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125 comments on Post-peak mechanized agriculture: the RAMSES project
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125 comments on Post-peak mechanized agriculture: the RAMSES project
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Speaking as an old farmboy:
1)Nice work!
2) Here's another example, of the many flavors that will be needed.
3) I don't know how to do pure-electric combines either (i.e., 300HP things with 60-gallon diesel tanks, for example), but that's probably survivable. If we electrify all of the current agricultural uses for petroleum-based fuels that we can, that saves fuel for the vehicles for which this is difficult. At some point, maybe there is some nth-generation biofuel that is good enough to handle those cases, if they are a small-enough fraction of current. Certainly, if Iowa has to devote some of its acreage to biofuel crops in order to keep growing fodd, they'll do it.
A really good thing about electric farm machinery is that people generally don't take them on long-distance joyrides. They don't normally go very far away, so the issues for BEV cars matter much less.
4) There are places in Africa where:
a) Tsetse flies cause trouble for draught animals.
b) They can't possibly afford gas/diesel-powered tractors, especially at the far end of a supply/support chain.
c) They aren't on a grid.
d) So they have manual subsistence agriculture.
Electric vehicles ought to be simpler, with less moving parts, and IF those places are ever to get much above subsistence farming with manual labor, it's going to look more like your pictures.
Anyway, congratulations again on nice work and post here.
Thank you Ugo for the article. I think you have a good start. Reminds me a little of an old article about a Willys Jeep converted to do farming functions.
Like John mentions above, and others mention below, it is very important to state the scale of farm you are seeking solutions for. The wheat or corn field that reaches to the horizon requires a whole different approach than the smaller more intensive farm.
Being a supplier of agricultural grade garden tools here in the states I do often hear from people looking for small-scale farming equipment, primarily for tilling and harvesting. So there is an unmet need here.
A couple of ideas that popped to mind:
* make your vehicle able to run both on battery and on remote power fed by an electric cable. Probably with just a simple mechanical switch so you can drive to remote power source and plug in.
** now picture center-pivot irrigation systems and imagine that round growing area with a power pole at the axis and with a retractable cable reel either on the pole or on the vehicle itself. Irrigated farmers have already mastered driving in big circles :)
*** consider a tall-tire vehicle (like the specialized spraying vehicles) that would allow movement over long raised beds and over taller crops.
Keep up the good work!
Greg;
I like the idea of the Rotating Irrigators carrying power AS WELL as water, perhaps, if there's any sense in combining such equipment to perform multiple functions. Does that seem like a workable idea?
Bob
Good suggestions, we'll think about all that; thanks!
> They don't normally go very far away ...
Depending on field traversal patterns, it might be possible to stage portions of the battery pack at field edges or corners so that only part of the battery pack needs to be carried with the tractor/combine/etc., thus reducing weight, drag, etc. and improving performance.
> There are places in Africa where: ...
The tsetse fly has been credited with protecting natural rangelands from human encroachment, and preserve them as food reserves needed by all those migrating herds we so enjoy to watch. Gaining access to such areas via solar-charged electric vehicles might provoke an application of the Jevons Paradox ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jevons_paradox ) (i.e., facilitating access will enable us to exploit more of Nature and will ultimately be counter-productive).
-- Philip B. / Washington, DC
That is a point worth noting, but I suspect that overall, our reach into wilderness will be shrinking as the most powerful fuels subside. I would expect these E-Tractors, like Windmills and PV will serve to slightly slow our shrinkage, not cause more expansion overall.