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The Doclopedia #2,426
Game Changers: Tower Farms
On many Earths, humans invented devices, processes, and life forms that changed the face of civilization rapidly. Here are a few examples of such game changers.
On Earth 8-D, in 1930, Kansas farmer and inventor Walton Towers could see that the soil in the Great Plains was not what it once was, and was not likely to get better. This was made worse by drought conditions and single crop farming. Walt was sure there must be a way to avoid the disaster he could see coming, but about which most farmers not as well educated as Walt just seemed to just accept.
By emptying his bank account and selling 2,500 acres of land, Walt was able to have built a three story greenhouse. The lower story covered an area of one acre. The second and third stories covered half and one quarter of an acre, respectively. Each level had a 15 foot ceiling. The entire rear wall was stone and concrete, 45 feet high and 6 feet thick. A 3 foot thick, 3 foot high wall ran around the sides and front. The floors were all steel reinforced concrete, with concrete support posts. Everything else was glass and aluminum. Large mirrors were positioned to reflect morning and afternoon sun into the rear of the first two floors. The first floor was filled to the 3 foot level with native soil mixed with various livestock and poultry manures. The floors above held Various sizes of planter boxes, all filled with similar material.
On April 11th, Walt and his family began planting a wide variety of vegetables, berries, grapes and even a couple of orange trees. They also planted flowers and brought in several beehives. Finally, on the ground floor, they released 24 chickens.
Farmers and such being what they are, most of the locals called the greenhouse “Walt’s Folly”. They also kept a curious eye on it, just in case Walt was onto something.
By early summer, the “Towers Farm was producing crops a month or more ahead of anyone else. By early fall, despite a few broken panes of glass in wind storms, the greenhouse was a big success and Walt installed lights to keep things going through the winter months. None of his neighbors called it Walt’s Folly anymore.
By 1933, when the Dust Bowl years started in earnest, Walt had built a second greenhouse like the first and was getting mentioned in national news. He was called to the White House to talk to President Roosevelt, which lead to the formation of a commission to study these “Tower Farms”.
In 1935, using a new, round design, the first four story tower farm went up in Northern Kansas in May. It’s improved design had a quarter acre footprint, sloped floors so water went from the top level to the other levels via gravity, recirculating pumps, climate control and an improved mirror system. It was a huge success and by 1940, when the Dust Bowl years were mostly over, there were 200 Tower farms in 7 states.
As of the current year (2010) on Earth 8-D, there are hundreds of thousands of tower farms and tower ranches worldwide, some as tall as 30 stories and as large as a 10 acre footprint. Combined with better farming practices, they have helped reduce world hunger to a fraction of what it is on our Earth. Even more importantly, nearly every government mandates that a certain percentage, often 50%, of tower farms be privately owned and operated for local distribution and consumption. This has kept food prices low for decades.
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