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Vertical farming company raised $500M, and then it all but disappeared | Hacker News

news.ycombinator.com · 10,134 words · saved by 1 readers

When I see the new ag-tech startups coming out of accelerators or being established by supposedly seasoned entrepreneurs, the ideas that keep coming up over and over are vertical farming, weed-killing laser robots and insect protein. They all seem to be based on this assumption that traditional farming/food production is antiquated and inefficient, and that what the industry needs is clever outsiders to come in and re-invent it with the latest technologies. And they all just seem to go nowhere. And in my view it's all based on a flawed premise: that farming needs any kind of technological revolution. It just doesn't. It's mostly fine. And whilst some things could/should be improved (environmental externalities and resource consumption being the most significant), these issues aren't going to be solved by outsiders with messiah complexes coming in and telling established growers/experts that they're wrong/stupid, they'll be solved via unglamorous work over many years by people who reall

I've been working in ag-tech for about 10 years, having spent the prior 10 years in other kinds of startups/tech companies. When I see the new ag-tech startups coming out of accelerators or being established by supposedly seasoned entrepreneurs, the ideas that keep coming up over and over are vertical farming, weed-killing laser robots and insect protein. They all seem to be based on this assumption that traditional farming/food production is antiquated and inefficient, and that what the industry needs is clever outsiders to come in and re-invent it with the latest technologies. And they…

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