What do Atmospheric Membranes do?

[AIRY]

I got the tech figuring that I would finally be able to make glorious farmland on my arid planet. But then when I try to make farms it says that the terrain is too arid. What is the point of this late game tech if it doesn't let you actually make the farms?

[Starfry]

Check the rain level at where you're building your farms, if its at 0 then there's basically no bio-nutrients in the soil for the farms.