Agriculture of Saperisole
Overview
Saperisole suffered a famine from 1886 to 1890 due a blight on wheat, which has historically been the primary crop produced in Saperisole, and ever since the nation has worked intensely on developing sustainable ways to produce enough food to prevent such a crisis from ever unfolding again. Their two biggest developments have been industrial greenhouses, which extend the growing season which was traditionally short due to Saperisole’s high latitude, and floating farms, which are the chief method used in the Saperi meat and dairy industries due to the small amount of space they require. These developments and future developments are sustained by Università della Valle, a research university on the Ancient River Valley (Valle del Fiume Antico) that receives government funding in order to produce sustainable and efficient agriculture techniques. The majority of Saperi food exports today are grains, fruits, and vegetables, while meat and dairy consist of a smaller portion.
Università della Valle
Named for the Ancient River Valley, Università della Valle was founded in 1731 as a university for the agriculture industry of the valley. After the end of the Great Famine (La Carestia Grande) in 1890, the university received a massive influx of federal money aimed at preventing another crisis of the same magnitude. The university is now home to a world-class agricultural research center dedicated to developing sustainable and efficient means of enhancing Saperi agriculture. Its current declared mission is to double agricultural output in Saperisole by 2050.
Industrial Greenhouses (Serre Industriali)
The first and most important major development was the development of industrial greenhouses, some of which are almost 200 acres large, which allowed more crops to be grown, using less space and water, for a longer portion of the year. Using these greenhouses and other technologies developed by the Università della Valle, Saperi farming methods use 90 percent less water through the use of hydroponic farming and about half of the space in order to produce the same amount of product as traditional agriculture. Greenhouses are powered by geothermal energy, making energy use cheaper. They have also been able to eliminate the use of pesticides almost entirely allowing them to charge higher prices for their more natural product. Greenhouses measure soil and air moisture content and adjust accordingly in order to give the plants the best possible conditions in which to grow.
Floating Farms (Fattorie Galleggianti)
Floating farms are more space-efficient than traditional pastoral farms, allowing animals to be raised in much less space by limiting the use of land to a small adjacent field, attached to the main platform via a small bridge, for animals who want to roam. Animal welfare is greatly attended to, with each animal granted its own stall with soft floors for it to rest on. The farms are built on pontoons secured to the sea bed with steel beams in order to ensure the stability required to prevent the animals from getting seasick, and farms are mostly built on the protected inner seas of Saperisole rather than the rougher ocean around the outer coast. The farms are powered with solar panels along the base and roof of the platforms and produce their own water through rainwater collection systems. Additionally, they feature milking robots that allow animals to choose for themselves when to be milked while also decreasing labor costs. Manure is collected by a different robot and sold to other agricultural industries as fertilizer. Livestock are fed human food waste, which is more sustainable and less wasteful than traditional animal feed, as well as some excess grasses and grains, all of which is distributed by a conveyor belt system. The use of antibiotics is almost two thirds lower than that of traditional livestock production, allowing Saperi farmers to charge higher prices abroad.
Floating Greenhouses (Serre Galleggianti)
Floating greenhouses are more large-scale than floating farms due to the expensive costs of animal care and necessity of available fields that come with livestock production. They are similarly constructed on pontoons, but are often built into the coastal ocean as well as the inner seas. They are multi level, with the top level used for fruit and vegetable production and the bottom level open to the ocean for fish farming. This allows the ocean water, which is generally too violent for fish farming, to be used as it provides walls which calm the waters underneath the greenhouse as well as a roof which prevents predatory seabirds from taking any of the fish.
Food Security Organization and International Aid
Saperisole, through government funding for agriculture research programs, is fully committed to ensuring not only that its own citizens do not suffer another famine but that no other nation undergoes this difficult experience. During the Fascist Wars, Saperisole donated food aid to all nations in addition to the weapons and supplies aid it gave to Allied soldiers. In 1956, this food aid led Saperisole to be one of the founding members of the Food Security Organization, an international organization dedicated to ensuring the availability of food to all of the world’s people. Università della Valle researchers coordinate with other member institutions globally in order to FSO agricultural methods, especially in those member nations further from the equator which are most in need of Saperisole’s farming methods to increase their food output. Their current largest project is the development of sustainable insect farming for livestock feed, in order to free up more agricultural land for human food needs. While this will only slightly benefit Saperi agriculture, which is mostly reliant on food waste, the university hopes to export this technology across the globe in order to aid the world in food security.
