What can we plant right now in case Covid19 disrupt our food

[kenneal - lagger]

Biomass and a proportion of the biogas produced.

You would have to show me your EROEI calculations on that one.
We had some locals tinkerers run a V8 pickup on wood gas created in a home made autoclave in the bed but they were just taking firewood from their pile and not computing the energy used to build the woodpile.

Cars were quite commonly run on wood gas during WW2.

[adam2]

Buses also used wood gas during the war. The gas generator was carried on a small two wheeled trailer behind the vehicle.
Whilst wood was in short supply, small pieces of waste or offcuts could be used.
Wood gas cant be used in diesel engines without significant alterations, I presume that the vehicles in question burnt petrol normally.

[kenneal - lagger]

I don't think that diesel engines were as common in those days as they are now.

[BritDownUnder]

From what I understand running an engine on wood-gas which is a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide requires the change in the timing at which the spark is fired and a lot of old petrol/gasoline spark engine cars had a lever where this could be adjusted. I saw a 1935 car in New Zealand that had just such a function.

As far as my limited knowledge of the IC engine goes, the diesel engine does not have such a timing mechanism or indeed a spark created, as the timing of the injection of the fuel itself is what controls the engine.

EROEI of mechanised produced food is very poor - a ratio of 10 units of fuel energy in per 1 unit of food energy out has been quoted. I am sure that biomass produced food will be similar. My point would be that the biomass (e.g. straw or chaff) consumed by such a process may not be usable by humans in metabolism (field bacteria and fungi may beg to differ).
I think that all options in the future need to be considered for food production and growing some one's own food would be part of the solution as would producing food industrially by means other than using fossil fuels.

[vtsnowedin]

From what I understand running an engine on wood-gas which is a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide requires the change in the timing at which the spark is fired and a lot of old petrol/gasoline spark engine cars had a lever where this could be adjusted. I saw a 1935 car in New Zealand that had just such a function.

As far as my limited knowledge of the IC engine goes, the diesel engine does not have such a timing mechanism or indeed a spark created, as the timing of the injection of the fuel itself is what controls the engine.

EROEI of mechanised produced food is very poor - a ratio of 10 units of fuel energy in per 1 unit of food energy out has been quoted. I am sure that biomass produced food will be similar. My point would be that the biomass (e.g. straw or chaff) consumed by such a process may not be usable by humans in metabolism (field bacteria and fungi may beg to differ).
I think that all options in the future need to be considered for food production and growing some one's own food would be part of the solution as would producing food industrially by means other than using fossil fuels.

I doubt if timing would be much of an issue and easily done with an old style distributor by just giving it a twist with the lock down bolt loosened. The hard part would be getting the mix of wood gas and free air correct as you need sufficient oxygen from the atmosphere to combine with the hydrogen and carbon monoxide in the wood gas to burn it.
The spark advance lever on the model T Fords took a bit of skill to operate and with improper operation the cause of the legendary backfires of chitty chitty bang bang. The industry soon invented the vacuum advance for distributors that automatically adjusted the timing to match the engine RPM making one less thing the operator had to do manually. The choke lever took years longer for an automatic replacement. Some cars in the 1960s still had them.
I think diesel for agriculture will be replaced with solar powered EV tractors charged from a bank of solar panels mounted on or around the farm buildings. That will leave the straw and other refuse on the fields to fight erosion between growing seasons and recycle it's nutrient and carbon content to the soil.

[Catweazle]

I think diesel for agriculture will be replaced with solar powered EV tractors charged from a bank of solar panels mounted on or around the farm buildings.

I've been thinking about this too. On the face of it a good idea, tractors need weight and low speed torque, but a problem I can see is that the harvest window is often quite small. Big, powerful tractors often work through the night to get the harvest done when the weather is favourable.

I think crops would have to be more varied to allow staggered harvests.

[kenneal - lagger]

.............I think crops would have to be more varied to allow staggered harvests.

From a couple of Zero Carbon Britain reports from both CAT and the Climate Change Committee there would have to be a drastic reduction in meat, dairy and egg eating in the UK to reach food security and a zero carbon UK and this would mean that much of the grain harvest would not be required as a lot of it goes for animal feed at the moment.

We would have to grow and harvest a lot more vegetables, peas and beans especially, and a greater variety to make up for the loss of meat in the diet so the grain harvest could be more protracted, weather permitting, and the variety would mean a longer harvest period.

Peas though are often harvested over night as the correct tenderometer reading means that they must be harvested and processed within a few hours to get the full price from the processor. Frozen peas are much more valuable than mushy peas! That shouldn't be too much of a problem though as the harvester could be charging up during the day.

[Potemkin Villager]

Peas though are often harvested over night as the correct tenderometer reading means that they must be harvested and processed within a few hours to get the full price from the processor. Frozen peas are much more valuable than mushy peas! That shouldn't be too much of a problem though as the harvester could be charging up during the day.

I have often wondered on the calories delivered on energy invested of peas. Anybody who has grown them for own use quickly realises that their whole growing area would be needed to provide a full years supply! This opinion was reinforced watching Greg Wallace on "Inside the Factory" salivating over how complex the process of making Heinz vegetable soup was. The peas came from huge scale machine harvested pea plantations that appeared to stretch for hundreds of hectares (somewhere in East Anglia at a guess)!

The whole series of "Inside the Factory" programmes have really gobsmacked me in a very visceral way as to how incredibly complex, energy intensive and insanely over engineered (and of course unsustainable) the manufacture a huge range of common or garden everyday items is.

The Ribena factory really did my head in!

For me, own grown peas are luxury items and green manure to be eaten from the pod or cooked within minutes of picking.

[vtsnowedin]

I think diesel for agriculture will be replaced with solar powered EV tractors charged from a bank of solar panels mounted on or around the farm buildings.

I've been thinking about this too. On the face of it a good idea, tractors need weight and low speed torque, but a problem I can see is that the harvest window is often quite small. Big, powerful tractors often work through the night to get the harvest done when the weather is favourable.

I think crops would have to be more varied to allow staggered harvests.

A problem dealt with by more units and battery storage systems that can take charge from the sun while the tractor is in the field and charge up the tractor on return. Perhaps quick change battery units that snap into front loader arms to avoid unhooking the towed implement. Or side saddle hookups for front mounted harvesting machinery. The cost per unit of crop harvested will probably be higher then current diesel prices but still way ahead of going all the way back to hand labor.

[Thefatcrofter]

When I plant peas they end up being eating in the veg plot! Don't recall ever getting any to the kitchen. Not a very good veg if it's calories you are looking for long term.

[vtsnowedin]

When I plant peas they end up being eating in the veg plot! Don't recall ever getting any to the kitchen. Not a very good veg if it's calories you are looking for long term.

You should plant more rows and eat less while in the garden. Well maybe not eat less while in the garden but plant enough so you have some to get to the table and freezer.

[BritDownUnder]

When I plant peas they end up being eating in the veg plot! Don't recall ever getting any to the kitchen. Not a very good veg if it's calories you are looking for long term.

My five year old likes to shell them and then throw them around the garden. Amazing where we get peas growing several months later.

[vtsnowedin]

When I plant peas they end up being eating in the veg plot! Don't recall ever getting any to the kitchen. Not a very good veg if it's calories you are looking for long term.

My five year old likes to shell them and then throw them around the garden. Amazing where we get peas growing several months later.

What a wonderful problem to have.

[kenneal - lagger]

Today and tomorrow in the South of England are very good days for hoeing the garden. It's hot and dry so the weeds that you desturb will dry out and die. Once they are dead you can water your plants and then mulch them to keep the water in.

[kenneal - lagger]

Eating broad beans again today to make room for cucumber plants in the polytunnel. We're going to shell the rest and dry them for storage as salad time is definitely here although the weather is going to cool to seasonal average or below from tomorrow. And, hopefully, some rain is forecast.