DanThornton

Tech, Geekery, Pop Culture, Miscellaneous

Fenceless farming and flexible technology

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I was fascinated by this article on The Atlantic website about virtual ‘fences’ and how they could change farming. By using a combination of GPS and deterrents, livestock could be moved around a territory to the best places for natural resources in real-time, which opens up a lot of possibilities for areas which were cost-prohibitive, as well as increased collaboration by groups of livestock owners, for example.

It’s well worth taking a look – I tend to find I get more inspired by seeing how technology is being used in non-marketing applications, and then applying that to my own areas of expertise, than simple watching the latest marketing trends and tools.

It’s interesting to think that in 20+ years, fences could be a symbolic symbol for humans, rather than required for animal control.

I also loved this insightful quote:

Anything that I can do in my profession to encourage flexibility, I figure I’m doing the correct thing. That’s where this all came from. It never made sense to me that we use static tools to manage dynamic resources. You learn from day one in all of your ecology classes and animal science classes that you are dealing with multiple dynamic systems that you are trying to optimize in relationship to each other. It was a mental disconnect for me, as an undergraduate as well as a graduate student, to understand how you could effectively manage dynamic resources with a static fence.

Given that humans are dynamic resources, it makes sense that flexibility is as important to us, whether that’s building businesses, or working with employees, etc.

Could technology end vegetarianism?

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I’m not actually sure ‘vegetarianism’ is a word, but on the bright side, according to Wiktionary, the collective noun for a group of meat-avoiders is apparently ‘a sprig of vegetarians’, which is quite cool.

Either way, I was intrigued by coverage earlier this week of Modern Meadow, which in shorthand summary will use 3D Printing to create a meat product. And I’d heard about food database companies like Foodpairing, but what caught my eye in this GigaOm report was the news that only is there a company making a plant-based meat substitute, but that it’s already on sale!

That’s right, apparently Beyond Meat is already in selected stores, such as Whole Foods, across America.

Apparently ‘These delicious plant-based strips have all of the convenience, taste, and tenderness you expect from real chicken’, with the listed ingredients ‘Water, Soy Protein Isolate, Pea Protein Isolate, Amaranth, Natural Vegan Chicken Flavor (Maltodextrin, Yeast Extract, Natural Flavoring), Soy Fiber, Carrot Fiber, Expeller-Pressed Canola Oil, Dipotassium Phosphate, Titanium Dioxide, White Vinegar’.

I’ll have to refer back to school chemistry to go through the ingredients, although Titanium Dioxide is used as a whitener in toothpaste, for example. And Dipotassium Phosphate is a food additive to prevent coagulation, apparently.

But more importantly – they’re growing freaking meat plants!

 

Now, how long do I have to wait before I can have a ‘steak tree’ growing in my garden? Or a ‘Taco with extra hot sauce bush’?

Technology and Christmas…

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Besides wishing everyone a Happy Holidays, I’ve been thinking about how technology has changed Christmas since I was a lad…

 

  • The pile of presents looks much less impressive with technology constantly getting smaller.
  • It’s very hard to wrap an app or digital download.
  • There’s no excuse that ‘there’s none left in the shops’ thanks to online stock checkers.
  • Christmas TV isn’t exciting at all when you can watch anything at any time.
  • Work may have stopped but emails don’t. Especially Christmas messages from every service you’ve ever used.
  • The need to Instagram every present being unwrapped, and pets in novelty reindeer antlers.
  • Spoiling the surprise with the habit of checking in to every shop on Foursquare.
  • Covering your tablet/phone in ingredients rather than digging out an old cookbook.
  • No need for novelty Christmas CDs thanks to Spotify. As if you haven’t heard them enough.
  • But at least you can follow Santa via NORAD’s online tracker.