Posted on 10/12/2015 6:40:37 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
From the army of machines that work in Amazon warehouses to automatons that milk cows, the job-taking robots of the future are among us. Now the lettuce in your salad of the future might be grown by robots too. Oh, by future, we mean 2017.
Thats the hope of Spread, a company in Kyoto, Japan, that plans to begin constructing the worlds first large-scale lettuce factory next spring. Once its fully operational, the entire process of growing a head of lettucefrom seeding to harvestwill be automated and run by robots. The efficiency of machines will enable the factory to produce 80,000 heads of lettuce per day, or 10 million per year, according to a release from to the company.
That sounds ambitious enough, but Spread plans to expand the scale of production to 500,000 heads of lettuce per day in five years and hopes to move its distribution to international markets.
Spread also seems to have the farming challenges presented by climate change in mind. Indoor farming can help address water and food shortages due to extreme weather events accompanied by the increasing global population, according to the company. Bonus: The new factory will recycle 98 percent of the water it uses.....
(Excerpt) Read more at takepart.com ...
Much food for thought.
If only lettuce had real nutritional value.
“And our children will live, Mr. Beale, to see that perfect world in which there’s no war or famine, oppression or brutality — one vast and ecumenical holding company, for whom all men will work to serve a common profit, in which all men will hold a share of stock, all necessities provided, all anxieties tranquilized, all boredom amused.” - Arthur Jensen (Network)
Robot Farmers of the Future Might Grow 10 Million Heads of NO TASTE Lettuce a Year
There I fixed the headline.
Vitamin K in lettuce.
No need for the illegals, unless their REAL “yob” is to REPLACE the American’t voter.
A whopping 17.4 micrograms per serving. I would rather grow something more useful in that real estate, like something to feed the animals that I will eat in turn.
But...but...but...what’ll happen to all the illegals who are happy to do this work no Americans will?
I guess they’ll have to Move it on up! into IT, where those lazy, overpaid American computer experts can then team up with them through the buddy system and train them as their replacements...if they want their severance package.
Funny with the ecoli outbreaks over the past years no one asked how that human fecal material got on the produce in the first place.
Drive through southern California farmland. You’ll find massive farms being farmed by illegals who fly giant Mexican flags.
Not a port-o’-potty in sight.
Lettuce = Zero Food Value ,it’s all water
I’ll stock up on salad dressings.
I want one to pull weeds.
Anybody remember this?
McCain: Americans’ won’t work for as little as $50/hour picking lettuce (April 4, 2006)
I watched the first video at your link about vertical farming. IMO, it is impractical to use this system to feed the world.
Take wheat for example, we are talking hundreds of thousands of acres in the US alone. Just what kind of multilevel structures will it take to hold that much nutrient enriched whatever to equal that land mass of production? If soil is used in these buildings, where will it come from? If enriched water is used (hydroponics) we are still talking some serious weight.
I really think modern US agriculture is at it’s best. Leave the topsoil where it’s at and get the best use from it in it’s natural state.
JMO.
Hydroponic agriculture is really cool and not nearly as difficult as many make it out to be - mostly requires affordable electricity. This is why I always laugh at the those who say we have too much population to feed. The problem will never be production unless electricity is not available. Anyone who has ever grown food in a greenhouse knows how productive it can be and the aquaponics trend is really cool if you like Talapia. Makes veggies and protein in one system.
Like others have referenced - robotics in agriculture is another major reason our immigration policy (or lack thereof) is so ridiculous. Robotics will take over many blue collar and agricultural jobs sooner than we think - there will be little for the uneducated to do.
I agree with you. It will be interesting what crops are cost effective. I’m trying to picture wheat growing vertically.
In theory, wheat could be grown in sprouting trays - some people feed their chickens grains by doing this. However, wheat farming is so well established and so cheap that there is little motivation to devote indoor growing space to wheat (or spuds or corn). The weight in hydroponics is the water because there is generally little to no soil involved - just a growing medium to hold the root structure.
In his novels, "The Naked Sun" (1955) and "The Robots of Dawn" (1983), Isaac Asimov wrote of robot farmers on tremendously large estates with robots outnumbering humans ten thousand to one.
And unlike the illegals, they won’t crap out in the fields.
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