Much of the routine trade and investment between China and America is entirely appropriate and in America’s interest. But inserting the Chinese Communist Party into America’s pay-to-play system and its economic development strategy isn’t just crossing a line. It’s a leap into an abyss of stupidity.
One could argue there’s not a perfect spot for anything in downtown Chicago.
There are very few success stories involving vertical farming, because if it were profitable you would see these everywhere…but you don’t. Illinois/Cook County/Chicago’s regulatory and taxing environment also does not help matters.
Maybe hydroponically grown weed would be profitable?
What harm could excess moisture cause a building? Seems like a great idea to destroy the buildings from the inside out.
How ethereal and calming. As the unicorns fly around the buildings on rainbows, any estimate as to the costs of clean water and triple filtered , dirty CHI air to accomplish this with surly a tax abatement thrown in and tasteless vegetables, as indoor artificially raised food is, costing four times their worth? Go and price “ organically raised “ vegetables and chicken and see what I mean.
They’re selling a premium product, that ordinary folks couldn’t routinely afford. But they can outcompete organic farms because, being downtown, they can deliver fast and cheap. And, as the article explains, existing office buildings already have much of the infrastructure needed to make this work.
This isn’t a solution to “food deserts,” but it is a viable use for existing structures and a creator of some jobs.
OK, sorry but I’m not going to pay to get past the Trib paywall.
But doesn’t this seem like a dystopian, post-apocalyptic scenario? Don’t we have “outdoors” to grow plants in? And don’t these places use electricity to produce light, which should be protested the same way data centers are?