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Recursion

(56,582 posts)
Fri Jan 29, 2016, 02:22 AM Jan 2016

The world's first robot-run farm will harvest 30,000 heads of lettuce daily

Interesting stuff.

http://www.techinsider.io/spreads-robot-farm-will-open-soon-2016-1

The Vegetable Factory follows the growing agricultural trend of vertical farming, where farmers grow crops indoors without natural sunlight. Instead, they rely on LED light and grow crops on racks that stack on top of each other.

In addition to increasing production and reducing waste, indoor vertical farming also eliminates runoff from pesticides and herbicides — chemicals used in traditional outdoor farming that can be harmful to the environment.

The new farm, set to open in 2017, will be an upgrade to Spread's existing indoor farm, the Kameoka Plant. That farm currently produces about 21,000 heads of lettuce per day with help from a small staff of humans. Spread's new automation technology will not only produce more lettuce, it will also reduce labor costs by 50%, cut energy use by 30%, and recycle 98% of water needed to grow the crops.

The resulting increase in revenue and resources could cut costs for consumers, Price says.
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The world's first robot-run farm will harvest 30,000 heads of lettuce daily (Original Post) Recursion Jan 2016 OP
That would be a great way to put our empty malls to good use. shraby Jan 2016 #1
When work becomes obsolete, at least we will have lettuce. nt Agnosticsherbet Jan 2016 #2
Lettuce rejoice! Mendocino Jan 2016 #3
Praise The engineer... Agnosticsherbet Jan 2016 #14
The bad and good news.... Liberty Belle Jan 2016 #4
So you are implying Mendocino Jan 2016 #7
Biolsolids are probably not the source of the problems... Human101948 Jan 2016 #8
Okay, lettuce is good. silverweb Jan 2016 #5
Where this is leading. longship Jan 2016 #6
Aerogarden already makes mini in-home "robot farms" Shankapotomus Jan 2016 #9
On a per calorie basis, a very inefficient way to produce food. GreatGazoo Jan 2016 #10
OMG It's Grey Garden Farm from Fallout 4 !!! Katashi_itto Jan 2016 #11
You can't nor you should stop progress. Nt Logical Jan 2016 #12
Which one is it? The2ndWheel Jan 2016 #13
Better make sure your kids learn robot maintenance, as these will be the only jobs available. Pisces Jan 2016 #15

Liberty Belle

(9,528 posts)
4. The bad and good news....
Fri Jan 29, 2016, 03:11 AM
Jan 2016

Bad news is this will take away many farm workers' jobs if it catches on.

Only good news (besides saving money for agribusiness) is I supposed we'd see less E-coli contamination of the food we eat, if human hands don't harvest the crops.

Mendocino

(7,431 posts)
7. So you are implying
Fri Jan 29, 2016, 03:48 AM
Jan 2016

that migrants don't wash their hands, rather than that growers fertilize their crops with human waste?

 

Human101948

(3,457 posts)
8. Biolsolids are probably not the source of the problems...
Fri Jan 29, 2016, 08:10 AM
Jan 2016

"We have systemically looked at all kinds of potential hazards," says Ian Pepper, a professor and director of the Environmental Research Laboratory at the University of Arizona who has been studying biosolids for 30 years. "Invariably we've found that the risks are much lower than those suggested by environmental activists."

http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2013/05/07/182010827/is-it-safe-to-use-compost-made-from-treated-human-waste

silverweb

(16,402 posts)
5. Okay, lettuce is good.
Fri Jan 29, 2016, 03:16 AM
Jan 2016

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]Now let's hope they start doing this with spinach and broccoli and carrots and other small, nutritionally dense crops.

I'm setting up to grow a few microgreens, myself. We'll see how it goes....

GreatGazoo

(3,937 posts)
10. On a per calorie basis, a very inefficient way to produce food.
Fri Jan 29, 2016, 09:16 AM
Jan 2016

Many farms use robotics and there is an annual competition in the Netherlands for farm robots, not sure what "first robot run" means -- the CEO is a robot?

Stuff like this seems more promising for countries where lettuce isn't $7 a head:



For nurseries:


For dairy:

The2ndWheel

(7,947 posts)
13. Which one is it?
Fri Jan 29, 2016, 10:30 AM
Jan 2016

One is physical reality, one is subjective morality. Two different things. One cancels out the other.

But I would agree, we are prisoners of history, and slaves to the future.

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