• SirToxicAvenger@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    2
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    1 year ago

    sort of surprised that there arent massive greenhouses (or whatever so you can regulate the air and soil temperature) - then you could grow a lot of produce domestically. really huge startup costs though.

    • wahming@monyet.cc
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      1 year ago

      It’s not that we can’t grow most of them locally, it’s just not cost efficient to do so. Massive greenhouses, with all the expenses they entail, would not solve that issue.

      • dukeGR4@monyet.cc
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        it’s just not cost efficient to do so

        only if you’re SME. If anything, operating at a larger scale will yield higher profit due to economies of scale (up to a point tho)

        it’s just the cost of doing business and said expense is highly relative. And even within the industry, what is expensive for an SME in that particular sector is not necessarily expensive for larger corporations. different risk appetite, governance, funding etc.

        • wahming@monyet.cc
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          1 year ago

          There’s a reason even the giant megacorps in the states are growing crops on soil, not giant greenhouses (for the most part). You think they wouldn’t have moved over if it was potentially profitable to do so?

          • dukeGR4@monyet.cc
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            1 year ago

            oh i wasn’t talking about greenhouse, just farming in general. tho malaysia doesn’t need green house, stable climate all year round.

            giant megacorps in the states

            You think they wouldn’t have moved over if it was potentially profitable to do so?

            You have a point. But they didn’t exactly crank up the greenhouses, then how do we know indoor farming/greenhouses is not profitable tho in the context of discussing scale. even if sth is profitable corporations might shy away because it may take years of investment to pay dividends.

            Ormaybe it’s sth more simple - climate there doesn’t require it, or the type of food they grow is not suitable for indoor farming or will have less yield. When i was travelling in Europe i saw loads of greenhouses, like thousands of them. Probably it’s more suitable for them. Not too sure what’s being planted tho but there’s definitely utility in the concept itself that US farmers simply do not require.

    • munkkey@monyet.cc
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      Our country’s main cash crop is oil palm. There are rice fields and vegetable plantations but they are small scale and not locally sufficient, plus we export top-grade fresh produce to neighbouring Singapore.

      The government has subsidies and price controls in place for staple foods (largely imported), and maybe got complacent in developing self-sufficiency since the supply and our currency was stable for a long time.