Could be a good future for the Big Island

[rawvegan]

this is stupid. grow your own food.

[Cagary]

I'm not saying this idea makes sense for Eastside Big Island, but has everyone who commented actually gone to the site and read about it?

http://www.worldecosource.com/human.html

Some advantages would be: no pigs nor Axis deer in your "garden". Insects, disease and slugs would be much less of a problem. The Aguaponics/vegetable garden process sounds interesting (if it were simple to implement).

You could even tow the whole thing to the Farmers Market and pick only the vegetables which people buy right then.

Cost and viability are huge factors that we don't know about, but I don't think we should just dismiss the idea so easily.

[pahoated]

This is a hard one to figure out. It is basically a hydroponic garden on wheels. Not sure what the great innovation is here. It seems the idea is the feed supplier would have several of these semi trailers with hydroponically grown feed, then truck that to where the cattle are. Why wouldn't it be better to just grow the feed at a large hydroponic farm where water is nearby, harvest, then truck that to where the cattle are? It doesn't seem to make sense to truck around huge tubs of water as the main weight load and the only advantage to the feed and produce is that it can be harvested totally fresh.

[coppercoin40]

quote:

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Originally posted by Cagary

Some advantages would be: no pigs nor Axis deer in your "garden". Insects, disease and slugs would be much less of a problem.

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I think Cagary listed the most applicable reasons to grow in one of these. You would have a controlled environment, less battles with insects, no rat lung worry, able to maintain an average temp...

But most likely too much money! Interesting though

I did wonder why would Hawaii buy them even to grow food for cattle. Isn't there enough pasture land? I don't see how you could grow enough in these for a cattle farm.

[Lee M-S]

quote:

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Originally posted by amf217

Can you reduce cost 200 percent?

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That's always confused me, too. Are they paying me to use this?

[pahoated]

The topic of cattle on the BI means Parker Ranch and pretty much the whole north end of the island. This is a picture of Parker Ranch:
http://cache.virtualtourist.com/15/34884...e_Hilo.jpg
If you notice, it is lava rock with a thin layer of grass. It isn't about the amount of range land, it is about the nutrients. The nutrients aren't there, so that is why they are shipped to the mainland for finishing. It was a crazy idea to raise cattle on the BI in the first place but it proved to be a successful export business and now is a big part of the BI economy. The extended drought may be endangering this business model, without some way to get affordable feed in large quantities to the herds.

It's going to take a huge number of these tractor-trailers to feed even a moderate herd. That means a whole lot of driving around with big rigs, which is going to kill this idea with operating costs. It's actually not a bad idea as far as the aquaponics go. A fixed aquaponics farm delivering feed to the herds makes a lot more sense. It seems like it would be better to have a fixed fish pond with flooring over it, with holes for the plants, under an open air green house with fine mesh over the ends, the floor elevated a few inches above ground by 4x4 beams with a simple electric barrier around the perimeter. This would repel slugs and snails, the mesh over the openings keeps out the birds and most bugs, the greenhouse plastic providing diffused lighting and in combination with the flooring, keeps the fish pond from evaporating, the fish also being a product. This might be interesting to prototype.