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How could Google, Tesla and Silicon Valley solve world hunger and still make a profit?

• “Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius — and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction.” E.F Shumacher Open Source Proposal "Development is the best contraceptive." - Karan Singh Overview A quick guide to setting up a transformative agricultural engineering dept, funding it, and alleviating food poverty. Notes: 1. I'm assuming that someone in SV wants to solve world hunger. I might be wrong. 2. SV corps aren't charities. This proposal is aimed at breaking even, then generating revenue. 3. If Google, Tesla etc. aren't interested, someone else might step up. 4. Solving basic needs problems will *stabilize and decrease world population growth.* Malthus was wrong. Poor living conditions contribute to high birth rates. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographic-economic_paradox Introduction Four Agricultural Problems: 1) Wasted harvests 2) Slow growing crops 3) Tight farming space 4) Lack of clear gov or media leadership http://www.wastedfood.com/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_waste http://www.verticalveg.org.uk/maximising-space-3-fast-growing-crops/ http://www.worldhungerteam.com/en/tactics/food-production/rapid-growth-crops.html http://thefederalist.com/2014/02/04/9-reasons-the-farm-bill-is-bad-for-america/ These four problems can be solved with innovative but shelved farming techniques. Agricultural pioneers have found themselves sidelined. Could SV drop its cyborg futurism, solve implementation problems, and still make cash? 6 Farming Innovations i) Solar Dehydration ii) Rapid Growth Crops iii) Aquaponics iv) Low Budget Vertical Farms v) Consumer Funded Food Safety Labs Development: 4 Phases Phase 1. Meta-Research Collate available materials: i. Educational Videos ii. Agricultural Articles iii. Research Papers iv. Team of Freelance Agricultural consultants. Phase 2. Prototype Testing. Build effective prototypes: 1. Solar Dehydration Units. SD solves the problem of food waste. 30-50 percent of food doesn't make it to the plate. Challenge: Establishing a safe drying protocol that minimizes bacteria. Dehydrating Mangos Backyard Solar Dehydrator Commercial SD plant 2. Low Cost Vertical Farms Solve the problem of tight farming space in cities. Challenge: Establishing a replicable design. Vertical farming: 60 sq meters producing 2000kg fodder a week 3. Rapid Growth Crops Solve the problem of slow growing food. Alfalfa, Bean sprouts etc grow from seed to edible in *three days* Challenges: Oxalate build-up must be solved with diet rotation. Salmonella and ecoli, a remote but extant risk, can be solved with rigorous hygiene protocols, and a bacterial testing system. Alfalfa Farming 4. Aquaponics Solves the problem of "unfarmable land." Aquaponics can set up a high yield, self contained eco system in any climate. Challenge: Relatively high set up cost. Aquaponics Pros and Cons 5. Consumer Funded Food safety labs. Solves the problem of pay-per-result-back-scratch auditing, + lax government food standards. Challenge: Again, relatively high set up costs. https://www.consumerlab.com/ Simplicity: “A child of five could understand this. Send someone to fetch a child of five.” Groucho Marx Hey brainbox! Keep it simple and locally buildable. No robot arms, no spiral conveyor belts run by Cray computers. No billion dollar AI run farmer-less fields. Maths and research can be done on a smartphone. Don't get too clever, nerds! Use locally available materials: Bamboo, plastic tubing, banana leaves, reconditioned scrap, wire. Smart Agriculture Smartphone apps might work as hydroponic controllers, agricultural calculators etc. http://www.mofb.org/NewsMedia/ShowMeArticles.aspx?articleID=259 http://www.e-agriculture.org/content/smartphone-apps-agricultur Smartphones could be useful as information sources *even without connectivity*. Wikipedia articles, how to guides and Mp3 lectures could be pre-loaded. Crowdsource and crowdvote applicable, localized materials. Ultra low budget: As above, but w/ audio lectures on a 5 dollar mp3. Phase 3. Field Beta Test -Listen: Talk to local farmers, stall holders, and customers. Be sensitive to disrupting fragile street vendor economies. -Setup closed beta slowly and fairly in established economies. -Invite replication and refining. -Review constantly. Phase 4. Rollout! - Set up open beta, quietly invite press. - Set up Agriculture Future school. - Invite other pioneers, universities, backyard geniuses to copy and improve on current systems. - Aim for financially self sustaining ecosystems ASAP. * * * Money In!! Revenue Streams for Free Lunches. If SV moguls spent their fortune subsidizing everyone's tacos, they'd be flat broke and homeless within 6 months. No one wants a bunch of unemployed futurists in the welfare queue. How can SV keep it's cash, and kickstart this project for a measly hundred grand? Revenue Streams 1. Consulting After researching this project for 6 months, the SV startup would end up with a highly skilled team of Agricultural Engineers. Demand for education at both government, NGO and grassroots level would be huge. 2. Grassroots donations. If... 1) SV showed leadership 2) Proved themselves with the first 10,000 tons of food. 3) Came up with  reasonable cost-per-meal figures. 4) Launched dedicated donation apps... ...donations might roll in. 3. Goodwill Intangible, unquantifiable. But the gigantic goodwill generated by a successful project would resonate financially for decades. 4. Generating Markets. Turning a poverty stricken area into a grassroots free market would open up markets for smartphones and other products etc. 5. Education Low cost private education, focussed on languages, music, sports and entrepreneurship, would generate revenue for aeons. 6. Buy One Give Some "One mushroom wrap in India for each Caesar salad sold today!" "One Solar Dryer to Timbuktu for every 5 smartphones sold." 6. Advertising 3 Billion people get smartphones. What markets will open? * * * * * * Conclusion "If you do government's job for them, and make them look good, they'll like you." Random Quoran. Hunger can be solved with shelved technology, a dedicated team of engineers, and intelligent rollout. Money will flow to a well implemented plan. * “Simplicity is ultimately a matter of focus.” -Ann Voskamp * Future Headlines: (????) Unveils Plan to Eradicte Hunger. New (????) Facility in Mumbai Produces 10,000 Tons of Organic Food Per Day. (???) and (???) Present the Fifty Cent Alfalfa Mushroom Wrap. ??? Profit. Where's Tony Stark when you need him?

• Answer:

  I happen to be working exactly on this topic. We have code named it "Grains". Its still under development but i think the underlying mechanisms are robust and quite capable of solving the issue while making a profit out of it. The programme is still under development though but you can check out some stuff at http://eachgraincounts.com/en/index.aspx website. (which is in beta for now, a lot more stuff will cbe coming up soon) I am more than happy to share the presentation describing the whole mechanism with anyone who is really interested in joining up, be it google or any individual.