Valuation is usually based on potential revenue, not actual revenue
How similar this is to how capitalists look at natural “resources”. “This website[wetland] sure is great. Lots of people[animals] are loving it. And it’s a vital part of the development[water] cycle… But it’s just not making me any money!”
This is fascinating. Perhaps the plant protein as meat substitute is getting too much focus? Maybe that’s just the part that is seen as potentially the most profitable. I wonder if that’s shortsighted compared to using the whole plant as a potential food source.
I was familiar with duckweed’s use in aquaculture systems, but not with the fact that duckweed is actively consumed and quite edible: Nutritional value of duckweeds (Lemnaceae) as human food
The application of selective pressure to work on making domesticated forms is cool. The rapid generational cycle of just a couple days has got to make that nicer to work with. We have better abilities today than in past centuries to leverage artificial aquaculture. Though again, I think I that we should not overlook consuming the whole plant, it’s definitely interesting considering how it could be fractionated into different components. If processed to extract specific protein content, I could imagine that the rest of the slurry byproduct could still have uses in human nutrition, fish feed, fertilizers, and more. Growing duckweed also captures carbon from the air.
Worked for popplers.