Warhammer 40K in a box

Chapter 188 Three-dimensional composite planting
As the first section of the orbital ring was constructed, the corresponding supporting facilities were also transported to Rostov II.

These facilities include energy supply modules, gravity regulators, air circulation systems, and various maintenance equipment. Each piece has been strictly blessed by the mechanical priests to ensure that they can operate stably in the extreme environment of the orbital star ring.

The roar of the transport ship's engine echoed over the starport, as if playing the prelude to this grand project.

After completion, the orbital ring is quite large. As long as the planet's air is clear and there are no thick acid rain clouds blocking it, even if you look up from the surface of the planet, you can easily see the huge creation across the sky with the naked eye, making people clearly realize that it is a miracle of human engineering.

Of course, what comes from the mouth of the Mechanicus must be the mighty power of the God of Machines!

However, the construction of Rostov II's orbital ring has not been completed yet. Only the first part of the frame structure has been laid, which is less than one-tenth of the entire ring.

But even so, this is a huge creation with a length of nearly 3,000 kilometers and a width of more than 10 kilometers.

(The equatorial circumference is 40,000 kilometers. Rostov II is slightly smaller than Holy Terra.)

If used as arable land, the area of ​​3 square kilometers would be equivalent to about million mu of land, which is equivalent to the total arable land area of ​​a provincial administrative unit in a large Eastern country in the K era.

If such a large area is used to grow crops, it can feed many people even by the standards of the 3K era.

Not to mention that the structure of the orbital ring is not a single-layer structure, it is a multi-layer structure, so the area available for use is larger.

With such a huge area, Chen Xi certainly wouldn't just leave it empty.

The long-planned orbital hydroponic farm is already under construction.

Parts ordered from the Mariupol forge world, equipment produced at the Rostov III foundry, various machines ordered from Grya and Gryffin IV, icy asteroids collected from the galaxy's asteroid belt, plasma collected from stars...

These resources are continuously transported to the orbital star ring to support the construction of hydroponic farms.

An orbital hydroponic farm capable of feeding a billion people was built.

According to Chen Xi's plan, there will be ten such huge orbital hydroponic farms in the orbital star ring, providing enough food to feed tens of billions of people.

A considerable portion of these foods will not be eaten directly as food, but will undergo secondary processing and be made into energy bars, nutritious porridge and other foods and then distributed to ordinary people as food rations.

This sounds a bit cruel. There is enough food, but you still do this.

But in Chen Xi's opinion, doing so can feed more people.

After all, the Empire's energy bars, nutritional porridge and other foods are considered to be blessed by the Emperor if they conscientiously increase the content of natural foods to 60%.

There is enough food for tens of billions of people. If enough promethium extract is added during processing, it can even feed more than three times the population.

Although there is no population pressure or food crisis in the Rostov sub-sector at present, Chen Xi needs to consider the future and stockpile some food that can withstand storage.

Natural grains are delicious, but they are also not very shelf-stable.

In the 3k era, scientists put a lot of thought into storing food.

However, even so, how to effectively preserve food for a long time remains a global problem, and the better the technology, the higher the cost.

Even with the advancements in technology in the 40th millennium era, preserving whole foods is still a challenge. Unless you resort to stasis fields at all costs, preserving whole foods for extended periods of time is unrealistic.

The most appropriate way is still to process it and make it into long-lasting food such as energy bars and nutritious porridge. After all, with the empire's food preservation technology, the food Chen Xi makes now can still be within the shelf life until the end of the Indomitable Expedition.

Of course, this is also more suitable for long-distance interstellar transportation and providing food supplies for immigration and development in sub-star regions.

However, before the orbital hydroponic farm is put into use, Chen Xi still needs to confirm with Olivia what kind of crops should be grown in the hydroponic farm.

After all, different crops have different requirements for the environment and resources. Only by choosing suitable crops can we maximize the utilization of the resources of the orbiting star ring and ensure a stable and reliable food supply in the future.
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"Are you talking about doing some so-called three-dimensional composite planting in the hydroponic farm?" Olivia stared at Chen Xi with a frown, and there was a hint of confusion and doubt in her tone that was difficult to conceal.

To her, this method of growing crops sounded more like fantasy than viable agricultural technology.

The so-called three-dimensional composite planting is an agricultural technology that Chen Xi dug out from his memories of the 3K era.

Its core idea is to grow multiple crops in the same piece of farmland through a layered layout of vertical space.

These crops are cleverly arranged on the same block according to their respective growth habits and needs, making full use of light, temperature, water and other resources to maximize the yield per unit area.

In the 3K era, this technology has been explored and applied in plant factories and hydroponic cultivation, and is considered an emerging agricultural model.

But in the 40k era, this technology seems out of place.

The Mechanicum's agricultural model is simple and crude - they use genetic modification and large amounts of fertilizer to push the yield of a single crop to the limit.

Their high-yield crop seeds can drain the fertility of an entire piece of land within a year, and subsequent planting must rely on massive amounts of fertilizer and water resources.

This model is like the empire's rule over various worlds, which only cares about immediate interests and never considers sustainable development.

Once the support of the entire imperial system is lost, a single imperial world often cannot sustain its continued operation.

It is like an agricultural world that loses the fertilizer and fresh water provided by the surrounding planets, and its production will often drop rapidly, making it unable to supply other planets.

Olivia wasn't impressed by Chen Xi's request, and even felt a bit impatient. "Do you know why the Mechanicus doesn't use this technology? Because it's too troublesome. We only need to cultivate one crop to perfection. Why bother with so many tricks?"

Chen Xi remained unmoved. He insisted on his own idea: "The Mechanicus's method is indeed efficient, but it wastes too many resources. We don't have so many resources now to follow the traditional methods of the Mechanicus.

We should try to achieve a self-sufficient farmland microecology and increase unit food yield through the combined planting of multiple different crops without additional fertilizer input.

This is of great significance for the future food supply security of Rostov!"

Olivia sighed. Although Chen Xi's request was outrageous, she knew it was feasible, but it would be very troublesome to do so.

"Okay, I can try." She finally compromised, sighing and saying, "But you have to understand, this is no simple task! I need to adjust the habits of many different crops so that they can coexist according to your requirements and form a self-sufficient ecological microcirculation...

This is really too much trouble! I hope you can make simpler requests next time."

(End of this chapter)