How Much Cropland to Feed "X" Number of People?

[SaxonViolence]

Friends,

i am trying to figure out:

When planning a (Reasonably) self-sufficient city from scratch—given "X" Number of People, how many Square-Miles of Cropland do I need to feed them using traditional agriculture?

Assume good soil and growing conditions comparable to Mid-Western Farmland and a typical American Diet.

In the second case: IF I go to intense hydroponics, then how much land would I need?

Assume that I wish to grow enough annuals like grain; potatoes and peanuts to feed people and livestock—What would be a reasonable amount of land to add for orchards; vineyards and nut trees for a more varied diet?

Thanks.

 

Saxon Violence

 

 

[Vmedvil5]

18 hours ago, SaxonViolence said:

Friends,

i am trying to figure out:

When planning a (Reasonably) self-sufficient city from scratch—given "X" Number of People, how many Square-Miles of Cropland do I need to feed them using traditional agriculture?

Assume good soil and growing conditions comparable to Mid-Western Farmland and a typical American Diet.

In the second case: IF I go to intense hydroponics, then how much land would I need?

Assume that I wish to grow enough annuals like grain; potatoes and peanuts to feed people and livestock—What would be a reasonable amount of land to add for orchards; vineyards and nut trees for a more varied diet?

Thanks.

 

Saxon Violence

 

 

"The figure is a little hard to swallow: 1,996 pounds, or nearly one ton. This is an estimate of how much — by weight — the average American eats over the course of one year. The figure comes from economists who crunched food consumption data collected by the U.S. Department of Agriculture."

"As examples of potential production capability one acre of land can produce as much as 42,000 pounds of strawberries, 25,400 pounds of potatoes, or 11,000 pounds of iceberg lettuce."

 

So, it depends on the crop but let's say potatoes so each acre of land can produce enough food for 12.725 people for a year. If it were strawberries, then it would be 21 people per acre of land for a year. Getting an exact estimate for a variety of crops would be difficult however those are some estimates for a single crop. Just as a average let's say your diet was Strawberries, Potatoes, and Iceberg Lettuce then it would produce 26,133.33 pounds of food per year so it would feed 13.092 people on that triple food diet of vegetables for a year. On the figure for the hydroponics part of the question, I have no clue exactly how that affects the amount of food produced so I won't begin to try to calculate the exact number of people that could feed for crops. I will however calculate the amount of farmland that is needed to feed the entire world with a triple food diet which is 7,753,000,000 people / 13.092 people per acre = 592,193,706.08 acres for everyone to eat that triple food diet.

How Much Farmland is on Earth?

"Two fifths of all land. . .

915 million acres."

So, it is actually possible to feed the entire human population this triple food diet and everyone eat like an American with 322 million acres left over for biofuels production or the Earth could support a population of 12,114,062,000 people with 915 million acres using all viable farmland.

 

Edited September 24, 2022 by Vmedvil5

[SaxonViolence]

Yeah. 

I write SF and Phantasy. While Cities that Float in the air via Anti-Gravity are rather phantasy oriented—I wanted to more or less realistically examine how the Governments of Earth would react to the newly established Floating City-States.

For some reason, I fixated on a city of 50 000 people—plus a few smalller communities and multiple farms. I wanted the people to live—AND EAT—much like Mid-Western Americans...

And I just wondered how big that I should make my imaginary cities.

You CAN sidestep such questions by being vague—but it seems weaken the story for me, when Questions go a begging.

Saxon Violence

Edited December 10, 2022 by SaxonViolence

[Vmedvil]

5 hours ago, SaxonViolence said:

Yeah. 

I write SF and Phantasy. While Cities that Float in the air via Anti-Gravity are rather phantasy oriented—I wanted to more or less realistically examine how the Governments of Earth would react to the newly established Floating City-States.

For some reason, I fixated on a city of 50 000 people—plus a few smalller communities and multiple farms. I wanted the people to live—AND EAT—much like Mid-Western Americans...

And I just wondered how big that I should make my imaginary cities.

You CAN sidestep such questions by being vague—but it seems weaken the story for me, when Questions go a begging.

Saxon Violence

Then it seems around 13.092 people per acre so if you had a population of 50,000 you would need 3,819.126 acres of farmland is your exactly calculated answer.

"How many acres is square mile?

A square mile is a large area that is equal to 27,878,400 square feet, 3,097,600 square yards, and 640 acres."

Thus 3,819.126 acres of farmland is 5.96 Square miles of farmland.

Edited December 10, 2022 by Vmedvil

[Vmedvil]

1 hour ago, JeffreysTubes8 said:

Plants don’t have quality nutrition. The best food you can eat are the brains of other animals. You notice that’s the one part that they don’t serve except maybe in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

I figure I could get the same effect of eating a semi-intelligent brain by having lucid dreams and then dreams that you know you’re dreaming (funny the drug I use to lower my blood sugar interrupts that specifically I think it’s because of the serotonin) and meditating (not fake breath in and out but floating sensation and real vertigo).

 

1 hour ago, JeffreysTubes8 said:

I get served sht quality dna just because of the parts of the body they come from, my brain can make muscle and more brain on a vegetarian diet but as mentioned earlier it’d take certain things like sleep and r&r which I don’t have.

I get served sht food, drugged with fattening drugs (truly fattening like raising your blood sugar and fluid retention), I get no assistance I have to cut my own hair, often times I’m moving so much because they can still shoot my parents for not paying taxes if they also don’t leave the premise and can’t be overpowered even though the only purpose them working for money at this points serves anybody is it tickles their belly. I get little sleep and little down. 

So before anyone can get married they have to go through all that and see if they come out as clean and well groomed and accomplished as me. And then try giving me all the advantages they get.

Lol, Jeffrey you are a funny man, that's ****ed up enough that I find it hilarious. Though, I do feel for you my friend, I hope happiness and success find their ways to you.

Edited December 10, 2022 by Vmedvil

[Vmedvil]

5 minutes ago, JeffreysTubes8 said:

You don’t believe that there’s dna in the food after we cook it? And that that dna is different depending on what organ of the animal it was inside?

There is DNA in every type of cell in any living being, so Yes, I agree that there is DNA in our food. Mind you, I am drunk right now thus I am kinda feeling really good right now. I think I am going to light up a Churchill cigar in a minute.

Edited December 10, 2022 by Vmedvil

[Vmedvil]

2 minutes ago, JeffreysTubes8 said:

And why do we discard the brains of our food? Why exactly is that? If anything you should question it because it’s just missing? Why leave out an edible part of the animal? I can see if it were an animal hunting the prey and couldn’t get inside the skull. But certain chimps crack extremely tough nuts, perhaps they broke open skulls to get the brains and that’s where people came from. 

I think because of Prions that we discard the brain of the animal, link = Prion Diseases | Johns Hopkins Medicine

Edited December 10, 2022 by Vmedvil

[Vmedvil]

8 minutes ago, JeffreysTubes8 said:

And why do we discard the brains of our food? Why exactly is that? If anything you should question it because it’s just missing? Why leave out an edible part of the animal? I can see if it were an animal hunting the prey and couldn’t get inside the skull. But certain chimps crack extremely tough nuts, perhaps they broke open skulls to get the brains and that’s where people came from. 

Don't disappear on me, Jeffrey let's talk in this thread since the OP has been answered.

[write4u]

On 9/23/2022 at 8:36 PM, SaxonViolence said:

In the second case: IF I go to intense hydroponics, then how much land would I need?

Feeding a Family of Five with a Portable Farm in 125 sq ft

Quote

Starting with USDA data for a healthy diet and accepting that most carbohydrates will come from grains and root crops, the table vegetables for one person can be grown in 25 sq ft of aquaponics grow tray space. So a family of five will need 125 square feet of grow tray space or a Grow Tray 5′ wide by 25′ long.

Quote

A climatically adapted greenhouse that is 10′ by 30′ will feed the family of five year-round, forever. That space is only slightly larger than a modern living room. Some of the protein source for the family will come from the fish that are grown in the Fish Tanks of the Portable Farm and the settling tank waste can be used to grow other crops and fruits outside the structure. Plants love the nutrient-laden settling tank waste water and reward the Portable Farmer with exceptional crops yields. The waste water can also be added to compost to speed up the process.

more ...... https://portablefarms.com/2019/feed-5-portable-farm/

[write4u]

If you want to produce raw material for industrial purposes;

1 acre of "legal" industrial Cannabis will produce enough raw materials to earn enough income to live on.

How many acres of hemp do you need to make a profit?

Quote

Depending on a number of factors, your CBD crop could be generating anywhere between $2,500 and $75,000 per acre. This huge range comes down to a number of variables, but the most important is going to be the CBD to THC ratio.

Quote

One way to break down the numbers would be to realize that if you’re doing everything right and following methods to have the highest yield of CBD, you crop will produce about 10 percent CBD, which will equate to about $25 to $35 per pound. On average, you will get about one pound per plant, and be able to plant about 2,500 plants per acre. This leads to you making about $60,000 per acre before subtracting the higher costs of optimizing your CBD yield.

https://www.bonafideseeds.com/how-much-can-i-make-hemp-farming-profit-per-acre/

Of course there are many variables, but it is clear that growing non-THC Cannabis crops can still yield a very good living wage on a relatively small area. 

There are so many advantages in growing Hemp that it should be a favorite crop, but its production has been suppressed for so long that no one remembers the wealth of products that can be derived from this eco-friendly plant.

Edited December 16, 2022 by write4u