Death

As you know, people are not saving enough for retirement. Not even close. So in order to survive, we probably need to reduce the cost of retirement living. That brings me to a company called Click and Grow. 

Note: I am about to make a tiny investment in this company, primarily for social reasons. I think their technology has the potential to change the world. I am giving it some attention because that’s probably all they need. This is not investment advice.

Click and Grow makes a nanomaterial soil that is optimized for growing. It already works for their counter-top herb-growing device that you will see on the site. I tried it at home, after meeting the founder, and sure enough, several herbs grew quickly and perfectly with no effort on my part. Just add water once to its little reservoir.

The nanomaterial in the soil is engineered for each type of plant. It has the right nutrient levels and it controls moisture automatically because of its physical structure, so you don’t need to worry about any of that.

But does this consumer product scale up to farm size?

The company is moving forward on testing some small indoor-farm set-ups. The initial estimates are that this method of growing will reduce costs by 70-80% compared to hydroponics and aerponics. The savings come from reducing complexity. With Click and Grow, all you need is the soil, seed, and water. And you don’t need to try hard to get the watering right because the soil does that for you. 

Compare that simple model to this diagram of aerponics or this page of hydroponic operations. The farmer doesn’t want that level of complexity or cost.

The nanosoil will be completely biodegradable in the upcoming version. (Current version is 98% biodegradable.) The only downside is that you have to trade out the soil after using it. I suggested to the founder that they look into using it as a base for concrete or maybe using it as kitty litter. So that part hasn’t been fully worked out for large-scale farming, but it seems doable. Obviously that cuts into the economics. 

The company is focusing on testing commercial farm operations, but a back-of-envelope estimate by the founder is that a vertical garden (floor to ceiling) about the size of a kitchen table, with several levels up, might feed a typical family. The rapid growing speed compensates for the lack of space, and there is no farming skill needed. 

if you have any great ideas on how to reuse or easily replace a lot of nanosoil in pots, please put that in the comments. At the risk of exaggerating, coming up with that solution here could save a billion lives someday. If climate change makes outdoor farming less economical, we will need an indoor option ready to go.

Any ideas?

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In Top Tech Blog, you have a technology for scrubbing carbon dioxide out of the oceans and an electric car that stores energy in salt water. How cool is that?

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If you are reading this blog, you would probably enjoy my contrarian book about success. According to this reviewer, I am an “unlikely source” for anything helpful, and I have to agree with that observation. But sometimes a blind squirrel…

Scott Adams Blog