For some reason they think we are running out of land to farm, so is this the solution.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01snbm2

Or would we be better off not throwing a third of it away

Of course we will run out of farm land, especially when 'they' have planted most of it with biomass to support the power stations

I quite like the principle of shifting farming vertically (if it works) in order to turn large tracts of land back over to the wild. I doubt that's the idea though.

If vertical means multi-level, where low plants nestle under taller ones under trees, then that's very Permaculture - however it barely works in UK, best for southerly climates where there's an abundance of daylight.

If it means on balconies up the side of buildings, even more so - in UK plants each really need a clear vertical view of their own patch of sky, to get enough light.

<blockquote><cite>Posted By: SteamyTea</cite>Global farming is pretty good generally</blockquote>

But no matter how well it's done there's no escaping the fact that it displaces enormous amounts of biodiversity.

I come from New Zealand, which went from being almost completely covered in forest around 1000 AD to half that by 1800, to the small pockets of forested land now:
http://thebloodsblog.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/wellington-056.jpg

Flying over earth, especially at night, makes you wonder whether we're a blessing or a parasite.

I remember reading Design Outlaws back in the 90s: http://www.designoutlaws.org/ There's an interesting section in there about dense/high super cities. Would be interesting to read again to see how much of it is still relevant.

How much of it is that we are using the wrong land to grow on?
There is a 'national pride' issue about being self sufficient in food production, but is that hampering all-round better farming methods.

Hard to decide if the dominant species on the planet is a parasite or not, I just think that humans are the dominant species and it will all sort itself out.
But as we are at about 50% of the population now living in urban areas, there is less people in rural ones. But remember that urban areas were once forest, flood plains, hillsides, deserts and all the other 'wildernesses'.

Just got GQT on and it is from Cornwall. But how about this for a question:

Q. We burn a lot of old timber, how can I best use the ash in the garden?

A. Wood ash is quite high in potash, so can be good for fruiting plants, or plants such as Clematis (especially in quite acid soil). Use it on the garden now rather than when it's very wet weather as the nutrients will leach away very quickly in the rain. It should be applied quite thickly and raked into the soil to prevent it from blowing away.

To expand a bit she is burning old timber with nails in it, so probably treated, who want to tell her her?

Posted By: SteamyTea
To expand a bit she is burning old timber with nails in it, so probably treated, who want to tell her her?

Is Bob not on the panel today (we don't listen to it till Sunday evening)?
IIRC when Bob answers that sort of question he usually makes the point about treated/painted timber not being suitable?

Posted By: bot de pailleI saw a program that said it was more like 50 percent wastage in the food industry here in Europe.

I remember watching an excellent documentary film from the US a few years ago where the film maker joined others dumpster diving for food in the evenings after the supermarkets closed. The amount of good food that was thrown out was staggering, whole trays of eggs because one was cracked, loads of perfectly edible fruit and veg etc. etc.

They had lots of figures on the amount of food that goes to waste every day but I have long since forgotten the details, well worth a watch if you come across it, I think it was on Netflix at the time I saw it.

I remember last year seeing in one of the big sainsburys equivalent French supermarkets, signs that were proudly stating how they took produce off the shelf well before the sell by date, out of respect for the health and safety of consumers! The same super market that sold me a dud ink cartridge 2 years over its sell by date and then refused to refund because it was my fault for not checking it was out of date.

It's not vertical, but I came across this at the Science Museum in London, and it looks like it could be a practical solution to growing lots of food without too much of a negative impact on biodiversity.

Surely the headline figure,- 50% wasteage, or whatever; is a little misleading. I'm guessing if true, it only applies to fresh products, when you factor in processed food in one form or another, dried, frozen, canned, preserved, juiced, etc that 50% headline as a % of ALL foodstuffs drops significantly.

Posted By: Chris P BaconI have often wondered what percentage of tomato ketchup is actually eaten.

That is because they don't mix it with dripping and scoop it up with stale bread.

Posted By: renewablejohngrowing successful commercial crops under 75 percent shade netting

I see - tell us, why do you do that?

Posted By: renewablejohnWhat I did not expect was the increase in growth of the plants due to the added protection from wind and sun.

Is that more to do with evaporation? C3 or C4 plants are different, so may depend on if you are growing things that should not grow there.

Do they give a mechanism as to why this is so?