as well. Energy efficiency is nearly the same thanks to the use of high intensity LEDs tuned to photosynthesis. Water usage is MUCH lower as well. Some aquaponic methods are remarkably water efficient allowing the growth of water intense plants like lettuce and cabbage.
However those advantages don't outpace the current economic reality of vast tracts of cheap agricultural land and a global economy with massive economies of scale. The only niche for it right now is valuable fruits and vegetables that don't transport well or grow poorly. Stuff like microgreens, Ginseng, and Saffron. (Also, of course, Marijuana)
I haven't kept in touch so I don't know how that panned out.
How to pickle it - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXhXK2CcCic
But we should be working on that or something like it to feed cattle past the current idea of just using it to reduce methane in cattle.
