Above The Sky
Chapter 936 - 936 77 Epochal Progress 5800_2

936: Chapter 77 Epochal Progress (5800)_2 936: Chapter 77 Epochal Progress (5800)_2 Learning is spot on!

This time, taking Ian for an inspection of his architectural achievements was also an opportunity for Captain Gera to learn some special knowledge from Ian, hence his great enthusiasm.

And Ian could see what Gera was thinking; he didn’t mind, and actually, he was quite hopeful that Gera could understand his ideas.

After all, having never studied civil engineering, the experienced Gera was a professional that Ian greatly needed.

If the other could grasp the architectural concepts of the farm towers and future breeding towers, then he would definitely be able to come up with designs more suited for Terra than Ian could.

The farm tower was right in front of them.

The towering grey building stood under the sunlight, with the nearby lake reflecting the golden glory.

The structure was cylindrical as a whole, with only the most basic framework in place.

A complete version of the farm tower should be covered with glass on the outside to ensure ample light, and the interior should also be completely transparent, with a powerful lighting system that would make the building glow at night, like a fluorescent stick.

The concept of vertical farms and ranches had already become widespread on Earth.

In Ian’s era, not to mention Earth, the food source of most space colonies and the Moon Base was this type of stereoscopic hydroponic breeding factory.

It was created with the intention of saving land and completely controlling the growth conditions of crops, such as lighting, humidity, temperature, airflow, and nutrients, using the smallest space, the fastest speed, and the least resources to cultivate the most crops—at these hydroponic farms, fast-maturing vegetables and fruits could be harvested more than twelve times a year, whereas with regular farming, at most twice or thrice a year, and a large amount of fertilizer would be needed.

In Terra, such architecture has another advantage—it can make full use of natural Origin Quality and Spirit Energy Fields.

The Origin Quality accumulated in the soil itself is only a part of the whole natural field, and the vertical farms can be said to magically increase the most fertile lands, suitable for cultivating Sublimation Mana Plants, by ten or even more than a dozen times.

Not only that—the vertical breeding factories are also feasible.

A one-hundred-meter-tall vertical breeding factory can breed hundreds of thousands of livestock, efficiently manage and process the manure issues of the livestock, and is an exceptionally suitable technology for people like the Mountain People who lack farmland and pasture.

“Very good.”

Having inspected the framework inside the building and confirming that there were no quality issues, Ian nodded slightly in appreciation: “The water recirculating interface, the ventilation system interface, and the quality are all impeccable.

You’ve done a perfect job.”

Under the research of Ambur and Adalbert, the cultivation solution specifically for Radiance Grass had been roughly improved and was ready to be put into use at any time.

Although, to be honest, the most important part of a stereoscopic hydroponic farm is actually the various automatic conveyors that ensure even illumination of the crops, Ian has not yet developed artificial intelligence, but with the current labor costs in Terra, he doesn’t really need to let AI take over right away but can instead bring in skilled plantation workers to manually operate it.

For Xiawei Territory, the time has not yet come to replace manpower with artificial intelligence…

and you can’t leave people without jobs either!

“Tell Scott to arrange for people to move the planting racks over here.”

Half an hour later, a team had brought the planting racks from the Alchemy Workshop area to the lakeside.

The planting rack is a huge metal rack resembling a bookshelf, eight meters high and four meters wide, capable of carrying thirty-two rows of ‘hydroponic trays,’ with each row able to plant forty crops.

In other words, a single rack can plant one thousand two hundred and eighty crops.

A complete Stereoscopic Hydroponic Farm would have twelve floors, and depending on the concentration of Origin Quality, each floor could accommodate about eighty to a hundred planting racks, which means a fully functioning Stereoscopic Hydroponic Farm can simultaneously cultivate around one million two hundred thousand crops.

It sounds like a lot, but in reality, even a frontier small city like Xiahui City consumes over sixty thousand vegetables daily, so one building’s output is only enough for the city’s own use for twenty days.

But the issue is, if they are just ordinary vegetables, one Hydroponics Farm can achieve more than twelve harvests a year—that would cover two-thirds of the needs of Xiahui City.

And Ian has invested a huge sum to build twelve Hydroponics Farms at the same time—this could fully meet the vegetable demands of the entire Xiawei Territory, and even allow for reserves for export!

Now is the time of the grain disaster, and although Ian has access to affordable grain channels, being self-sufficient, even if only partially, is good.

Of course, after this tense period of the food crisis, the ‘prime locations’ around Dazzling Lake will be used to grow Radiance Grass, not just ordinary vegetables.

Ian will build these Hydroponics Farms in other areas with suitable lighting and in the Highland Territory to meet the needs of the Mountain People and not be entirely bound by the grain-producing lands of the Agate Stone Plains.

Gera followed Ian’s instructions to lay out the hydroponic pipelines.

The hydroponic solution, adjusted using water from Dazzling Lake, presented a strange pale golden color.

In the laboratory, most of the Radiance Grass grew well, with much fewer instances of wilting or stunted growth compared to normal soil cultivation.

And the growth of ordinary crops was even more promising—controlling the temperature and lighting well, a harvest every twenty days was not a dream!

Even though there was still sunlight outside, Ian asked people to turn on the Sun Lamps.

The slowly rotating conveyors kept rotating the rows of culture dishes, ensuring that all the crops in the trays were evenly exposed to the light.