It sounds like the premise for a Monty Python skit: a food supply system that uses container capsules shooting through underground tubes to move food from farms to retail points, and backhaul waste (one imagines whole chickens going one way and picked-over carcasses the other). However, British inventor Noel Hodson is (apparently) not joking.

CNN reported recently on Hodson's Foodtubes Project, which is seeking funding from public and private sources. Foodtubes would eliminate the need for trucks and trains, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and conserving energy. It would also provide a closed loop (literally) waste recycling system that would return organic refuse to farms where it can be used to fertilize fields and/or feed animals.

Sounds like the perfect formula for an underground economy…