Indiana Man Takes Corn Underground
It’s the vegetable that’s supposed to be knee high by the fourth of July, but Indiana’s biotechnology industry is aiming a lot higher with their hopes for the future of corn. One local businessman took his hopes underground.
His corn is being grown far from the light of the sun. It’s being grown in a warehouse built in a cave in a southern Indiana cliff.
“One of our big advantages being underground is we start with a consistent environment everyday. It’s always about 50 degrees and it’s always dark,” says Doug Ausenbaugh, Controlled Pharming Ventures.
To be precise, it’s 51 degrees with 99 percent humidity in the cave, but inside the buildings where the corn is grown it’s 84 degrees with 44 percent humidity and as many as 18 hours of manufactured sunlight.
I’ve heard of people doing the same thing with marijuana.
will the potential energy harvest from the biofuel be enough to make up for the energy used to run the giant grow lamps?
Hard to say (depends on electricity out there). I have a feeling it would be more along the lines of is the total cost worth it. ie. no pesticides, faster growing periods, healthier/larger crops. You definitely can charge more than for the standard corn since you can say it is organically grown, pesticide free, etc.
I think once the seed companies realize the potential for raising unpolluted seed, this will become very big.