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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe 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
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.
shraby
(21,946 posts)Agnosticsherbet
(11,619 posts)Mendocino
(7,431 posts)cheap produce.... yea! Praise the Lord!!!
Agnosticsherbet
(11,619 posts)Maybe his name was Lord.
Liberty Belle
(9,528 posts)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)that migrants don't wash their hands, rather than that growers fertilize their crops with human waste?
Human101948
(3,457 posts)"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)[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....
longship
(40,416 posts)With tongue planted firmly in cheek.
Shankapotomus
(4,840 posts)Just plug it in, add water, nutrients and seed pods.
GreatGazoo
(3,937 posts)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:
Katashi_itto
(10,175 posts)Logical
(22,457 posts)The2ndWheel
(7,947 posts)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.