Agriculture workers are vital crew members as they are responsible for producing food and maintaining an extremely fragile closed ecosystem.
Assignments
Agriculture is one of the most essential parts of the train, both in size and importance, as its cultures and systems produce a variety of food and materials necessary for the survival of Snowpiercer crew and passengers, and might also serve to scrub carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and produce oxygen. Melanie Caville said to Layton that there are 131 cars "just like this one" while standing in a Greenhouse Car, but it is unknown if she was referring to the whole AG-SEC or only Greenhouse Cars. It is also unclear if Food Processing is part of it, and if all the AGSEC cars are located at the end of the train, between the Tail section and Third Class, or if the different cars are dispatched all along the train to secure the food provisions. However, when the rear of Snowpiercer was detached, to separate 7 cars containing the Jackboot army, the Folgers and their supporters, Robert Folger said “That’s Agriculture and Poultry. We can’t live without that.” Also, one of the Pirate train cars, made from First Class, had a Meat Locker.
Greenhouse Cars are large one-decker cars whose roof is a dome made out of reinforced glass and where crops are farmed on regular cycles using hydroponics, natural and artificial lights:
- Berries (14 cycles/year), including Chili peppers, Grapes, Cherries and Strawberries
- Potatoes (7 cycles/year)
- Cocoa (6 cycles/year)
- Wheat (4 cycles/year)
- Rice (3 cycles/year)
- Sugarcane (2 cycles/year)
- Cotton (2 cycles/year)
- Lettuce, Carrots, Cucumbers and probably other vegetables
- Floridian oranges, Apples, Mangos, Avocados, Bananas, Grapefruits, Olives and probably other fruits
Cattle Cars (Pig Cars, Goat Cars, Poultry Cars, Sheep Cars) are one-decker cars with large windows on one side where animals are bred for their meat, milk, eggs, skin, feathers, methane, and manure... Snowpiercer livestock includes pigs, goat, poultry and sheep. It used to include cows too but an avalanche in the Cascade mountains led to the Cattle Car to be breached and its entire livestock to instantly freeze to death and go extinct seven years after departure.
Aquaculture Cars produces a variety of food and products such as fish and seafood. The water enriched by fish wastes also produces a natural fertilizer used within the hydroponics system. The First Class Aquarium and Sushi Bar Car might have been a high-end version of Aquaculture Cars and was directly under the supervision of Agriculture Officer Dr. Jinju Seong.
This section also includes its own Water Reservoir as stated by Jinju Seong when discussing with Bennett Knox and Melanie Cavill about the consequences of the bovine extinction event. An old Apiary Car was closed down after the bee colony collapsed, three years before the revolution, resulting in bees going extinct. Refrigeration Cars are where the crops and food are conserved after farming and before being processed and dispatched.
AG-SEC systems are intricately intertwined and create an artificial yet fragile ecosystem within the train. After the extinction of bovine cultures, Chief Engineer Melanie Cavill had to think of another way to produce necessary methane the cows used to produce (goat farts). When Agriculture Officer Jinju Seong was tasked with devising a way for equal calories between classes, she angrily noted that lootings of AG-SEC Greenhouse Cars, Refrigeration Cars, and Aquaculture Cars at the end of the civil war led to crops destruction and food shortage.
Throughout the Series
Season 1
- Layton was taken to see one of the greenhouse cars (C0842) by Roche, at the same time Miss Gillies took her students here to learn about the plants.[1]
Season 2
Season 3
- While the train is heading towards New Eden, John Osweiller helps Ag-Sec prepares pickles as a way to preserve food for everyone to eat while Ag-Sec is setting up greenhouses.[2]
- Asha joined the section before she died.[2]
Department Members
- Head Department Jinju Seong
- Sean Wise - (Deceased)
- Jenny
- Asha - (Deceased)
Trivia
- Big Alice might also have Ag-Sec.
- According to Bennett Knox, there are bovine cultures on Big Alice, which means cows could be brought back from extinction if humanity survives at New Eden.
- More power was diverted to Ag-Sec then other cars during the Pirate train’s absence in order to keep the plants and animals alive.