Monday, October 13, 2008

Automated Food Production

When designing an automated food production facility it is important to understand the theory behind permaculture so the users of the facility are able to harvest enough for their needs:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permaculture
Modern permaculture is a system design tool. It is a way of
-looking at a whole system or problem;
-observing how the parts relate;
-planning to mend sick systems by applying ideas learnt from long-term sustainable working -systems;
seeing connections between key elements (parts).
In permaculture, practitioners learn from the working systems of nature to plan to fix the damaged landscapes of human agricultural and city systems. This thinking applies to the design of a kitchen tool as easily to the re-design of a farm. Permaculture practicioners apply it to everything deemed necessary to build a sustainable future.

The degree of automation in Food Production depends on the items being harvested.
Automated Produce is the easiest to maintain and the most thoroughly investigated:
http://www.hydro.co.nz/1_information/1_greenhouse/info_greenhouse.html
The benefits that a fully automated greenhouse control systems bring to the grower are many. Obviously, there will be the labour saving aspect but far more importantly, factors such as improved quality of produce and information gathering can mean the difference between earning a profit or suffering substantial losses. Automation includes automation of the environment, automation of fertiliser dosing and automation of irrigation. Autogrow Systems manufactures a range of equipment in these general areas ranging from the simple to advanced models.
There are different varieties of produce harvesting that can also be implemented such as hydroponics:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permaculture
Hydroponics is a technology for growing plants in nutrient solutions (water containing fertilizers) with or without the use of an artificial medium (sand, gravel, vermiculite, rockwool, perlite, peatmoss. coir, or sawdust) to provide mechanical support. Liquid hydroponic systems have no other supporting medium for the plant roots: aggregate systems have a solid medium of support. Hydroponic systems are further categorized as open (i.e., once the nutrient solution is delivered to the plant roots, it is not reused) or closed (i.e., surplus solution is recovered, replenished, and recycled).
In combination with greenhouses, it is high technology and capital-intensive. It is also highly productive, conservative of water and land, and protective of the environment. Yet for most of its employees, hydroponic culture requires only basic agriculture skills. Since regulating the aerial and root environment is a major concern in such agricultural systems, production takes place inside enclosures designed to control air and root temperatures, light, water, plant nutrition, and adverse climate.

In land based meat harvesting there are automated slaughtering techniques for different animals. However, due to the sanitary conditions of these facilities and the poor results of the meat generated it might be best to look towards more free range meat options.

In sea based meat harvesting fisheries have been used to house and process sea animals.

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