[CanRay]

*Smacks my sweaty forehead*  Food comes from Stuffer Shack and other stores!  Duh!   

[Malex]

MMMMM soy burrito, now with krill filling. Just heat, add sauce, and eat.
*warning explosive diarrhea common in 1/4 of the population. do not mix sauce with mentos freshmaker*

[Rockopolis]

You know, it's strange...I like Tofu.  I just pigged out on Tofu skin junkfood.  It's always been kind of strange to read about it as something horrible, or as a sign of dystopia.  Is it really that reviled?

[bigity]

I love soybeans, eat em all the time.

Krill however...hmmm.

I dunno if Tofu is gross as most people make out.  I can't say I've ever had any but I've heard that it really absorbs the flavor of what you cook it with.

[Rockopolis]

You know, it's strange, I don't usually eat actual soybeans.  I when I hear sculpt, I always think of tofu, but you could probably do it with ground soybeans.

Man...I really want a Soy Processing Unit.  Why can't I live in the future now, damn it!

[baronspam]

I love soybeans, eat em all the time.

Krill however...hmmm.

I dunno if Tofu is gross as most people make out.  I can't say I've ever had any but I've heard that it really absorbs the flavor of what you cook it with.

Tofu on its own is actually very bland, and tends to take on the flavor of what you cook it in/with.  I enjoy tofu myself, either in a nice broth or cooked in a little oil and maybe with a chili sauce.  I think the people who don't like it probably are not put off so much by the flavor as much by the texture.  It basically is soybean jello.  That kind of freaks people out if they have been raised on roast and potatoes, but there are far stranger things that people eat on this earth to try to stay fed.

As far as the sixth world, lower cost foods are probably raised as much in tanks as they are in fields.  Krill, fungus based protiens, algie and kelp, etc, are produced in tanks farms.  Soy and corn would likely still be major field crops.  Corn already is raised mosly for processing rather than consumption as a fresh vegtable.  It is used to make sweeteners, thickening agents, in animal feed, as oil, and increasingly for industrial uses like fuel.  Quinoa might take on more importance because like soy its a complete protien and fairly high in protien.   Quinoa is also altitude and temperature resistant, so its likely to be grown in places where other crops don't do well.

Real fresh food starts to show up sporadically in middle lifestyle, but to be eating fresh veggies and real meat with most meals is something for High lifestyle or better.  Still, that middle manager probably can afford a cup real coffee on sunday, an orange or some real eggs now and again for breakfast, and has a steak on his birthday.

As others in this thread have said, i think all the AAA corps would have at least some interest in food production.  Its the one product that everybody needs no matter what.

[DOS Jacker]

My guess would be the Corporations.

Corps want nothing but money (nothing new, right?). This leads them to grabbing up any fields that'll nab some cash: Chemical, Automotive, and the Food Industries, to name a few.
Controlling the food means you've got a steady supply of income. Food is a vital resource that any (Meta)Human needs; the Corps realize this. They've got special farms devoted to this, as well as the Controlled-Environment Farms and Arctic Farms that others mentioned. Again, as others mentioned, certain products may need to be imported (or created if not available).

That's just my idea, though... it could be FAR greater than that.

[CanRay]

Food comes from where it's always come from, honestly:  Farms.

Now, in North America, most of the farm land is owned by the Native American Nations, with the Megacorporations working on Frankenfoods that will grow in harsher and harder conditions (Wheat in the Arctic Circle!).  The focus on cheap food is due to the economic status of the majority of the people in the Sixth World.  Remember:  The Middle Class is almost gone.  You have Low Class, Wageslaves (Who are Lower Class in nice apartments), and High Class as the majority (With High Class being the minority of that majority who hold the power.).

It also depends on where you live.  Seattle probably has some decent prices on seafood, but their other real food prices are insane due to the political situation between the UCAS and the NAN.  In the NAN, cheap(er) real food.

[Rockopolis]

I've been thinking about that as a backstory, actually.  Justifies the Homegrown Farming quality; make a side living growing real food.
Makes an interesting and really...historical-ish motivation; "Crops failed, turning bandit need a job."

[CanRay]

Part of my backstory for Nas is that he's from one of the few remaining Family-Owned Farms in Texas.  It's right on the border with Aztlan, so it's not exactly prime real estate for a Mega to want.  But there's an aquifer under the land and the soil is good, so they make a decent enough living, despite having to sell to the Megas at the Corporations rates.

This is why he got into NASCAR racing, actually.  He wanted more than to just "Get By", while his brother is more than happy to.  Also, Nas was and is a horrible shot, which did not endear him to the rest of the family considering that "The enemy is really at the gates", not to mention being the only Elf in the family...

It's, complicated.

[zend0g]

Once you can drop algae based farming for food and fuel where ever you want, you really don't much of a need for classical field-based farming. Aside from small markets for people that really want and can pay for organic, I don't see them being able to compete and stay in business.   

[Black]

I love soybeans, eat em all the time.

Krill however...hmmm.

I dunno if Tofu is gross as most people make out.  I can't say I've ever had any but I've heard that it really absorbs the flavor of what you cook it with.

Tofu on its own is actually very bland, and tends to take on the flavor of what you cook it in/with.  I enjoy tofu myself, either in a nice broth or cooked in a little oil and maybe with a chili sauce.  I think the people who don't like it probably are not put off so much by the flavor as much by the texture.  It basically is soybean jello.  That kind of freaks people out if they have been raised on roast and potatoes, but there are far stranger things that people eat on this earth to try to stay fed.

I eat Tofu all the time, is common in Chinese dishes.  Maybe Australians eat more chinese food then Americans?  I haven't had a roast in... oh... 10 some years, but I grab a steak maybe two to three times a week.  Hmm... used have a lot of roast as a kid, but doesn't seem as common a dish anymore.  Tofu is tasty as... the dish that its in.  You can have frozen tofu, which has larger air pockets for extra absorbtion, silky tofu, hard tofu and more.  Yummy .  Except for missing fresh fruit, I think that I could survive very confortably in the 6th world.

Hmm... I think Aztechnology should be the largest food producer, but many other AA and A corps would be involved in food production.  Maybe Proteus?  Don't know much about them though.  Money is that the NAN nations have their own local real food production and the the availability of 'real' food would vary a great deal around the world.  Can't imagine the poor nations have the logistics to import masses of processed food for example, and that it is more logicaly that the more screwed up areas grow there on food.

[CanRay]

The Organic Market is growing in the 2070s, with a big boost in advertising from Horizon, and a growing number of people developing allergies to Soy.  Add to that Frankenfoods that can be grown in the Arctic and Antarctic...

[John Schmidt]

Now, in North America, most of the farm land is owned by the Native American Nations

I am going to disagree (unofficially) with that point of view. The best farming land is pretty much east of the Sioux/UCAS border. The vast majority of the land out west is under irrigation or dry land farming. You just don't see the crop yields that you do further east. Of course...if I am missing canon info stating that magic has altered weather patterns for the western section of North America then obviously my opinion is moot.

Field farming strikes me as being important though for the simple fact that livestock need feed and I don't think that skyfarms would be able to accomodate that.

[CanRay]

After the Great Ghost Dance, weather patterns have gone right nutbar.

The Farmer's Almanac people went completely and irreversibly insane.