Could food ‘made from air’ let us ditch farms?

Source: New Scientist

A Finnish company called Solar Foods makes food ‘from air’. First, they used the electricity from solar panels to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. The resulting hydrogen provides energy to bacteria which can extract carbon dioxide (CO₂) and nitrogen from the air to make protein-rich organic matter. They do this more efficiently than plants grown via photosynthesis and the food is grown in vats in factories that take up much less land area than contemporary farms.

Food production is inefficient as less than 0.5% of the light energy falling on a field gets turned into food. By contrast, solar panels convert around 17% of the light energy falling on them into electricity. Solar Foods says it can turn electricity into food, via hydrogen, with an efficiency of 20%. (New Scientist)

Farming and land clearance produce a third of all greenhouse gases. Also, the clearing of land for farming reduces habitat for our wildlife. This process could help reduce the need for extra farmland and even allow some farms to return native habitat for the rewilding of endangered animals. This could be a more sustainable way to feed our growing population.

Read more: Can we really save the planet by making food ‘from air’ without farms? New Scientist, January 10, 2020.

The story behind the red wax-tipped bananas in Australia

Queensland wax-tipped bananas (Source: Verdemode)

The red wax-tipped bananas are those grown on banana plantations in Northern Queensland that use less chemicals and have created working farm ecosystems. This type of farming is called ecoganics which was started by Frank and Dianne Sciacca.

The Sciacca’s have been farming bananas for 30 years but changed the way they operated 15 years ago. The chemicals that they were advised to use on the soil and plants were not working and very costly. So Frank decided to farm more like what was done 60 years ago. Now insects abound and synthetic fertilisers are forbidden. A number of nearby farmers are following his methods and have formed a team.

Methods employed include:
- eliminating insecticides, miticides, nematicides and any fertiliser that kills organisms in the soil,
- cut herbicide use by 25%,
- applied fungicides sparingly,
- planted trees and shrubs to provide food and shelter for native animals,  
- provided a network of dams, drains and grassed areas to prevent runoff to the sea and Great Barrier Reef,
- allowed grasses and weeds to remain to provide flowers and habitats for insects and other small animals.

It took 4-6 years for improvements to appear and now the farms have working ecosystems; they save thousands of dollars in costs; production is not as good as before but this approach is profitable and sustainable. The conventional approach disrupted the ecosystem and reduced biodiversity. Now a working cycle has returned which is more biodiverse. For example, insects are seen as useful contributors as they are predators, pollinators, recyclers, scavengers, decomposers, soil creators and a food source. Other plants and animals join this web on land and in soil and water.

Nearby is a Queensland Department of Agriculture research station which is studying their results and doing further research. So far they have found the following:
- the carbon in the soil has risen (carbon sequestration),
- the number of microbes in the soil has risen,
- beneficial insects have returned,
- there is greater soil nutrient cycling,
- there is less soil nitrogen which creates competition and helps keep down pests such as Panama disease,
- greater insect diversity,
- beneficial nematodes have returned,
- research is underway to safely keep problem fungi under control.

Frank Sciacca says that these methods can be applied to other farming enterprises.

More information:
- ABC Landline: Red Tips: The story behind the bananas with the red tips.
- Pacific Coast Eco bananas

Solar farms with wildflowers return habitats for bees

Wildflowers with solar panels, UK. (source: Solarcentury)

With bees and other pollinators under threat from habitat removal and pesticides, adding wildflowers to land containing solar panels will add valuable ecosystem services to the environment.

Wildflowers, including short native grasses, could be sown mechanically using a native seed mix. Such a plantation will need much less mowing than grassland and will provide habitat for bees, insects, birds and other native animals.

Value could also be added to such a solar farm by lightly grazing sheep in autumn and winter. By taking such holistic measures, we can avoid the criticism that solar farms use up valuable arable farmland.

References:
- Solar arrays abuzz thanks to new pollinator-friendly vegetation initiative. Solar Power World, May 2017.
- Solarcentury set to build holistic solar farm. CleanTechnica, October 17, 2014.
- Solar power is playing a growing role to save the bees. CleanTechnica, August 12, 2019.