this post was submitted on 26 Jun 2025
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9
James Dyson reveals the future of farming (youtube.com)
submitted 4 days ago by sabreW4K3@lazysoci.al to c/technology@beehaw.org
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[–] samc@feddit.uk 3 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

You know, the more I think about this, the more I bristle at Dyson claiming this will solve Britain's food security problem.

Firstly, this kind of system seems limited to small cash crops rather than staple foods. (Good luck growing wheat on these.)

More importantly, Dyson has personally done far more to harm British food security than this gadget could offset. He was an ardent Brexiteer, which resulted in substantial barriers to importing food from our closest neighbors. (He also then immediately started relocating his business to Singapore in a stunning show of confidence in post-Brexit Britain)

These people don't want to save the world. They just want to look like heroes

[–] sabreW4K3@lazysoci.al 1 points 3 days ago

These people don't want to save the world. They just want to look like heroes

I agree. But it doesn't mean these people can't do good things and this system seems a good thing to me. Is it perfect? No, as you said

this kind of system seems limited to small cash crops rather than staple foods.

So that's a problem. But it's a step in the right direction.

Dyson has personally done far more to harm British food security than this gadget could offset. He was an ardent Brexiteer, which resulted in substantial barriers to importing food from our closest neighbors.

He is absolutely and unequivocally a wanker. But if he's done something good here, it will mean alternatives will become available and that's a win for everyone.

[–] LallyLuckFarm@beehaw.org 4 points 4 days ago (1 children)

600G of strawberries retails for £4.50 (Tesco). If this whole setup cost only a million pounds, a producer would have to grow 133,333,332G worth of strawberries to pay it off, and this assumes nothing breaks (ever) and that there is some way to harvest that many strawberries without paying labor, packaging, licensing, and other costs. I feel like this was a cool tech demo but that's about it

[–] samc@feddit.uk 3 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Not saying I disagree, but out of curiosity I looked up the yield of a conventional strawberry field, which is apparently 15-25 tons per hectare, or 11-18% of your threshold.

I agree that this would likely never be economically viable for strawberries, as I imagine it'd cost way more than £1M for a "hectares worth" of this setup.

More importantly, I don't consider strawberries vital to our food security, unlike Dyson

[–] sabreW4K3@lazysoci.al 1 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I think the price will come down now that they have a proof of concept.

[–] samc@feddit.uk 2 points 3 days ago

Yes, but it's still competing with a field full of dirt. So the value add has to be pretty substantial to justify any cost.

[–] Fermion@feddit.nl 4 points 4 days ago

I know you just copied the youtube title, but the title is obnoxiously pretentious.

[–] GrumpyBike1020@monero.town 2 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

Dyson didn’t invent this growing method, either. E.g. gigrow.com

[–] sabreW4K3@lazysoci.al 1 points 3 days ago

So what exactly are Dyson attempting to take credit for here?