Serra – di Flavio Masi

Greenhouse

Greenhouse in a manner of speaking, of course…

At the end of the seventh episode of ‘Planet Earth III’ we see some brief video footage of a modern farm. Sir David Attenborough explains that, for the same amount of land occupied, that farm produces 350 times more than a normal crop (assuming I understand what is being said: my understanding of English is modest).
Seeing such footage, where everything is cultivated in controlled environments and with a high rate of mechanisation, one gets the impression that it is marginal and unattainable. How much will those vegetables cost? One might ask.

But then the Dutch agricultural model comes to mind, which is very advanced and highly mechanised, yet manages to be competitive. I believe that the Netherlands is still the second largest exporter of agricultural products in the world, after the United States.

When you think that the Netherlands is about one seventh the size of Italy, and that the density of inhabitants per km² is significantly higher there than in Italy, envy mounts.

It seems that we Italians are very interested, even at the level of political decision-makers, in niche products, in real or supposed food excellence and in organic, or even biodynamic. Stuff for the rich, in short – or if not exactly for the rich, for the well-off.
The idea of introducing innovations in our agricultural production, perhaps even in order to make our excellent products competitive, I believe is little considered, unfortunately.


See also:

Meta albero – di Flavio Masi

Meta-tree

One might think that this image is stimulated by reflections on the dichotomy between natural and artificial.

Global Warming | di Flavio Masi

Global Warming

Illustration obtained using graphic tablet and Krita, together with a short report of personal opinions and scientific findings.

Giornataccia – di Flavio Masi

Rough day

One of the advantages of having your own website is that you can publish nonsensical images like this.

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