Rapture Agriculture

* See also Rapture Economy
* See also Raptures_Food_Supply
* See also Sea Life
* See also Non-Human Inhabitants
* See also FrankenTrees
* See also Arcadia
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Food Production is of the Utmost Importance ( to make Rapture Self-Sufficient )
Feeding 20000 - 40000 people ... ( so Rapture had one Mass-Production 'Industry', at least )
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1 in 10 Workers in Rapture May Have Had to be a Farmer :
There are virtually no farms like the majority of those on The Surface (dirt farming). Instead there would be hydroponic farming which can have 3 - 5 times the yield per area. Large cross-section caverns/tunnels are expensive to build/seal and require substantial structuring. So most 'farms' in Rapture would probably have to be within something like 10-foot-wide bored tunnels ( within solid bedrock to act against the massive undersea pressure ). 1 acre (43560 sq ft) of 'farmland' would fit in such a tunnel of about 2420 ft long ( using at least 3 growing levels/surfaces stacked, 3 ft wide on either side of an access way in the middle - 18 sq ft per linear length ). The Tunnels can be grouped side by side separated by twice their width, and at different levels approx every 30 feet ( all to allow the rock sufficient supporting volume and stability ). Vegetables and grains could be grown with multiple crops per year, and with the extraneous plant material being usable for silage used to feed milk cows/meat animals/fish.
Rapture has a huge amount of cheap Power/Heat available from Hephaestus to keep the plants growing ( using UV grow-lights ) all day long, all year round. Conversion of Carbon Dioxide to Oxygen would be a paying byproduct. By the 1960s, 2% of the population in the US were Farmers, and thru land farming automations/mechanizations those were able to each feed 50 other people. Hydroponic farming even though largely automated, still takes more labor for the same 'farm area' ( the guy who fixes/services the machines is still classified as a 'farmer' ) ...
Things other than Food come from the farms. The food for animals would be produced, and various chemical products, wood/fiber, medicines, etc ... All various raw materials needed for consumer goods. Rapture would need production of such things, even when partially self-sufficient, due to the very high cost of importing bulk materials/products. 
So a more realistic ratio ( including things like Fisheries ) would be closer to : 1 farming employee's work feeding himself and 9 other people. With a population of 20000 (initially) and later to ~40000, That would mean that Rapture and supporting communities would need 2000-4000 Farmers to feed/supply the population.
Those Farmers would have to keep producing -- even during the 'civil war' and in the following chaos, or very shortly there would be little to eat and soon enough most everyone dies of starvation.
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Farmers Market Established 1948 ( Sign seen in Farmers Market ) :
This was soon after the first farms were operating (~1947) to supply Rapture with fresh produce ( after many people grew tired of canned food and not so 'fresh' foodstuffs which had arrived after a long sea voyage ).
The first farms looked more like warehouses ( actually like the pod factories in 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers' ) full of hydroponic equipment. Later they would be greatly expanded into specially built tunnels. With the inexpensive power and heat from Hephaestus ( probably with some special commercial deals in exchange for the Oxygen being produced ) the greenhouses could have their plants growing 24 hours a day.
Farming Agriculture specialists in Ryan's surface organization would have scoured the world for appropriate varieties of crops that grew well in Rapture's environment.
Fruit trees take a bit longer to mature, but also can be accelerated by various methods ( Later with ADAM ... Imagine the equivalent of Pesticide-Free or Non-Genetically Modified produce happening in Rapture ).
Niche Farming in Rapture got a significant boost when Ryan discontinued most trade with The Surface in 1952, and many new farming ventures were started. At the same time, much construction equipment and workers were freed up as City construction was slowed/discontinued.
I have the tunnel boring machines carving out huge underground networks of tunnels for the 'farmland' around Ceres Green ( See Rapture Map ). There also were major expansions of the Sea Farms in the Shallows north of the City, which harvested kelp to turn into fertilizer for the farms and for other products.
This was before ADAM Agri-technology expanded many food plant yields further.
Oxygen farming became an industry, as many of the large corporations ( including Fontaine's ) cast about for additional business opportunities. Genetically enhanced plants could be developed to improve the Oxygen yield ( including algae that could grow in vast vats ).
The Farmers Market expanded ( that new wing you see I put using the BS2 MP level ) as Rapture's population grew and more products became available. It also became an important Contraband purchasing site for much of Fontaine's smuggled goods, which crossed from his smuggling base near Neptune's Bounty via a clandestine tram tunnel which he had built for that purpose.
Early, Dwarf Corn (maize) varieties were found to do well, and had a high yield of both the grain, which was important as animal Feed, as well as the stalks that could be used as silage - also for animal feed. The 'Corn on the Cob' stall was always a popular stop in the Farmers Market. Eventually a variety of Popcorn varieties would also be introduced.
For New Rapture, reestablishing/revitalizing a presence with the large farming areas to the east of Arcadia is an important goal as the food supplies will be needed as the 'saved' population expands, and civilization rebuilds.
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Mass Agriculture in Rapture ( Required for Self-Sufficiency ) :
Food is one item that the population needed large continuous quantities of -- 20000 + 20000(?) people eating 3 Square Meals a day, plus whatever you feed to any farm animals to get meat or to fish in any Fish Farm - ( It takes many times as many pounds of grain/veggies to produce one pound of meat ).
Even with a submarine 'fishing fleet' employing hundreds of fishermen - That source is still not enough ( and fishing is often seasonal and irregular because of various REAL circumstances ).
Artificial caverns for FarmsNatural ones normally will not be that large or numerous (or any). You have to find them first and then they have to seal against the water pressure. - economical - tunnels bored into solid rock formations for the needed volume, heat and light and fresh water from the City utilities. They cannot be sized/built too large - needing to limit construction costs. So these caverns would largely have to self-support. There were Good locations, especially to East of Arcadia ( where there was solid igneous rock ), were where many farms were eventually located. Other locations, including outside Rapture City Limits, expanded the City's capacity. Many remote areas during "the Chaos" built/expanded their own farms just to survive.
Hydroponic methods mean a much more flexible schedule for 'growing seasons' and use of high yield dwarf varieties. Racks and racks of tray grown plants, lots of mirrored wall/ceiling surfaces to distribute/concentrate artificial light.
Grain Silos in Rapture - food storage centers -- My AE Freight Warehouse district had some of these. Others were more local to the producing farms, or were stockpiles at companies that used grain as a Raw Material ( bakeries and premade food plants, and the animal raising facilities ).
Fly-Bots ( similar to the Security units ) had possibly been used for 'Crop Dusting' fertilizers and pesticide, and for vermin eradication in the 'flat dirt' type tunnel farms ( not everything grows well using the Hydroponic 'rack' system ).
People die pretty quick without food, and Ryan protected and worked to maintain Rapture's food production during the 'civil war'. His followers did likewise after Ryan was killed. Sofia Lamb managed to grab a chunk of the farmzone around "Greenbelt", but got no further when other factions literally blocked and sealed the passages. There is no doubt that large numbers of 'The Rapture Family' toiled like Serfs/Slaves to keep her minions fed.
Farms of all types ( and in all states ) would be seen in the MMORPG. No doubt more than a few Player Missions would deal with this all-too-important resource.
'CO2' (Carbon Dioxide) is required by Viable high intensity farms. So proximity to sources of 'CO2' were generally required. Recycling City air ( producing Oxygen and absorbing Carbon Dioxide ) was a side business, while others used the 'CO2' output of certain industrial processes. A few farms imported garbage/waste to burn as a 'CO2' source, and most recycled and burned their own farm waste.
Think of High Yield crops like Potatoes and Peanuts, which have multiple uses for many other products. ( Especially Potatoes which are very hardy in adverse/marginal environments. )
'Fish Farms' inside Rapture using the man-made caverns - Catfish could be grown much the same way they are mass farmed today.
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Fruits Of Their Labor :
Fruit Trees take years to mature enough for a decent crop ( Half grown trees take up ALOT of space to ship to Rapture ). A good thing then that the 'Cut-Off from the Surface' was as late as ~1952. There had to be time to work out the problems and limitations of the Rapture environment to get full agriculture production established.
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Food For New Rapture :
As long as the Power Holds Out - even if the Fisheries stopped operating, Farming could provide all the needed food. Actually, if the Power fails, 'there goes' all the Heat and Air anyway ...
It is why a fundamental factor in the formation of New Rapture was Ryan's Loyalists in Hephaestus joining. They had leverage across Rapture which would be important in rebuilding.
Another was the Fishermen at Neptunes Bounty joining - much better having the 'Fish' with the 'Chips' (potatoes).
Various people, non-Splicers and more stable Splicers, grew/caught their own food ( else how did they survive 10 years after food stopped being canned ? )
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Ceres Green ( MY Rapture's Center of Agricultural Production Sorta Near Arcadia ) :
"You Can Be A Farmer"
New Rapture Missions to rebuilt/recover/reactivate the agruicultural food production.
Have your 'farm' dug, and start growing ( MMORPG Player activity ) - How to keep people from stealing your produce - TRAPS !!! Guards. And handling vermin.
Tunnels used for Rapture's 'Farms' ( previous use of the Plasma Cutting technology to build many of them cheaply - definitely used the submarine-style 'cheap' doors ).
Businesses selling farming equipment and supplies ( lots in Old Rapture ) 
Business - selling excess produce to buyers who sell on to consumers ( middlemen )
Restaurants growing their own food ( "Cut Out The Middleman" --- Can hire expertise for harder to grow gourmet varieties )
Dried Foods ( when glass/ceramic jars are sold at a premium, and 'Canning' isn't much possible any more in New Rapture ) Salvaging and Recycling ...
Hey Mac, Want some Rat Jerky ? - 1 R$ per piece ( "Rodent Farming for Dummies" )
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Capt'n Saltee Potato Chips ( The Tastiest Chips on the High Seas ) :
THESE were seen in "LA Noire"LA Noire - The 1940s Police Detective Computer Game on billboards.
Potatoes ( grow-able like in The Martian , ewww ) would be one definite Crop in New Rapture ( and many other areas of Rapture). (( Salvaging Human Waste as fertilizer -- Bet you never thought you would be doing THAT in a game, did you ??? ))
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Milk Crates Seen All Over Paupers Drop :
Milk isn't something you see shipped by boat across the ocean, because it goes bad quite fast. The presence of so many crates labeled 'Milk' implies that there had been a local supply, and likely more than as just a luxury for rich people. You also saw all those 'Cheeses' for sale ( Farmers Market and 'ads' elsewhere ) which are usually milk based. So there would have to be Dairy Cows ( not diary - tho some proud farmer may have made a recording of Ole Bessy ... ) present in sufficient numbers, and the feed necessary to keep them producing ( which then also means at least some 'veal' could be on the menu in the better restaurants ). Other types of animals can also produce milk - like goats. Pseudo Milks can also be produced -of varying quality.
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Bags of Manure (Lots of them) Seen in Arcadia :
That means the presence of farm animals somewhere in Rapture to produce it ( it is hardly something to smuggle in ). Meat prices likely would be elevated enough to justify smuggled-in SOME quality meat from The Surface ( though how fresh would that have been after more than a week in a freighter/sub ?? ) SO Meat is still worthwhile to produce ( people get sick of fish/kelp ). But then, Rapture also had low end markets - Thus that "Beef-E" artificial meat ( How good did Soybeans grow in Rapture ) ??
I myself would have had a separate 'soil making' area for Arcadia, instead of dumping all that fertilizer directly into the Park's plants ( and into its confined airspace ). Perhaps Arcadia might have had twice as many customers if they had someone who 'knew what they were doing' in charge. ( Maybe horticulturist and level designer skills just don't overlap that much ). The crazy Saturnine may have been in charge there too.
Bags of Manure as Money ? ( Joke from Woody Allen's movie Banana's )
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How many Tons of Soil Do You Think They Imported from the Surface ? :
Soil/Dirt used/needed in some Farms to grow food ( versus none for Hydroponics ), and some as production materials and for decorative environments (like Arcadia), and potted plants, etc ... How much decorative rock was imported ( which was different looking from the plain igneous rocks immediately around the volcano where Rapture was located ).
Later 'Self-Sufficiency' projects would need to get additional material from the Sea like Kelp. Figure that all the newsprint probably is not all made from wood (?) and the fibers used are extracted from the Kelp, and the material is used for other things with the leavings becoming Mulch/Fertilizer. Garbage recycling would be more common than in the 1950s-1960s Surface because of the greater cost of new materials.
Like Sinclair Metals, recycling sounds like a business opportunity for some entrepreneurs. Same for 'fertilizer' production -- 'MacGyver Mulch' or 'Fred's Fine Fertilizer' or 'Krupp's Kelp Farm' or 'Nevilles Newsprint' or 'Greeble's Good Garbage, Recycling, Inc.'
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SO, that already flawed Novel sub-story of the fatal garbage war ( used to decry the awfulness of unregulated business in Rapture ) further doesn't make sense : Somebody would be BUYING all the quantities of Garbage and picking it up as a valuable byproduct. Even if the novel author understood and could better project what Rapture WOULD NEED TO BE, it then interfered with continuing the clumsy smearing of Objectivism the game had done.
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So You (Fontaine) Are Gonna Smuggle Beef Into Rapture ? RIGHT.... 
Seriously, how large a freezing compartment do you have in your fishing sub ? ( Ones better than the teeny subs seen in-game - at Smugglers Hideout ). It takes a week to transport(Smuggle) Contraband from any topside source, so you (the buyer) WILL be getting Freezer Burnt meat anyway. So Beef Smuggling : Not so Much ( not much profit ).
This would be discounting any 'Beef' grown in Rapture, which could be a viable food possibility ( I doubt Ryan would have expected Rapture to have to eat Fish Burgers, Kelp Salami, and some few fruits/vegetables forever. ) Rapture grown Beef probably will still be expensive ( requiring quantities of grass/grain/etc to feed them is a significant cost - as is time ). 
Fresh chicken ( much faster growing with less feed required per pound of edible meat ) would be much more common - AS IT IS in our World. 
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Franken-Trees :
ADAM-improved (accelerated growth) Wood Production ( Mentioned in Arcadia by Dr Langford )
Also a source of Oxygen replenishment ( though other smaller plants can be MANY times as efficient 'CO2' -> 'O2' converters )
Wood has a multitude of uses ( wood resins and other chemicals too ) - an important raw material.
Edibles - Fruit Trees ( and some leaf types ... )
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The Meat Problem in Rapture :
You might practically only be able to get through Smuggle the better cuts of meat and other high-priced luxury type stuff. For just about anything else this 'smuggled' method is a bit too expensive to feed very many people with meat, no ? ). 
Rapture WOULD have Farms ( plants for Grains - the BULK of foodstuffs ) so you can also have farm animals large and small ( fed on Grain and Silage ).
'Potted meat' is just canned meat, which can be 'lesser cuts', and often stuff a little better than what you grind up to turn into hotdogs/sausage/catfood. It can also be minced/puree'd too.
Enter "Beef-E" :
With all the vagaries of the game, this product may have originated years after Rapture's founding and possibly was offered after someone started (whenever) to bring beef animals into Rapture for local raising ( and made them cheaper - enough to sell real meat products to more people ). 
So it is possibly 'Beef-E' WAS Rapture produced Beef -- with THIS product using the lesser grades of it. ( We saw TV dinners also implying some kind of meat and their cliche ground-rubber-band meat is well known ).
Chickens, Rabbits, Goats, Pigs ... they generally have a higher Meat-to-Feed production ratio than Beef, making them cheaper to produce, and with smaller animals being more manageable. For people sick of seafood, they all would be accepted. 
"Potted Meat" is often spiced and ground up thoroughly to make less obvious the low grade of meat (and byproducts) used, and can be from just about any animal ( and maybe with added fillers like soybean added ).
Having oxygen generated from plants in Rapture would allow for plenty of vegetation to become animal food ( grains grown for humans, which also leaves the rest of the plant for silage ). Artificial light for growing would not be terribly hard (with cheap/abundant Geothermal power and heat). Machines and hydroponic methods could be used to reduce labor costs in the 'closer to Surface' farming levels. BTW - Fishing has its own significant difficulties/costs, and fish farms might be more optimal for much of such food production ( again utilizing Rapture produced grain to feed the fish ). Grain for carbohydrates(food) is always the 'staple' when less meat protein is available than in normal surface-world urban places ( beans, vegetables, fruits to be grown, etc ... milk products ... )
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Synthetic 'Foods' Based on Yeast
NOT soy beans, as if you can grow those you can grow corn/grass based grains as easily
Just the memory of the taste of Vegemite ( the Australian equivalent of Peanut Butter made from Brewers Yeast ) is enough to give one shudders.
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Fungii as a Food Source
Do most people know that most popular Mushrooms they eat are grown in Manure ???
TASTES LIKE CHICKEN !!!! -- No, It Doesn't...
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Soil Regeneration :
"Rye Grass" is a nitrogen fixative/fixer ( used to fix 'soil' for other crops ). This could be used for certain crops which did better with actual 'soil' ( rather than hydroponic growing ). The Grass can also be used as Feed for farm animals and mulching.
Chemical additives (fertilizers) would be used until the supplies were cut off, when locally sustainable organic methods might need to be substituted.
So expect alot of 'Rye' Whiskey in Rapture. ( The grass isn't the same as used in normal 'Rye', but can still be used to make Booze ).
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Riding Horses in the Farms ( Ideas are getting Cliche - 'Red Dead Splicer' ... ) :
* Are there any horses left ?? ( in degenerated areas they would have eaten all of them...)
* But if a Player comes up with a set of proper horse movement bone animations ...... ( answer - Vita-Chambers !!! the Holo-Deck of BioShock ).
* Those outlying communities from Rapture which had cut themselves off when 'The Troubles' started ... Might still ... Those farm tunnel networks were quite large/extensive - horses would have been useful - just like golf-carts ( same in the 'suburb' communities outside Rapture ).
* A bit too short a period for 'inbreeding' to occur with these 'cut off' people ( so ventures into the 'rural' areas should be more like 'Southern Comfort' rather than 'Deliverance' ... )
* Player gets to see some normal folk for once ( and possibly also provincial weirdness - though it is only been about 12 years of isolation ... )
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Whale Ranching ?? :
A "Get Rich Quick" scheme which didn't quite work. ( Related in some 'found' correspondence ... ) Wondrous claims (by a 'promoter) were made, but didn't pan out.
Some rich retiree investors lost most of their money when the shady/unrealistic venture went bankrupt. ( How are 'bankruptcies' handled in Rapture when there are allegedly 'No Laws' -- which was just bunk/hack storytelling ).
"This guy named Ahab put me onto this" - "It is gonna be the next huge industry after ADAM - It is gonna make Millions ..."
Actually, how many decades ago, ( in Popular Science ? ) they mentioned 'milking whales' -- Yes an actual 'idea' (( But then they promised us 'Hover Cars' way back in the 1950's ... didn't they ? ))
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Soils for Raptures Farms : 
As for soils, their nutrients commonly need to be replenished, as the plants absorb them and the end-product goes out the city's sewers ( recycling potential there -- by Sinclair no doubt ). Nitrate fertilizers can be chemically manufactured ( Langford's Agricultural School would have information about required Trace Elements ... ).
A balance of chemicals ... Alot of the farming in Rapture would be done Hydroponically, but with New Rapture falling back to less complicated methods, that would be supplemented with good ole dirt and sewage waste.
An issue with Sewage use for agricultural fertilizer is it becomes a Disease Vector.
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Potatoes Grown In Rapture - IN New Rapture Potato Chips Return :
One of the more resilient crops that could grow reasonably well in many bad/poor situations/environments ... ( Splicers needed all the help they could get with growing anything -- ever see 'Water World' - a reason you see jars of dirt throughout your adventuring in Rapture ).
Frying oil is a little harder to come by ( fish oil is pretty yucky for this purpose ) ... Farm production of vegetable based oils continued.
"Capt Salty's Chips" never quite stopped production, even during 'The Chaos', and became a popular trading commodity between some of the City's Factions.
Used also to make Potato Batteries to power those commonplace/run-of-the-mill Bioluminescent lights.
Real World, You can actually live off of little more than Potatoes, compared to other foods, and you can also make Booze from it.
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EVEplant :
* EVEplants are a source of EVE independent of the lab/Fontaine's/Sinclair's production - a workable source but only for those who can cultivate and protect the plants.
* A fairly ordinary bush-like plant with blue orbs ( which take a reasonable amount of light/warmth to grow ). EVE extraction/refining is a fairly simple process and simply eating the 'orbs' can impart a smaller amount of EVE into a Splicers body.
* Splicers regenerate damage much faster when they have EVE in their systems, which makes maintaining a supply important to them ( besides the usual powering of Plasmids ). But EVE slowly is destroyed in the body system or used up by other actions, so a smart Splicer has a EVE stash left/kept unused.
* The EVEplant is a product of an old project to generate EVE using genetically altered plants.
* These 'EVEplants' are now a common supply of EVE, and are seen to grow in various parts of Rapture ( and even to be cultivated by Splicer factions ).
* Citizens are commissioned to seize all such plants they find, and to turn them in for an Official City Bounty ( EVE IS still used in some of Tenenbaum's Clinic's procedures ).
* Mini-Game -- EVE-Plant farming and the Splicer's barter economy ( EVE as a currency ).
* EVEPlants - seem to be everywhere now in the Ruins ( old Plasmids still work as long as you have EVE to power them )
* Trading EVE to Splicers is a punishable offense ( but alot of THAT still goes on ).
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== Farming in Rapture : ==
Farming History in Rapture :
* Large number of Farms were required to make Rapture 'Self-Sufficient'. Automation and mechanization would be used to improve the productivity of 'farmers'. 2% of the population (assume ~40000) would be >800 farmers ( and probably a higher percentage needed due to being less efficient than typical modern US yields ).
* City Recycling systems were closely tied to farm operations ( fertilizer from sewage/seaweed, 'CO2' from city air and industrial output ).
* Outlying large farms near Rapture's satellite communities ( some specializing in farming and away from the 'distracting' city environment ).
* Farms ran thru the period of 'Chaos' - many kept producing foodstuffs, others just growing Wild, untended, many destroyed.
* Ryan kept supporting the farmers as long as he could, as he knew that many Rapturians would soon starve without them.
* Sofia Lamb put many of her mind-numbed subjects to work as farm laborers which counted for a large proportion of the population because of the inefficiency of her collectivist-style society system ( top down decision making and lack of individual incentive ). With failing technology to maintain the original semi-automatic hydroponic systems, growing food required far more manual labor.
** Lamb would have 'put to farm work' the people 'under her thumb' - to keep the 'family' lower orders occupied. Forcing many people to work ( likely many non-splicers ) to make sure she and her controlling minions ( some being Splicers ) had plenty to eat.
** When Lamb's regime ended, these farms probably still operated, and by the time of the MMORPG yet exist - either 'under the thumb' of other petty Splicer tyrants, or closed themselves off and have survived as long as their infrastructure held up.
* More than a few Farms in the 'Wilds' are still operating feeding Splicer factions ( mostly run by those who didn't splice too much or became less insane ) - the humble potato is the most common crop ... MMORPG Players will run into more than a few 'Farm' locations out there.
* Many of the farming communities (non-Splicers) isolated themselves from the 'civil war' and from the depredations of Sofia Lamb and other miscreants, with numerous independent farms still existing and producing food in all the many isolated/uncontrolled areas. These people would probably welcome reconnecting with the 'New' Rapture.
* Many laborers are needed for food production, as any automation systems failed because no one could do the maintenance or knew how to run them properly - skill loss. The New City is working on bringing up the efficiency by repairing the machines and teaching the skills and offering incentives to Citizens to improve productivity and diversity of products.
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Research Developments to Adapt Farming to Rapture :
* Ryan had his people scour the world looking for usable variations/hybrids of crops/animals.
* Mechanization and automatic environment control ( overcoming the ocean cold and darkness ).
* Accelerated growth plants that can use more nutrients and light and 'CO2' concentrations.
* Later period - ADAM genetic mutations developed for dwarf, rapid growth, higher yields variations.
* Advanced hydroponic techniques with lights, nutrient combinations, etc...
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Basic Farming Styles/Mechanisms :
* Dirt farming - easier to mechanize but with a limited growth surface in the space - requires alot of 'acreage'. ( ie- in small caverns/Tunnels )
* Hydroponic farming - much greater density of growing area ( can be stacked and done in a building/factory environment )
* Garden plots/window-boxes
* Animal Husbandry - raising animals largely using the products of the plant farming methods.
* Oxygen Farming (and air cleaning) - 'Frankentrees' and a few other specialized plants can be grown producing 'Oxygen' which the City or an industry pays for.
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Farm Types :
* Tree Farm to produce wood, were genetically altered for faster growth/production.
* 'Frankentrees' used to convert 'CO2' to 'O2' for city air system ( byproduct wood pulp used for paper and other products ). Perhaps more a rapid growth type more than Oxygen Generation use ?? ( Grass 'per volume' is more productive than trees for that purpose. )
* Food Production - vegetables, fruits, grain
* Pharmaceutical Products
** EVE-Plants
* Fish Farms - Fish grown inside Rapture ( versus Fisheries that catch fish outside in the sea ). Why chase them thru the ocean when you can grow them at home.
* Shellfish Farm - ie- Mussels/Clams
* Seaweed Farms - one of the mainstays of the city food production. More than a few useful products can be made from the many varieties ( including fertilizers for farming ).
* Farm Animals - Rabbits, Chickens, Goats, mutant Cows
* Fiber Crops for Clothing, etc ...
* Mushrooms ( no light requirement, but warmth, humidity ... )
* Decoratives ( Flowers, Greenery, etc ... )
* Herbs/Spices
* Feed-Plants for Livestock ( sometimes/usually a byproduct of other crops - grains and silage )
* Parks are operated similarly to Farms - similar requirements to maintain them, but human accessible/presentable.
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Details About Actual Farming Components :
* Farm Location - large surface areas/volume required for mass farming techniques.
* Insulation - need to maintain regular temperatures much higher than cold rock ( which has temperature of nearby ocean water ). Lowers heating requirements.
* Lights - grow lights - arc-lamps as an alternative to bulbs - Sufficient artificial sunlight IS required for greenery to grow. Constantly on lighting accelerate plant growth.
* Air circulating fans and vents - movement of Air in Rapture - 'CO2' needed by farms - used air is circulated thru and renewed.
* Fresh Water. Because of the virtually closed system much of the water may be reused from local condensation.
* Temperature control - heating/cooling/regulating/humidity for different crop type's optimal environments. Controlled climate allows year-round growing of crops.
* Nutrients/fertilizer - Sewage processing into Fertilizer for the new farms, Fishgut fertilizer again to be collected.
* Seeds - supplied by existing farms or gathered from wild sites inside city. Some seed storage facilities did exist from the Pre-'civil war' days. Some new seeds may be brought in from the surface. The City Farming Exchange have many varieties of seeds available for new farming projects.
* Hydroponics - Pumps, tanks, racks, tubing, valves, fluids, filters
* Labor - some farming machinery is still operational/repairable, but alot of work is still done by hand.
* Skills and training (scientific farming can boost yields by many times when done correctly)
** Get assistance by Farming skill experts ( as well as develop them yourself ) ....botanical research....
** The City offers skill training for this important resource
* Cats for vermin control ( a bunch of these no doubt survived at the many isolated 'farms' )
* Bees and Earthworms both 'natural' components very useful to agriculture.
* Mulch-piles/compost digestors - recycling farming waste ( methane control is a safety concern ) - might actually be a 'industry' to FARM Methane ( used for fuels and industrial processes ) ...
* Pesticides - even with all the precautions, pests managed to get into Rapture and still require countermeasures.
* Beware of using ADAM to mutate trees or you might wind up with something like those Unfriendly Apple Trees seen in of the Wizard of Oz.
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Typical Small Farmstead That Fed Rapture :
* The larger a rock cavern is, the more likely it will be structurally unstable and require extra (costly) reinforcement. Smaller-sized artificial Tunnels are generally more stable/self-supporting.
* The greater the distance from a light the weaker the light intensity ( and all these farms use artificial lights ).
* Solution - Farm's growing space in Tunnels - Hydroponic high-density methods used for the majority of farming. ( Though with all the space now available in 'the City' Post-Chaos, stripped out buildings can also be used ).
* Reflector surfaces can increase light intensity on growing surfaces ( metal foils used on inside edge of 'insulation panels ).
* Heated by the same Geothermal sources which heats the rest of the city. Electric 'grow-lamps' mostly used ( Fluorescent type lamps https://ourgardenworks.com/do-plants-need-uv-light/ ).
* No special raw material resource needed for a 'farm' at a location (except solid rock) so most could be located close to the City. Convenient transportation is preferred.
* Tunnels/Chambers can be stacked '3D', so can pack alot of growing space into a given volume.
* Unoccupied High-rises can be used as 'farms' as long as the environment and utilities are stable.
* Many Splicers have their little 'gardens' out in the 'Wild'. Various factions have larger ones.
* Some 'Dwarf' plants were arranged to be selected/imported/developed for easier use in this type of 'Farming'.
* Fertilizer Nutrients from various sources ( city sewage, chemical plants, seaweed mulch, etc ... )
* 'CO2' laden air routed from the City ( and sometimes simple industrial exhaust - thus clusters of farms around some outlying industrial sites ). Some farms burn farm waste to produce 'CO2' if needed.
* Automation, Machinery and Productivity. Post-Chaos, the Hydroponics systems can be restored/salvaged/repaired.
* Potatoes - which can grow in fairly miserable conditions - HEY now the citizens of Rapture can have Fish-N-Chips to get thoroughly sick of. With hundreds or thousands of kinds of potatoes grown around the World, I could see some enterprising farmers sending away for many kinds ( in Rapture's early days when imports of useful items were still being made ) to see which ones grew best in the less than optimal environs of Rapture.
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Mini-Game - Your Farm - setup and operate a farm to feed New Rapture ( with something other than fish and seaweed ) :
* Farming mini-game for 'managing' a Player run Farm ( another mini-game would be for a farm 'job' quest )
* The 'Farm' mini-game I've mentioned elsewhere ( Tablet Interface compatible ) would have a one-to-one representation in the game world ( where those cute icons will represent rows of plants/machines/animals/etc ... in the game world. )
* Growing Crops (farm games existed LOOONG before Farmville) to sell is the goal.
* Tending animal - beware the mutant cows(now who was stupid to ... ) and flamethrowing chickens, thieving Splicers ...
** Grow crops to feed animals (grain = $ real meat = $$$$)
** Finding new livestock - They didn't all freeze or starve to death when many areas fell into ruin
** Fences ( wandering animals damage crops and wind up on someone else's dinner plate )
** Farmville never had cows that shoot lightning and fireballs out of their... who's bright idea was it to inject cows with ADAM ?
** There always has to be a 'secret cow level'.
* Progressive (long term) development of the Farm ( it is not a single-sitting game ) 
* Manage your farm - keep it running.
* Add (buy) more lights to improve growing environment, better controls, fancy watering rigs :
** Get those electric hookups done for your proposed farm ( the heat conduits and air vents too ).
** Electric Greenhouses take alot of lightbulbs - arc lamps, an old simple technology.
** Hydroponics, for those who like laying pipe ...
* Landscaping materials would have to be brought in for 'dirt' farming :
** Sea-bottom mud/sand is suitable for 'earth' to plant things in and fertilizers are already in production for farming.
* Hire more NPCs to tend your crops ( manage their activities and hire workers with needed/higher skills )
* Add new crop types ( get new seeds to grow a few plants, then with multiplying quantities to grow more for later crops )
** Numerous plants of many varieties can still be found growing in places in 'the wild' as well as in the city.
* Bring in/process fertilizer ( mulched from the inedible seaweed/fishguts/sewage ) to improve your farms soil.
* Keep the vermin away (who try to eat your crops) - countermeasures cats/Flybots/traps/shotgun.
* Skills to develop to increase and expand your farms efficiency ( decide to put resources into research to improve techniques ). Grow more difficult/valuable crops.
* Dirt-farm crop rotations ( grow legumes to rebuild your soil - peanuts are popular ).
* Buy more Equipment/Machinery to expand and improve yields ( mechanization - a machine can do the work of dozens of men ).
* Market your production ( contracts with the City, brokers, booth at the 'Farmers Market' etc ... )
** Highest demand foods generate highest selling prices - picking your crops to match demand...
** Fast crop turnover with the accelerated growth.
* Bees - mutant and otherwise (some crops cannot be grown without them)
* A small farm today can grow into a major operation - everyone wants food and 'better' food even more.
* For those who don't like tedium ( more than a few minutes attention a week ), the Player doesn't have to micro-manage their farm, but wont get the full potential. NPCs can run your farm for you with 'average' results
* Building a 'Farm' is a civic achievement project ( Prestige for your actively supporting the city ).
** Establish a productive Farm ( increasing/diversifying city food supply, meeting the minimum size requirement )
** "Achieved" after first adequate harvest ( a fixed production quota - typical goal is feeding 20 other people )
** Can be run by someone else later ( not everyone is a 'farmer' )
** Important products other than food can be grown.
** Farming can include aqua-farming ( fish farms, coral, shellfish, seaweed farming, Sea Slugs ... )
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Ceres Green (Raptures Major Center of Agricultural ) :
* The Central Farming District (near Arcadia) with its extensive underground ( miles of Tunnels/Caverns ) farms/vineyards.
* The City is gradually restoring this half wrecked district to productivity.
* Also is home of the primary 'FrankenTree' Plantations used to recycle some of Rapture's Oxygen.
* Numerous 'jobs' are available to Players (and NPCs) who need the CASH or want to expand their farming skills.
* Related industries are also located nearby
* food processing plants, canneries, Produce distributors.
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"You Can Be A Farmer" - New Rapture Mission/Quests to Rebuilt/Recover/Reactivate 
Have your 'farm' dug, and start growing (MMORPG Player activity) 
* How to keep people from stealing your produce - TRAPS !!!
* Tunnels used for Rapture's 'Farms' ( use of the Plasma Cutting technology to build them cheaply - definitely used the submarine-style 'cheap' doors )
* Businesses selling/repairing farming equipment and supplies
* Business - selling excess produce to buyers who sell on to consumers (middlemen) - Canners
* Restaurants growing their own food ( can hire expertise for harder to grow varieties )
* Dried foods ( when jars are sold at a premium and 'canning' isn't much possible any more )
"Hey Mac, Want some Rat Jerky? - 1 R$ per piece" ( "Rodent Farming for Dummies" )
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Back to the Farm :
Parallel development to the 'Suburbanization' of Rapture. Farms as a business niche. Entrepreneurs selling 'Farms' to people getting tired of Citylife ( 'bought the farm' wasn't ONLY a euphemism for dying ... )
Tunnel-technology ("Ryan Cutters") efficiently fracturing rock with intense heat/temperature differentials ( cutting the cost of building the large volume/space farms required ). Certain areas in Rapture had the right kind/formations of seabed rock - solid volcanic lava flows from the old volcano ... Large continuous beds of rock ( at the right depth ) to build a network of tunnels and small caverns. Tunnels largely being self-supporting, requiring minimal structural additions and expense (mainly water sealing).
Mirrored interior surfaces make it look bigger ( good efficient electric lighting ). Heated using Rapture's standard hot water network originating in the Southern Geothermal fields (Hephaestus, etc..)
Excess Oxygen - requiring techniques to generate/bring in Carbon Dioxide for continued plant growth ( possibly pairing it with some industry which generates 'CO2', or (profitably) tying into the Cities air circulation system ).
Meanwhile, back at the Ranch ... - Animals raised also - a secondary operation to provide the vegetation food they would eat ( cut out the middleman ). Animals are CO2 producers, and 'O2' consumers.
Fish farms fed with farm produced grains, etc ... ( They also consume oxygen ). Algae recycling methods would be more efficient than terrestrial plants ( given cheap power and heat ).
SELF SUFFICIENCY - needed for the MMORPG story to help account for more people Surviving til the game's time.
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Sea Farming Products - "Pass the Kelp" :
Kelp Tea is good for you - It prevents scurvy ( the right kind does anyway ). There are many different types of Kelp - selective types for sophisticated tastes ( and ones that can be grown in Raptures environs ... ) ? It is a raw material which can be made into a variety of products with all kinds of uses :
* Fertilizer for Agriculture ( and burned for 'CO2' for growing crops ).
* Food Additives ( bet you didn't know they put kelp extracts in some of your ice cream products )
* Fiber made into paper ( "Civilization ends when the Toilet Paper runs out" ... )
* Various efforts by ( Ryan's Surface Organization ) would be made to bring useful varieties of Kelp and other sea plants to Rapture to see what would grow ( similar to Rapture Agriculture in general - actually planned before Rapture was built ).
Needed one of more prominent Marine Biologists to have been employed by Ryan Industries. They possibly never came to Rapture, as most of the work required would/should be done outside - across the World's oceans ( organized by Ryan's Global Industrial Organization, which continued to exist even after his 'death' ).
Kelp needs sunlight (or artificial light), and does not grow as well in Cold ocean water ( possible/most-likely use of heat from Hephaestus ). If it is to be 'harvested' from the open ocean then some ( similar to 'fishing' ) long range subs are required.
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Farmville in New Rapture :
'Send your friend a Sheep' or Ask them to let you borrow their Flybot Auto-Farmer ... 'Social Game' interactions type Mini-Games. All the usual pretty decorative trash to make it look like something is actually there. The bottom line is : How much real Food and other viable products you can produce for the City. ( Gives Player something to do while they are at work on their handheld Smart Phone ... )
Tend your 'Slime Crop' and Plant your 'Taters' ... The mutant giant rats are growing nicely this year.
The EvePlants are coming along nicely this month, should be a good harvest ....
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Sofia's Farms :
The MMORPG could have created Flashbacks showing how Sofia Lamb operated the farms she would needed to feed The Rapture Family. It would show more of what life was like under Sofia's collectivist regime. It would also demonstrate the problems of using people where decisions are mandated from the top down largely to maintain social control.
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