Chapter 808: Xin Ocean Agriculture
Translator: _Min_ Editor: Caron_
The design of the submarine farm wasn’t particularly complicated. With the industrial level of Xin, the two industrial 3D printers that had been moved to the modern world could complete production in the Industrial Park on Ange Island.
Although the design proposal provided by the Beluga Station was a small-scale submarine farm, the design principle was the same. It wasn’t difficult to modify it to a large-scale submarine farm through extrapolation from quantum computers.
After Jiang Chen pa.s.sed the data to the researchers at Fallout Shelter 027, he didn’t wait too long before the design of the large-scale submarine farm was completed.
The entire design was divided into two parts – above water and underwater.
The part above water was the offsh.o.r.e platform that included living enclosures, docking areas of submersibles, and unloading areas for transport vessels. There were no technical components.
The core of the entire design program was the underwater portion!
It had an external structure entirely made of graphene. It would be surrounded by a circular wall made of hardened graphene s.p.a.cers. At the top was a graphene balloon filled with gas. From a distance, it resembled a flat and wide “yurt.”
This “yurt-like” structure would be the planting unit for the submarine farm with a radius of about 45 meters and an area of about 10 acres. A connection pipe on the wall would allow individual planting units to communicate with each other.
In addition to connection pipes, there would also be a molecular exchange membrane on the wall that separated dissolved carbon dioxide from seawater and discharged oxygen produced by plant metabolism.
The planting of plants would be completed in this “yurt.” These planting units were like biospheres with sensors installed inside. They could provide real-time data to monitoring terminals on the offsh.o.r.e platform including temperature, pH, humidity, and carbon dioxide concentration.
As for the light needed for photosynthesis, it would be provided by LED light sources. Because the wavelength of LED light sources could be controlled effectively, the lettuce produced by the submarine farm would be crispier, softer, and even taste better than land-grown vegetables!
With the information gathered by Fallout Shelter 27, Jiang Chen returned to the modern world in haste and immediately transmitted the data to Future Group’s database. Then he looked for Xia s.h.i.+yu and told her about the plan to build a submarine farm.
After listening to Jiang Chen’s plan with a bewildered expression, Xia s.h.i.+yu repeated the sentence while dumbfounded.
“Submarine farm?”
[Two days ago, we were still discussing the acquisition of an Australian farm. It hasn’t been two days, yet the president showed up then told me we’re not going to buy Australian farms. Instead, we’re going to farm ourselves.]
[Where are we going to farm?]
[On the seabed!]
[What is this?]
“Wait, let me organize my thoughts first,” Xia s.h.i.+yu rubbed her eyes and chewed on the words Jiang Chen just said. She then asked, “Did the Lab of Future Group just develop something new? Are you kidding? Submarine farms? How do you plant land under the sea? Plant seaweed?”
Upon hearing the bombardment of questions from Xia s.h.i.+yu, Jiang Chen facepalmed.
This time, he slowed down and took out the holographic concept map from the database. He then explained it to Xia s.h.i.+yu again.
Xia s.h.i.+yu finally understood and her eyes gradually lit up.
Although she wasn’t very knowledgeable about agriculture, as a CEO of a multinational corporation, she was very sensitive to opportunities in the market! She immediately understood the value of a submarine farm!
Just like that, Future Group’s plan to enter the food market was finalized.
The registered subsidiary, Xin Ocean Agriculture, was wholly owned by Future Group.
After the establishment of Xin Ocean Agriculture, Xin’s presidential office immediately approved the doc.u.ments and designated 400,000 acres of sea territory in the northern part of Ange Island as a submarine planting area, contracting Xin Ocean Agriculture at a cost of 100 US Dollar per hectares. Due to Xin’s tax-free policy for agriculture, Future Group wouldn’t be required to pay taxes for the 400,000 acres and it could be used permanently for a one-time payment of 40 million US Dollar.
The water depths of this contracted sea area was between 100 and 120 meters. The submarine topography was relatively flat. The volcanic activity and ocean current movements on the seabed were relatively stable. There was no large-scale fish school activity. It was simply a treasure land tailored for Jiang Chen!
Moreover, according to the results of the geological survey by Future Mining, the abundance of nitrogen, phosphorus, and pota.s.sium in the sediments of the area was high and was considered to be eutrophic sediments. After simple treatment, it could be used as fertilizer for farm crops.
After the founding of Xin Ocean Agriculture, it immediately attracted the attention of many around the world. Some people were surprised. Some people were skeptical. Some people were in disbelief, but most were curious! In particular, maritime countries with smaller territories who relied heavily on imports for food became more interested in the concept of submarine farms proposed by Xin Ocean Agriculture.
After all, these countries often had territorial waters. If these vast territorial seas could be turned into arable land, the island people who were eating high-priced imported foods would laugh even when sleeping!
Of course, given that Xin Ocean Agriculture hadn’t yet planned to build farms abroad, this submarine farm had nothing to do with them.
In fact, submarine farming wasn’t a flashy gimmick. As early as 15 years ago, the Italian Ocean Coral Reef Group proposed the concept of submarine farming and named the project “Nimo Garden,” which was carried out on the seabed by balloons.
The consistent water temperature was very conducive to plant growth, which was a huge advantage that most land farms didn’t have. Although crops underwater would be impacted by large currents, it was also better to be eaten by insects, and there were worse weather conditions on land.
The other factor was carbon dioxide.
It had been confirmed through the simulation of ocean circulation and carbon dioxide dissolved in seawater that about 40% of the carbon dioxide produced by fossil fuels was absorbed by the ocean, so the ocean could be regarded as the largest carbon dioxide sink on earth. Thus, the high concentration of carbon dioxide in the ocean would put plants on steroids, so they would grow rapidly.
It was no exaggeration to say that the maturity cycle of crops of this submarine farm could be reduced by up to 50% compared to traditional land farming!
However, until now, the “Nimo Garden” project was still in an experimental stage. New Ocean Agriculture’s sudden appearance and claim that they mastered techniques for large-scale farming of land crops on the seabed were inconceivable by others.
Some media even hesitated and categorized the news under entertainment after they learned the information.
However, it wasn’t surprising that the concept proposed by XinOcean Agriculture was too advanced for the rest of the world. The public’s interest in agriculture wasn’t high compared to other hot fields. Although these media outlets also believed the scientific and technological strength of Future Group, they still couldn’t resist the temptation to mock.
[After all, it’s still just a concept on paper without the actual product?]
Jiang Chen ignored the reports completely.
[Once I slap all of your faces, why would I care about what you say?]