Not at all, you need an Anu research to get the tech to build these food plants.
But they are almost not worth it, you spend too much resources to get only +8 food per day. If you would trade the same amount resources as the plant cost for food then you have a break even for over 60 days (after that you can get profit).
Some tips:
You get tech at best at Synedrion heavens, they sell it as cheapest, NJ and Anu are more expensive.
In general:
- Tech from Synedrion
- Food from Anu
- Materials from NJ
- Anu and NJ trades materials for food or vice versa for the same course (4:6).
Do Scavenging sites always with a vehicle. The APCs have also an inventory where your soldiers can drop anything when they are inside of it (cost 0 AP, taking something from the vehicle inventory costs 1 AP). Get a soldier in a vehicle and drop all of his current equipment, drive to a crate, jump out of the vehicle (cost 2AP), get all what is in the crate and jump back into that vehicle (cost 0 AP) and again drop anythig. Assaults with Ready for Action are best for this, because they can also take anything from crates for 0AP, but this also works with any other class as long as you can drive close enough to the crates. Repeat for every crate and this way you not only get all resources but also a bunch of equipment that you can sell or use by your soldiers.
Some personal mentions to the 3 APC:
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The Scarab is a very good damage dealer throughout the whole game, his rockets can easily cripple many enemies. Its downsides are, it is the slowest of all APC, has only 4 shots, one shot costs 3 AP and it is very inaccurate on distance (go closer for good hits).
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The Armadillo is faster, has the most armor and HP and can shot for 2 AP. But his MG has problems with anything that has good armor, even when it has a a good shred value, and you have to go as close as you can to hit.
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The Aspida is very special, lowest armor and HP, but it is also the fastest APC. Its weapon can paralyse enemies pretty easy (40 paralysing) for 2 AP or heal completely one your squaddies or vehicles for 3 AP (inclusive complete limb restoring!). It can also only take 1 passenger, the other two can take 4.
Actually the Aspida is my favourite for scavenging because I can also capture many Pandorans on these mission to make food. I have one Helios with an Aspida, one Technician to additionally remote control the paralysing weapon of the Aspidas and one Assault as a Passenger with an Neurazer to also help paralysing, but mainly to empty the crates. It takes some turns to complete a scavenging site, but for me it is worth it.