90: A Growth Industry? Talking about Agrivoltaics

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Hi everyone welcome to the still to be determined
podcast. This is the podcast that follows

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up on topics from the Youtube channel undecided
with Matt ferrell I as you may know already

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am not Matt ferrell I’m sean ferrell I’m Matt’s
older brother I’m a writer and I’ll be asking

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the questions with me is of course matt.
Hello.

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Matt say hello. We also have a another guest
with us today. It’s rob van der weil rob say

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hi and people who are regular listeners or
viewers are probably scratching their heads

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saying.
Hi there Nice to be here.

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Matt sean it’s usually just 2 bald men. We’re
branching out. We’re trying to bring in all

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the bald men. So and rob is here because he
lended a hand in crafting the episode with

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matt.
How it’s 3

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So he has another perspective to add to the
conversation and we’re looking forward to

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talking to him about this today’s episode
we’re going to be focusing on Matt’s most

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recent episode which was titled solar panels
plus farming question Mark agrovoltaics explained.

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Always a question mark.
And this was from October Fifth Twenty Twenty

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one and right off the bat I saw in the comments
there was a lot of very positive response

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to this. This is an idea that really seems
to hit a ah, an intersection of needs.

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Yeah.
In a very unique Way. So The public response

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seems to be This is great. But as you point
out, there’s a lot of pressure pushing back

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the other direction from people who are concerned
about things changing in their environment

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where they live. In ways that might impact
their lives and sadly governmental bureaucracy

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which just hasn’t caught up to being able
to bring this into communities in a way that

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makes sense and I’m wondering from both of
you. Do you get a sense that those 2 things.

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Are actually 1 thing is there public pressure
being put on politicians to keep things the

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way they are or is there a lack of movement
by government that is allowing for concretized

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thinking to stay in place.
Here’s what you think rob.

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Well it it I think it depends on where you
live where I live our governments especially

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in the in the Eu are actually very open to
these kinds of Concepts but they struggle

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to give this these concepts a proper place
and it has all. All to do with current regulations

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and current ways of land use and and the way
that we even work with them you you might

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have seen in in in the video that there is
some regulation that the Eu has. That actually

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subsidizes land use for agriculture and if
if you put something else on that land that

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subsidy that that might go away so it’s a
thorny subject there at that at that point.

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Um, yeah.
But I guess that in other places in the world

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that it’s an entirely different ball game.
Yeah I think here in the Us. It’s mainly the

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free market which seems to rule everything
here and there’s a conservative bent that

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doesn’t I don’t think there’s a cabal that’s
working against something like this I think

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it’s just a slow moving reality that we’re
watching Unfold. And there’s not a lot of

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government support pushing it yet.
And do you think that it’s a matter of public

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education mainly like getting getting this
information out in in front of the public

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to allow people to see what would this look
like like 1 of the things that you point out

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is I love that there’s a parallel between.
High-tech version of farming raspberries and

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the low techch version. Both of them need
to protect the plants. 1 of them is just using

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plastic Tarps the other 1 with solar panels.
It really doesn’t change the product underneath

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it really. It solves certain problems like
you mentioned. The workers have better shade.

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The plants are better protected in case of
larger storms. That’s a kind of image of what

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this kind of farming could look like that
really isn’t 1 that people would have if they

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were just told. What would you think about
putting solar panels on a farm.

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Right? Yeah I do think there’s there’s a public
education angle to this that needs to happen

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I was just talking to rob before the call
of I just saw a story about in France they’re

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becoming more of a semi-arid climate region
and it’s been impacting the. Ah, vineyards

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and the grapes that they’re growing and there
was this story I saw about the Aggravville

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ticks over a vineyard and how his grapes were
you know, plump and healthy compared to the

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non aggravoltaic crops in the area.
Right.

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And so it’s like this has a huge impact on
farming in different regions depending on

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where you live and I think there’s just ah
I don’t think the public knows about it I

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don’t think a lot of maybe a lot of people
in government don’t know about this so it’s

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like I do think that there’s ah, an education
that has to happen more broadly so people

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know that this is a thing that we should be
looking into more. And studying more closely

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because Rob crack me if I’m wrong. This is
still early days as far as the studies. Yeah.

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This is this is very early days just just
a few years on the road we are with this concept

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and it it seems that for certain crops. This
is a fantastic solution and for other types

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of crops. It’s it’s just not feasible. It’s
it’s. It’s it’s not a 1 size- fitts-all solution.

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It’s a solution that that can benefit certain
kinds of agriculture more than others. Great

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for that. The the company hunlev which did
the did these projects and which we showcased

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with the Raspberry farm. They also are doing.
Ah, projects with strawberries and other kinds

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of berries especially fruits that are originally
coming from forest areas and shade loving

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fruits. But. They need to have sun once in
a while and they don’t tend to grow very high

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and that makes it easy to to just make a canopy
of of solar um ah panels above them and and

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it. It. It creates an interesting and a quite
stable environment for those plants. So in

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that case, it’s a interesting use case. But
for other for other types of crop it. It might

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just not not be feasible to do it.
Yeah I was struck by the some of the imagery

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in the video that was used was clearly you
you know you I know Matt you go and get stock

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video from various sources to be able to fill
in imagery and it doesn’t necessarily mean.

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When you show an image this is a case where
this is going to take place or where it makes

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sense necessarily some of the crops that you
showed things like corn. There are going to

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be complications depending on the size of
the crop if something is if we’re talking

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about a farm that is let’s say an orchard
that is growing apples.

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And.
Oranges that kind of crop. This isn’t necessarily

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going to be like well let’s just put solar
panels above those trees. This is not going

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to be that kind of thing.
Right? There’s There’s like Ron pointed Out.

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There’s certain crops where not just from
how much sun they need but also from the size

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shape and how we cultivate those crops that
may not make sense but this is 1 of those

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things we have to study this we have to do
this more and try it out and see what works

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and what doesn’t work and there’s also I have
a video coming up. On transparent solar panels

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that’s coming up and that technology could
have a huge impact on this kind of thing as

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well because as as we highlighted in this
video which was the the farmer they tried

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different types of solar panels and discovered
this 1 panel blocks too much light. They had

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to use a different 1 that let a little um.
Um, right.

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Light through if you have transparent solar
panels. You could like fine tune how much

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light is being allowed through and the in
the spectrum of light that’s being allowed

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through so I have a feeling like in the next
1020 years this is going to get refined to

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a point where it’s going to be kind of astounding.
And some of these transparent solar panels

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are already being used on greenhouses. So
there’s there’s a path forward. That’s really

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interesting here.
Right? and I was wondering about that as well

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is this heading toward more greenhouse agriculture
than what would be considered outdoor agriculture.

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Yeah, it.
Um, yeah I don’t know I mean there’s so many

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things like I’ve also talked about ah vertical
farming in a different video. It’s like there

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seems like there’s a sweet spot of like you
have transparent solar panels that are providing

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the power for vertical farming systems inside
of a building and all this kind of stuff so

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there’s. Different angles that could be taken
here in different combinations of things that

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it’s like Lego blocks like but we’re at the
very early days of what all this means and

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how we can use these different things together
in different ways.

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The and the company Junlev ah they explained
to me when I visited their their farm in Babarrek

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that they chose for just regular solar panels
because those are the cheapest ones to get.

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Right.
And it’s already a little bit more expensive

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to create those constructions and they can’t
put as many solar panels in in the same area

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to to generate that amount of energy that
they could if they were just solely solar

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panels but they just cramming together. 2
2 technologies to see what’s what’s possible

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and of course we can optimize it but just
with current simple already proven Technology.

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We can already do a lot of things and it it
can be sustainable and it it can be profitable

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as Well. And that was a real surprise for
me to see that.

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Yeah, and the the facility that we highlighted
in the video you rob actually visited and

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the thing I find fascinating about that 1
is not only did they choose the panels that

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were obviously the cheapest but they didn’t
use motorized like movements and articulating

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panels because that 1 that probably also increases
the cost makes it more complicated. And the

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system they have is like the most rudimentary
where you could do this and test it and to

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test the feasibility I thought it was really
fascinating. They didn’t go that approach

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because some of the other ones I’ve come across
like this 1 in France over the vineyards they

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were using the motorized articulated panels
to adjust exactly how much sun was being allowed

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through at different times of the day and.
While that works that increases the cost.

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And you’ve mentioned that rob actually visited
1 of these locations so I want to kind of

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take a step backward now and visit the technical
putting together of this video rob how did

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you come into this project with Matt was this
something Matt that you had a project. You

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were working on and rob kind of surfaced and
said hey I know a little bit about that or

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I can be a contact How did the 2 of you start
working on this collaboratively.

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Well, what’s funny is I had aggravilleticcks
on my backlog of ideas to hit at some point

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but Rob reached out to me and why why’t you
tell the story rob.

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Ah, and it’s it’s ah a series of coincidences.
Um, and I’m I’m fifty four years old and 5

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years ago I decided to engage in a bachelor’s
study on environmental sciences. And 1 of

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the courses I did was on environmentally improved
production and as a course assignment I needed

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to write an essay on something that is related
to environmentally improved production. So

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I chose the subject of agrial takes because
i’ve. Thought it might be an interesting subject

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to investigate so I did a lot of research
I wrote my essay and um I thought about that.

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Ah that that that that’s something that might
actually fit on the channel from from undecied

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from that. So since I’m a patreon producer
from the the first hour already. Um I just

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reached that hit how do you feel like let’s
make a video together and well that that Matt

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was open to it so I wrote a script. Um. It
was twice as large as the actual video it

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it ah because I think there’s a lot lot to
tell about this subject and it was very much

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fun working with Matt to to to to get this
subject in in in.

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Yeah, it was it was It was very long.
Twelve minutes and even ah get some fun humor

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in it which which is not my forte but Matt
matt is very good at it and I think he just

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created the meme just like me.
Yeah, yeah, ah.

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Yes, I particularly enjoyed finding out that
cows hate solar panels That was my favorite

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part.
Ah, and that that that that’s how it went

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that that there was actually somebody who
who commented on it in in in the video and

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he he thought we were serious so I was I responded
okay that was a joke.

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Yeah, yeah.
Ah, yeah, yeah.

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Yeah I may been a little too deadpan in my
delivery of that joke.

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So that that’s how it went.
So you went through a first draft and you

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paired it down to fit into a twelve minute
video um and then you actually visit the site.

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So do you want to talk a little bit about
where in europe you live and how what was

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the ease of your being able to visit these
locations.

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Well, um, you might have guessed that I’m
from the netherlands so small country in the

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northwest of europe and well this this particular
farm is just a 1 hour drive from my home so

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it was very easy to visit it and I reached
out to the farm. Because I was interested

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for my essay in in having some taking some
pictures and getting to to to get some firsthand

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experience there and they responded. Okay,
we get so many questions for visits but in

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ah in a few weeks time we have a. A slot where
we invite a lot of people who are interested.

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You can come on that date and then we will
give you a tour and that tour was was done

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just by the farmer but also by the company
who owns the solar panels who installed the

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solar panels and um. Was very easy for me
to get there. So I made some footage that

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also appeared in the video those were the
the footage where hun lever was not credited.

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That was my footage and just just a couple
of pictures and and some some short videos

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on on both sides of the. Farm and so the the
plastic pot and the the solar part so it it

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was actually quite um, accessible for me because
it’s just 1 hour drive from where I live.

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And I’m curious how long has the farm been
using this tech you you mentioned that you

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started doing the the bachelor degree was
it 5 years ago you said right? So you had

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to write this paper when.
Ah, yeah in 2017 I started it. It’s it’s all

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in my well I wrote it just this summer and
this farm was starting with this project in

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2019 so it was actually quite fresh on the
radar. To to put it that way. Yeah.

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And I’m curious about the growing season there
here in the us in the news this past summer

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the past few months there’s been some things
that have been percolating in the news about

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how various cities in the us are effectively
being reclassified as far as what. What zone

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what environmental zone they live in like
I live in New York city we are now considered

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subtropical. So that’s ah, that’s a pretty
big change and that’s an impact that’s hitting

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farms across the country as as this video
talks about in particular and Matt and you

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have talked about already in this recording
of. The impact in changes in weather patterns

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in the netherlands. What kinds of changes
have you seen there are you seeing rising

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temperatures or longer raining seasons is
there is there something that’s going on there

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that this kind of technology might help mitigate.
Yeah, absolutely. Um, we are in ah in a moderate

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climate here. Um, we we are close to the atlantic
ocean and um. What we are facing here is that

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we get more hot summers. Um, we get milder
winters but in those hot summers. We also

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get um more extreme weather more extreme hail
more extreme rain. All this kinds of stuff.

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So for instance, the the damage that this
farmer usually has during during summer storms

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was it in in in in in the past decade was
negligible. Ah, ah once in a few years his

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his ah his plastic canopies were destroyed
but now it happens almost every year um and

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and and those storms and those hails they
intensify. um um I don’t know if you’ve seen

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it in the dews but we are now also getting
floods here and um. It it the point with with

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global warming is that the air becomes warmer
and a warm air can rechain more um water than

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cold air. So there’ is more water in the air
and it gets released once in a while. In in

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in in ways that we haven’t seen for a long
time so that’s really a benefit for this this

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type of agriculture because they can have
a growing season in in in summer and and and

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an entire. Ah, crop yield can be destroyed
just by 1 storm and that’s something that

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this this typical dissolution helps to prevent.
Right.

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Yeah, the the other thing about it is I love
this symbiotic relationship. You get between

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the crops and the panels because the panels
can reduce the temperature by 1 to 2 degrees

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celsius which can help the crops as the climate
shifts and gets warmer and hotter and more

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humid and then it also helps the panels because
the crops actually keep the panels cooler.

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Right.
Which makes their operations more efficient.

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So it’s like this wonderful little symbiotic
relationship that happens between the 2

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Yeah, the the farmer told me that beneath
the solar panels compared with the plastic

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00:19:53,870 –> 00:19:59,280
canopies and there was a temperatureative
difference of seven degrees Celsius So I don’t

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00:19:59,280 –> 00:20:05,059
know what that’s that’s in fahrenheit but
that’s actually a lot and that was not just.

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Wow. So.
Wow, that’s.

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Nice for the the workers who had to harvest
all those raspberries have to be harvested

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00:20:10,809 –> 00:20:21,510
manually because it’s a very delicate fruit.
Um, but those plants they suffer um much more

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heat stress and they have to use.
Um, yeah.

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Way more water under the plastic canopies
and those plastic canopies they they need

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00:20:29,880 –> 00:20:35,840
to be there to give shade to protect them
from Hill and rain and those kinds of to protect

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00:20:35,840 –> 00:20:41,809
them from the elements. But also those those
plastic canopies they are translucent so they

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00:20:41,809 –> 00:20:47,890
let the light through. And they still get
the light and with the solar panels The same

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00:20:47,890 –> 00:20:53,880
thing happens but it’s it’s a more sturdier
canopy for them.

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00:20:53,880 –> 00:20:58,600
Yeah, that’s really remarkable. The.
That’s actually that I say that there’s just

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1 other aspect of this that always strikes
me the more videos I do have of and than this

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00:21:03,289 –> 00:21:09,100
the 1 issue I’m becoming more and more concerned
with over time is accessibility to clean,

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00:21:09,100 –> 00:21:15,360
fresh water and it’s becoming. It’s. Clear
that we are going to have a major water problem

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00:21:15,360 –> 00:21:19,789
in our future and so it’s like being able
to reduce how much water it takes to maintain

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00:21:19,789 –> 00:21:25,110
our crops is essential and the crops that
grow under panels like this. They take less

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00:21:25,110 –> 00:21:28,970
water and that’s ah, a key thing that we need
to focus on.

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00:21:28,970 –> 00:21:36,690
Yeah, and they are also a very good irrigation
drainage so solution because the waterfalls

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00:21:36,690 –> 00:21:43,169
between the rows and not on the plants. So
those those raspberries they are not grown

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00:21:43,169 –> 00:21:46,659
in the soil they are grown in pots. So.
Yeah, yep.

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00:21:46,659 –> 00:21:52,220
Right.
Ah, the the soil beneath them. It. It is not

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00:21:52,220 –> 00:22:02,070
how do you?? How do you say that? um it it
it. It. It doesn’t flow away when it rains

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00:22:02,070 –> 00:22:07,280
very hard and those those crops still can.
Work because they are actually not on the

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00:22:07,280 –> 00:22:11,029
ground themselves. They are just in pots.
There.

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00:22:11,029 –> 00:22:16,560
Right? So it’s controlling the water distribution
which is beneficial to the plants as well.

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00:22:16,560 –> 00:22:22,830
That’s that’s a nice. It’s all of these things
that are accidental benefits. But once you

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00:22:22,830 –> 00:22:24,730
recognize that they’re there and you can.
Um, yeah.

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00:22:24,730 –> 00:22:30,200
Take advantage of it. It seems like it all
starts to fit together beautifully and that

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00:22:30,200 –> 00:22:36,610
for me raises the question of who is the the
mastermind behind saying like what if we did.

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00:22:36,610 –> 00:22:41,130
This is this something that is a governmental
research project or is this a university was

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00:22:41,130 –> 00:22:48,140
this started by. Agriculture centers where
maybe they were looking from the side of the

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00:22:48,140 –> 00:22:56,860
farmer where did this all start.
Um, as far as I know this is a commercial

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00:22:56,860 –> 00:23:07,080
Enterprise So Hun Leif. Ah and the company
that we showcased. Is is a a company which

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00:23:07,080 –> 00:23:17,960
is already doing a lot on sustainable energy
a sustainable ah technology and energy production

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00:23:17,960 –> 00:23:27,399
and they found it interesting to see if this
will also work. In an agricultural setting

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00:23:27,399 –> 00:23:36,240
and they have engaged with the wining a University
Um, That’s a well-renknown of a well-renowned

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00:23:36,240 –> 00:23:42,640
University on Agriculture and they they partnered
together with the wagoning a university To.

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00:23:42,640 –> 00:23:49,269
To have this studied scientifically as well.
But it’s It’s just a commercial enterprise

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00:23:49,269 –> 00:23:57,751
trying to to do this and see if they can make
profit on the long term. So that there there

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00:23:57,751 –> 00:24:07,390
was no government incentive here. It was not
sponsored by any University It was just normal

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00:24:07,390 –> 00:24:08,390
business.. There’s this potential.
Right.

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00:24:08,390 –> 00:24:13,600
It’s it’s it’s energy companies recognizing
renewables like wind and solar. There’s a

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00:24:13,600 –> 00:24:17,310
potential here and they can make more money
and so it’s it’s 1 of those aspects where

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00:24:17,310 –> 00:24:21,730
this is where the free market comes in handy
because it’s like it’s that extra little incentive

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00:24:21,730 –> 00:24:24,250
like as soon as dollar signs are seen.
Right.

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00:24:24,250 –> 00:24:27,030
Yeah.
Um, right? and this goes back to something

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00:24:27,030 –> 00:24:34,570
you’ve brought up in other videos Matt that
there sometimes could be more positive pressure

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00:24:34,570 –> 00:24:39,289
to making this kind of change when it’s not.
Companies will jump in that direction.

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Coming from the environmentalist side of it.
The environmentalist there’s a certain amount

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00:24:44,659 –> 00:24:49,909
of white noise that comes with that where
people tune it out because oh those tree huggers

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00:24:49,909 –> 00:24:55,710
but when it’s an energy company and this and
this ties in with something else. You brought

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00:24:55,710 –> 00:24:56,710
up in your video.
Yeah.

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00:24:56,710 –> 00:24:58,620
Yes, yes.
Question of ownership of the electronic of

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00:24:58,620 –> 00:25:06,110
the electricity produced and of the panels
themselves because of the layers of subsidies

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00:25:06,110 –> 00:25:14,020
around the farms and if they have to be considered
a structure and that would then undermine

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00:25:14,020 –> 00:25:19,039
the subsidy farmers aren’t going to won that.
Want that unless the law is changed So In

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00:25:19,039 –> 00:25:24,429
this case, it’s the panels are owned by an
electric company and the electricity is owned

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00:25:24,429 –> 00:25:31,090
by them and they would be paying the farmers
for how would the farmers benefit from this

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00:25:31,090 –> 00:25:35,440
financially if at all.
You and take that rob.

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00:25:35,440 –> 00:25:41,210
Yeah in in this particular case it was very
easy because the farmer was able to sustain

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00:25:41,210 –> 00:25:49,490
his business as usual, um, with less troubles
in maintaining the structures he needs for

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00:25:49,490 –> 00:25:56,529
the the growth of of his product. Produce
um, so the farmer benefits from having these

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00:25:56,529 –> 00:26:03,920
structures um his his employees benefit from
it. They they like to work there more than

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00:26:03,920 –> 00:26:11,970
they like to work under the plastic canopies
because it can get very hot there. Um.

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00:26:11,970 –> 00:26:17,980
Um, yeah.
And um, that that was 1 of the the key points.

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00:26:17,980 –> 00:26:25,480
Ah if if if your your your produce is less
than than than before Why would you even bother

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00:26:25,480 –> 00:26:31,889
thinking about it. And and that’s something
that the fra institute also investigated and

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00:26:31,889 –> 00:26:38,220
they said that okay farmers when they are
owning the solar panels. Um, they they can

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00:26:38,220 –> 00:26:45,929
have 2 kinds of products on the same land
and they can have energy and they can have

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00:26:45,929 –> 00:26:53,610
crops. And if for instance, the crop yield
is is not as good but they can compensate

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00:26:53,610 –> 00:27:01,220
with the energy yield and and vice versa.
But it’s not 1 hundred percent plus 1 hundred

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00:27:01,220 –> 00:27:07,360
percent. So it it usually boils down to 1
80 or 1 eighty six percent of what. But could

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00:27:07,360 –> 00:27:18,550
be done instead of just using the land just
for crops or just for for solar um and what

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00:27:18,550 –> 00:27:30,600
I found in my study is also that not all farming
is. Economically viable anymore these days

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00:27:30,600 –> 00:27:37,110
And for instance, some farmers in the Uk.
They have been said they say okay we have

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00:27:37,110 –> 00:27:42,429
this land. It doesn’t make sense to to grow
anything here. Let’s put solar panels on it

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00:27:42,429 –> 00:27:48,860
and. Ah, okay, we also have some chicken and
some Geese let’s let’s let them move around

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00:27:48,860 –> 00:27:56,679
there and and then we have dual use of of
this land. But that’s not what we call agrivoltaics.

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00:27:56,679 –> 00:28:02,660
It’s it’s just doing something extra with
it but they just turned from.

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00:28:02,660 –> 00:28:07,259
Right.
Agriculture to becoming an energy farmer and

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00:28:07,259 –> 00:28:12,419
that’s something entirely different.
Um, and and there’s also it’s not just utilities

284
00:28:12,419 –> 00:28:17,950
that are doing this like in the us 1 of the
largest aggravoltic tests centers was ah I

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00:28:17,950 –> 00:28:22,500
think it’s called what is it called? Ah Jack’s
solar garden it’s in Boulder colorado.

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00:28:22,500 –> 00:28:25,809
Um, right right.
And it’s a community solar project. So it’s

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00:28:25,809 –> 00:28:31,529
not owned by a major lecture company. It’s
a community community solar. So the farmer

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00:28:31,529 –> 00:28:36,480
themselves is actually benefiting from the
electricity generation in addition to the

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00:28:36,480 –> 00:28:40,470
benefits. They’re getting from what they’re
growing. So there’s many ways that you can

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00:28:40,470 –> 00:28:42,530
handle these projects.
Um, right.

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00:28:42,530 –> 00:28:51,330
Yeah, the the frown of Institute also says
when these have these projects are are most

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00:28:51,330 –> 00:28:58,509
fruitful and successful if the energy which
is generated can can be used locally.

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00:28:58,509 –> 00:29:01,570
Which is the other interesting part.
And instead of just pushing you back to back

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00:29:01,570 –> 00:29:09,399
to the grid. So those synergistic effects.
Um, ah these are the things that um make it

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00:29:09,399 –> 00:29:13,269
interesting to to to explore these kinds of
options.

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00:29:13,269 –> 00:29:18,419
Yes, and when it comes to energy production.
You want it to be especially fruitful on a

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00:29:18,419 –> 00:29:27,590
raspberry farm see what I did there? Yes,
this it’s I think 1 of the the key things

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00:29:27,590 –> 00:29:31,330
that stands out for me is is this is.
Ah, see what you did there.

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00:29:31,330 –> 00:29:34,970
I yeah.
Something that could be done globally. This

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00:29:34,970 –> 00:29:39,529
is this is a practice and when you talk about
agrivoltaics it it occurred to me that the

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00:29:39,529 –> 00:29:47,230
key you you pointed out the rob the the uk
example of change of land use does not make

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00:29:47,230 –> 00:29:56,019
it agricultal voltaic. It’s when it’s. Enmeshed
with the actual agriculture process that seems

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00:29:56,019 –> 00:29:59,309
to me like this could be done in a lot of
different environments globally. But it’s

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00:29:59,309 –> 00:30:04,730
going to have a lot of different types of
bureaucratic and governmental regulation to

305
00:30:04,730 –> 00:30:11,500
jump through and it’s not going to be an apples
to apples comparison from. somewhere in iowa

306
00:30:11,500 –> 00:30:16,010
to somewhere in europe it’s going to be each
of those cases is going to be very unique

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00:30:16,010 –> 00:30:23,169
and I’m wondering. Are there some crops that
stand out as raspberry the raspberry production.

308
00:30:23,169 –> 00:30:33,740
Ah the the the Bush fruit um, that is. Referenced
in that like strawberries where you mentioned

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00:30:33,740 –> 00:30:39,770
things that would have grown naturally in
wooded areas would benefit from this is there

310
00:30:39,770 –> 00:30:45,240
another crop that just stands out as like
this is clearly a crop that might benefit

311
00:30:45,240 –> 00:30:52,250
from this like how would this. Interact with
maybe rice production is a rice patty something

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00:30:52,250 –> 00:30:56,600
where you could put these kinds of panels
around a rice padty and have a similar impact

313
00:30:56,600 –> 00:31:04,110
or does there happen to be a crop that it
just oh this could never ever work. We already

314
00:31:04,110 –> 00:31:08,630
mentioned things like tree orchards and stuff
like that.

315
00:31:08,630 –> 00:31:13,110
That’s that’s a difficult question but I’ve
been thinking about that as well and there’s

316
00:31:13,110 –> 00:31:18,690
1 particular example which is very appealing
to me I don’t know if you know anything about

317
00:31:18,690 –> 00:31:25,710
cotton production cotton is extremely waterhungry.
Um.

318
00:31:25,710 –> 00:31:37,460
And I don’t know if you’ve ever seen pictures
of the lake aral somewhere in I think it was

319
00:31:37,460 –> 00:31:43,090
somewhere on the on the asian continent I
think it was something between russia and

320
00:31:43,090 –> 00:31:48,669
china something like that. And not sure exactly
where it where it is but that lake has been

321
00:31:48,669 –> 00:31:56,210
drained off all water in just a few decades
just for cotton production and now it’s it’s

322
00:31:56,210 –> 00:32:02,289
it’s ah a mere shimmer of what it was before
if we were able to to do cotton production.

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00:32:02,289 –> 00:32:10,960
Ah, with fifty percent less water than that
entire ecosystem could recover from what it

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00:32:10,960 –> 00:32:17,080
has become so that was just 1 thing that I
thought might be interesting so I just don’t

325
00:32:17,080 –> 00:32:21,230
know enough about about those plans to.
Um, yeah.

326
00:32:21,230 –> 00:32:26,669
To make that judgment. Um I’m I’m not a biologist.
So but that that was 1 thing that I thought

327
00:32:26,669 –> 00:32:32,649
ah that might be actually quite interesting
and there was some someone in in the comments

328
00:32:32,649 –> 00:32:38,320
on the on the video from Nigeria who said
I live in an area where water is a problem

329
00:32:38,320 –> 00:32:44,509
we have. We have lots of land. We we need
to feed a lot of mouth and this would be an

330
00:32:44,509 –> 00:32:51,350
ideal solution for our growing economy and
and they don’t have existing grids that they

331
00:32:51,350 –> 00:32:57,720
need to adapt to they can just build the grids
around these decentralized solutions and I

332
00:32:57,720 –> 00:32:58,720
think.
Um, yeah.

333
00:32:58,720 –> 00:33:03,809
For those kinds of use cases and and and those
kinds of areas that would be an an amazing

334
00:33:03,809 –> 00:33:09,580
opportunity. Yeah massive and I don’t think
it’s It’s a solution for every ah region or

335
00:33:09,580 –> 00:33:13,100
every crop I think I think that’s that’s nonsense.
Massive.

336
00:33:13,100 –> 00:33:16,120
Um, yeah.
Yeah, and I think the I think another benefit

337
00:33:16,120 –> 00:33:23,130
from this is you’re talking about as you mentioned
before these are crops that require hands

338
00:33:23,130 –> 00:33:27,799
on they require there to be. Farm workers
that are going in and harvesting these things

339
00:33:27,799 –> 00:33:34,700
because in some cases the delicacy of of the
the crop itself the the bushes that are growing

340
00:33:34,700 –> 00:33:40,200
these and so it occurs to me that if you manage
to make a highly productive farm that would

341
00:33:40,200 –> 00:33:44,610
create more jobs for people who would need
to be the workers going in and working with.

342
00:33:44,610 –> 00:33:48,700
You know, harvesting those things. It seems
to me like that’s another benefit that could

343
00:33:48,700 –> 00:33:54,539
potentially come out of this a less productive
Farm doesn’t need to hire as many farm hands

344
00:33:54,539 –> 00:34:00,289
and somebody who’s growing close to the maximum
yield that they can get out of something is

345
00:34:00,289 –> 00:34:07,740
going to need more people So That’s another
thing I think. Consider Well this conversation

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00:34:07,740 –> 00:34:10,520
has been Terrific. Rob Thank you so much for
joining us. Yeah.

347
00:34:10,520 –> 00:34:12,629
Definitely.
Yeah, thank you Rob And thank you for all

348
00:34:12,629 –> 00:34:18,250
the work on the video.
Ah, it. It was great. Fun to do it and I learned

349
00:34:18,250 –> 00:34:25,690
a lot of it by doing it so and and there’s
1 thing that I would like to add I’ve never

350
00:34:25,690 –> 00:34:32,920
had the opportunity to actually. Present a
topic that I’m interested in or anthusiastic

351
00:34:32,920 –> 00:34:43,210
about to um, a half a million people. So I’m
um, I’m um, I’m amazed by that so that that’s

352
00:34:43,210 –> 00:34:50,680
also something that I find here? amazing.
In this in this cooperation that we did so

353
00:34:50,680 –> 00:34:53,610
it was a lot of fun and I learned a lot of
yep.

354
00:34:53,610 –> 00:34:56,250
Yes, it was.
Um, what are the next steps for you Rob when

355
00:34:56,250 –> 00:35:01,100
are you finishing up your degree.
I hope to finish it. Um, the end of next year

356
00:35:01,100 –> 00:35:07,470
so I’m almost at the end of my of my tour
but it’s all done in my spare time because

357
00:35:07,470 –> 00:35:19,700
I’m just a I’m working in in. Um. And I t
consultancy for about 35 years so and it’s

358
00:35:19,700 –> 00:35:27,090
it’s something. Yeah except it. Absolutely
absolutely. And yeah and I hope I can finish

359
00:35:27,090 –> 00:35:32,890
it on on time It’s always challenging.
So it’s really a labor of love. It’s a it’s

360
00:35:32,890 –> 00:35:36,700
a it’s a passion project for you. That’s fantastic.
Ah, yeah, yes, it does. But thank you again

361
00:35:36,700 –> 00:35:41,930
for joining us. This has been fantastic. So
our listeners should let us know what they

362
00:35:41,930 –> 00:35:47,010
think Oh absolutely our listeners should let
us know what they think and.

363
00:35:47,010 –> 00:35:48,010
Yes, life gets in the way a lot of times.
Yep.

364
00:35:48,010 –> 00:35:49,010
You’re welcome and and thank you Thank you
for having me.

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00:35:49,010 –> 00:35:53,270
Like rob pointed out people in different regions
have been reaching out and saying this would

366
00:35:53,270 –> 00:35:58,210
make sense here I’m very curious are any of
our listeners in that group. Do you think

367
00:35:58,210 –> 00:36:04,001
that there’s a place where this could fit
into your local agricultural community. Let

368
00:36:04,001 –> 00:36:07,470
us know you can find the contact information
in the podcast description or if you’re on

369
00:36:07,470 –> 00:36:12,300
youtube you can just scroll down below the
video and leave a comment there. Don’t forget.

370
00:36:12,300 –> 00:36:17,230
We do have a way to directly support the podcast
you can visit still tbd dot fm you’ll see

371
00:36:17,230 –> 00:36:22,061
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watching us on Youtube. Don’t forget, there’s

372
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a membership button you can press and you
can make a donation directly to us here just

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press the join button and join us be sure
to give us a rating a review and share us

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with your friends. All of that really does
help the podcast. The podcast helps the channel

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the channel ups matthew. And then Matthew
tries to convince the cows to stop hating

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so hard on solar Thanks so much for listening
everybody. We’ll talk to you next time.