During my meeting with Dr.Sasha Preuss, a plant geneticist for Bayer (yes they make more than aspirin) my mind was blown. My intention was to get feedback from him about a research paper I am writing about land use of soybean farming in the Amazon. Little did I know I was going to get a brief schooling in why all my ideas would not work! I had initially thought if you could grow soybeans utilizing permaculture ideas of level farming using less land, it would help decrease deforestation in the Amazon. He told me that to reduce the carbon footprint you have to increase the yields. Many people at Bayer, previously Monsanto, have tried to increase the density of soybean crops and the yields have not changed causing more work for the same amount of produce. He said, if we can find a way to increase the yields of soy in the Amazon there would be less deforestation due to the decrease of new fields causing a smaller carbon footprint. The question is how? And is that the best solution? Right now all of the soy from the Amazon goes to China for pig feed because there developing a demand for meat is much higher than previous and will continue to grow with their population increases. I also learned you cannot easily substitute soy for a crop like corn, that produces a much higher yield when it is densely packed because the protein per pound is much lower in corn than in soy. The cost to export from South America to China is so high due to the rough roads found in the Amazon that the lower protein per pound found in corn is just not worth the cost of exportation. You would think why doesn't the soy South America produces go to people in South America? It makes sense to do this because the food miles would drop immensely lowering the carbon footprint but the export from South America to China is crucial for South America's economy. You might also think why not grow soy in China but there is no agricultural space for soy to grow in China. It is so industrialized that there is no room to plant the amount of soy necessary to supply the demand of soy. If we could find a way to plant soy in China the food miles would lower causing the carbon footprint to lower. A win win for everyone. So why has this not been done? It is complicated but not impossible. China also experiences a lot of pollution due to industrialization. One of my ideas is to use the assets that are available, the roofs of all the large buildings in China, and turn them into micro-farms producing soy bean. This would lower the carbon footprint while helping reduce the pollution in China's cities as the soy would take in lots of the CO2 produced. Another idea I would like to peruse using empty spaces in the high density cities in China. Due to the invasiveness of COVID-19 in the city centers, my theory is that there could be an opportunity to convert parts or whole office spaces into hydroponic farms where using modern day technology you could build out what would be acres of soy farms in an office building. This would instill an efficient eco-friendly way to grow soy to match the demands in China. My last idea I would like to investigate to lower food miles from the Amazon to China is to come up with a way to have soy grow over water China Water sources. To make a floating soy farm. This would be beneficial for many because the soy grown in the Amazon could go to South America because as South America develops the demand for meat rises. The soy grown off the coast of China would go to China and solve the issue of agricultural space in China.
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