What Are Farms Like In the 23rd Century? Trek & Realistic?
- Thread starter Dayton3
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GodThingFormerly
A Different Kind of Asshole
"There are totally automated farms, but there are also farms that are run entirely by people who wish the joy of cultivating the land." - extracted from a 1977 description of 23rd century Earth by Jon Povill, script editor on Star Trek: Phase II and associate producer of ST:TMP.
TGT
Some ideas.
Although today it is somewhat controversial, genetic modification of crops is often an 'obvious' approach to futuristic agriculture. And to my untrained eye it seems like, if it's done in a controlled and well-understood way, crop modification (probably mostly geared towards larger and more nutritious variations) is probably happening in Trek. In fact, quadrotriticale is presumably exactly that.
In TOS, we hear of several 'farming colonies'. Beta XII-A in "Day of the Dove" is mentioned with about 100 inhabitants, the problematic Omicron Ceti III out of "This Side of Paradise" is 150 persons strong. In the last case, the colonists were explicitly looking for a "simpler way of life", and their wooden houses certainly are not representative of what would probably be high-tech automated farms of the 23rd century.
Apart from the regular farms, how about submarine algae farms, orbiting O'Neill cylinder farms, all sorts of strange alien farms.
Although today it is somewhat controversial, genetic modification of crops is often an 'obvious' approach to futuristic agriculture. And to my untrained eye it seems like, if it's done in a controlled and well-understood way, crop modification (probably mostly geared towards larger and more nutritious variations) is probably happening in Trek. In fact, quadrotriticale is presumably exactly that.
In TOS, we hear of several 'farming colonies'. Beta XII-A in "Day of the Dove" is mentioned with about 100 inhabitants, the problematic Omicron Ceti III out of "This Side of Paradise" is 150 persons strong. In the last case, the colonists were explicitly looking for a "simpler way of life", and their wooden houses certainly are not representative of what would probably be high-tech automated farms of the 23rd century.
Apart from the regular farms, how about submarine algae farms, orbiting O'Neill cylinder farms, all sorts of strange alien farms.
Are you sure the masses are fed by replicated food? Sure, starships and starbases are equipped with them. On Earth and other major worlds it seems either people don't like replicator-food or just enjoy growing and preparing their own food. But on colonies and other 'regular' worlds, it seems a part of the food at least is conventional. Even moreso in the 23rd century, where we're not even 100% sure they have proper replicators.
And last but not least, the Federation actually has a Bureau of Agriculture, and the tribble-episodes show us parts of the process of distributing grain to outer colonies, which includes robot ships and spacestations with grain storage facilities.
Scant evidence from TOS could imply that there are farming worlds that are controlled by a few hundred people, while automated spacecraft visit the planet on a regular basis to distribute the produce among colonies and space stations.
And last but not least, the Federation actually has a Bureau of Agriculture, and the tribble-episodes show us parts of the process of distributing grain to outer colonies, which includes robot ships and spacestations with grain storage facilities.
Scant evidence from TOS could imply that there are farming worlds that are controlled by a few hundred people, while automated spacecraft visit the planet on a regular basis to distribute the produce among colonies and space stations.
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