Why haven’t we created machine that produce food from water and sunlight like plants?

Question

Why haven’t we created machine that produce food from water and sunlight like plants?

In: Technology

Answer 1

The problem is that water and CO2(and other nutrients, but the point still stands) can be combined in different ways, which leads to different products.

As an example, both cellulose(plant fibers) and starch are made of glucose chains. The difference is simply the way the individual sugar molecules are linked together.

So we’d need to manipulate the ressources on a molecular level. This *can* be done, but we’d essentially have to build artificial plant cells. And at that point, we might as well just use plants.