May 8, 2025 02:40 PM
https://www.livescience.com/planet-earth...apocalypse
EXCERPTS: If a global catastrophe suddenly led to a nuclear winter, millions of people could starve. But now, scientists have figured out what crops we would need to grow to sustain a city if such a calamitous event occurred.
According to a new study, farming spinach, sugar beets, wheat and carrots in urban and near-urban areas could feed the population of a midsize city in a post-apocalyptic world. The scientists built on previous research to determine the optimal crops to plant after a global catastrophe — such as nuclear war, extreme pandemics or solar storms. Their goal was to find the most efficient way to feed a person using the least amount of land.
[...] "Surprise, surprise. The city can't feed all its people," Boyd said. If food is only grown within the city bounds, the available land can feed about 20% of the population with crops that maximize protein and food energy per square foot under normal climate conditions. That number shrinks to about 16% during nuclear winter.
To feed the rest of the population, people would need land immediately outside the city — about one-third of the size of the city's built urban area — to sow additional efficient crops. In the case of Palmerston North, that's about 2,817 acres (1,140 hectares), plus another 272 acres (110 hectares) of canola to convert into biodiesel to fuel tractors and other farm machinery.
[...] In the land just outside the city, the study found that potatoes are ideal for a normal climate scenario, and a combination of 97% wheat and 3% carrots is the optimal ratio during a nuclear winter because they have a higher tolerance for colder temperatures.
[...] Boyd noted there are a number of unknowns that would impact crop yield in the real world. Soil quality is a big variable, because lower quality soil would yield fewer crops. He also assumed a scenario where water systems were still flowing — "but you can imagine global catastrophe scenarios where there's additional obstacles and problems," he said. He also doesn't expect people will only eat peas for an entire year, but planting the most efficient crops minimizes the amount of land needed to feed a population... (MORE - details)
EXCERPTS: If a global catastrophe suddenly led to a nuclear winter, millions of people could starve. But now, scientists have figured out what crops we would need to grow to sustain a city if such a calamitous event occurred.
According to a new study, farming spinach, sugar beets, wheat and carrots in urban and near-urban areas could feed the population of a midsize city in a post-apocalyptic world. The scientists built on previous research to determine the optimal crops to plant after a global catastrophe — such as nuclear war, extreme pandemics or solar storms. Their goal was to find the most efficient way to feed a person using the least amount of land.
[...] "Surprise, surprise. The city can't feed all its people," Boyd said. If food is only grown within the city bounds, the available land can feed about 20% of the population with crops that maximize protein and food energy per square foot under normal climate conditions. That number shrinks to about 16% during nuclear winter.
To feed the rest of the population, people would need land immediately outside the city — about one-third of the size of the city's built urban area — to sow additional efficient crops. In the case of Palmerston North, that's about 2,817 acres (1,140 hectares), plus another 272 acres (110 hectares) of canola to convert into biodiesel to fuel tractors and other farm machinery.
[...] In the land just outside the city, the study found that potatoes are ideal for a normal climate scenario, and a combination of 97% wheat and 3% carrots is the optimal ratio during a nuclear winter because they have a higher tolerance for colder temperatures.
[...] Boyd noted there are a number of unknowns that would impact crop yield in the real world. Soil quality is a big variable, because lower quality soil would yield fewer crops. He also assumed a scenario where water systems were still flowing — "but you can imagine global catastrophe scenarios where there's additional obstacles and problems," he said. He also doesn't expect people will only eat peas for an entire year, but planting the most efficient crops minimizes the amount of land needed to feed a population... (MORE - details)