Comments on: Becoming an Environmentalist while trying to turn a profit https://urbanagnews.com/blog/exclusives/becoming-an-environmentalist-while-trying-to-turn-a-profit/ News and information on vertical farming, greenhouse and urban agriculture Tue, 07 Mar 2023 13:44:42 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.3.2 By: Chris Higgins https://urbanagnews.com/blog/exclusives/becoming-an-environmentalist-while-trying-to-turn-a-profit/#comment-53288 Tue, 07 Mar 2023 13:44:42 +0000 https://urbanagnews.com/?p=8851#comment-53288 David:
Thank you for the thoughtful response.
Regarding the plastics example I used. In greenhouse tomato production growers use their plastic clips for one crop and then it is disposed of along with the green waste. There are many reasons for this including but not limited to: disease/virus management, labor and general cost/risk/reward benefits. In greenhouse tomatoes, the crop season is about 10-11 months. After that the goal is to clean the greenhouse and start new.

What I can say about the farm, profit margins are historically very thin. Farmers are willing to make changes but! they normally wait till those changes are forced upon them and the value of the end product can reflect the differences in production cost.

Chris

]]> By: david dahlson https://urbanagnews.com/blog/exclusives/becoming-an-environmentalist-while-trying-to-turn-a-profit/#comment-53222 Mon, 27 Feb 2023 13:15:15 +0000 https://urbanagnews.com/?p=8851#comment-53222 Chris,
This is certainly a conundrum, and one our company is grappling with. Capitalism is directly focused on increasing consumption; sustainability is focused on reducing consumption. Therefore, global industry will have no choice but to reconsider what makes a company successful. Alas, I think the nexus when we as a society make those changes is a long way off. In the meantime, your example of the plastic clips is interesting. If the plastic clips are used over many years, removed from the vines at end of each harvest and reused for the next harvest, then they are somewhat sustainable. The problem we have, especially in the US, is the amount of single use plastic, polymers, Styrofoam etc. where there is no attempt to reuse and/or recycle. Until we as a society change our mindset, there is almost no path sustainability.

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