Where desalination does work currently for farming is with greenhouses because they use water so efficiently. Currently you can see thousands of greenhouses on the coast of southern spain. About ten years ago they put in their first desalination plant to provide fresh water for the greenhouses.
There are smaller operations like this—desalinating sea water for green houses— among gulf arabs and in australia.
Greening the desert has always been a human dream it’s in out a nature to try to improve our habitat. Given the advances in vertical farming and also vat grown proteins, lipids and carbohydrates I don’t see the need to green the desert and only convert less than 1% of all that solar.energy into biomass and then only a fraction into wheat grains, rice or corn kernels.
The future is harvest with hith efficiency solar energy and then use it to vat grow the building blocks of food. Every monogastric needs four things to live and grow. Complete protein with all 9 amino acids, carbohydrates(sugars or starches) and polylipids(fats,triglycerides,monoglycerides ect ) and trace minerals these are inorganic.
Thin film solar is 25% solar to electrons twenty-five times what plants can do. Adding in a second thin film solar layer under the top one that’s bandgap electron energy level is tuned for infrared spectrum brings in another 20% that’s a total of 45% insolation to electrons 45 times what plants can do. With electrolytic cells now approaching 90% Faraday electron to.organic molecules efficiency no plant anywhere ever again will touch those levels of sunlight to.organic materials humans have vast exceeded what nature can do it’s a testament to our ingenuity.
The future would be solar to desal use that to make brackish water no need to go all the way to 500ppm or less of chlorides you need the conductivity in your electro cells anyways. Then feed electrons to the cells and have them make you millions of.tonnes of the base ingredients of food. At that point it’s how do you use it?
Make high protein bread,or shakes or pudding for direct human consumption. 3D print it into nuggets or tenders or even with the right combination of lipids,carbs and protein into whole meat looking pieces. Of course you could just make kibble out of it and feed it too livestock but that adds cost and more water requirements. Fish are the most efficient feed to fillet, chickens are 2:1 pigs are 4:1 cattle are past 10:1 but you shouldn’t feed them mass carbs and lipids they should be feed cellulose another product that has been made by electrolytic cells directly from water and air for the co2. For most of human history a few staple foods have sustained humans. In the middle east and Europe it was bread for wheat...The prayer specifically says “Give us this day our daily bread” that’s because that is what the average person ate almost exclusively daily meat was a rare treat. Same with Asia with rice, Africa with cassava and yams.
Vat growing starches that are identical to ground wheat, rice, potatoes, ect has been done. So pasta,bread,mashed potatoes,risotto all can be made synthetic starches now and people wouldn’t be able to tell the difference once cooked and processed. Same for nuggets and tenders or.ground meat from vats there will be no textural or chemical difference. It’s when not if. Price will be the factor once synthetics are half the cost of 20th century food people will voluntarily switch out of the economic advantages. People who have their land will.benefit from the huge supply of ultra affordable feed ingredients. My goats don’t need much other than the grass they keep mowed but my pigs are well pigs I welcome synthetic feeds they will put all other feeds off the market on price and eff alone.