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On obsolete vegetable farmers, and robot takeovers.

10/9/2015

6 Comments

 
Picturevegetable farmer - pixabay.com
In the latest news: Robots will be the farmers of the future.

I remember the days of 'back to the earth' lifestyle and growing my own fruit and vegetables in the early seventies.

My vegetable garden in Australia grew abundant bounty—tomatoes, marigolds among herbs, parsley, snow peas, Jerusalem artichokes and carrots. I laid paving slabs as walkways between the plots, and fertilized the soil with chook droppings taken from beneath the hen perch. Several restaurants called in for parsley, which I sold for a meagre amount of cash.

I added other goods for sale in the craft shop—spun wool from our own sheep, knitted jumpers to order, along with patchwork quilts.

People around the world live that same lifestyle, like Amy over at the Vomiting Chicken, who grows wonderful food in her extensive garden, raises chickens and home-schools her youngest child.

Now, a company in Japan is building an indoor lettuce farm that will be completely tended by robots and computers. The company, named Spread (vegetable farm), expects the factory to open in 2017. They say the fully automated farming process could make the lettuce cheaper and better for the environment.

Spread already tends several large indoor farms. The multitude environmental benefits include:

Plants can be grown hydroponically without exhausting soil resources.

Up to 98 percent of the water will be recycled.

The factory won’t have to spray pesticides, since the pests are outdoors.

Artificial lighting means the food supply won’t rely on weather changes.

Lighting can be supplied through renewable energy.

Currently Spread grows about 7.7 million heads of lettuce a year under the name 'Vegetus', and sells them at about the same price as regular lettuce.

Although modern indoor farms to have temperature, humidity, light, and CO2 controlled automatically by a computer, the Japanese company hopes to have the entire process run by robots, from seeding to harvesting.

However, the Wall Street Journal reports that the company is struggling to construct a machine that can plant the seeds, and their process still requires human eyes to determine whether a seedling has sprouted.

Ha. I knew robots could never replace a proper farmer. Mankind's earliest change from hunter-gatherers came when they decided to plant and grow their own food, thereby remaining in a fixed position—the home.

Do you see a future where the farmer is replaced by robots?


6 Comments
Alana link
10/9/2015 03:13:50 am

There seems to be two different things happening to farming in the United States. Traditional farming (my work manager's father is a farmer) is hurting badly and many children who want to take up farming find they can't - cost of equipment vs cost of what they get for their crops. But there are other specialty farmers - including some hydroponic ones, who seem to be doing better. there is a small amount of hydroponic farming taking place (maybe more than I think) in my area of upstate New York right now.

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Amy link
10/9/2015 05:00:36 am

Francene: Robots to help with the more tedious and repetitive aspects of farming certainly makes sense. The big commercial farmers in the Midwest, after all, drive huge tractors that are basically robots. They are fitted with GPS systems which steer the tractors in planting the fields! The farmer hardly needs to be present at all! But there are so many subtleties in growing things where human eyes are needed. Thank you, by the way, my dear friend for the tag!

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Nick #thisyearinmusic link
10/9/2015 06:17:46 am

I can see machines and robots becoming more and more useful in agriculture in the future, but I think someone's been reading the Piano Player a bit too much.

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Carol Cassara link
10/9/2015 07:34:20 am

You find the most interesting news! i hadn't heard about this, but of course, it had to happen. It was inevitable.

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Angel Stew & Devil's Brew link
10/9/2015 12:13:29 pm

No way Francene! Not me! I want the good 'ol sunshine, rain, watering hose, bees, Mother Nature at her finest or worst to provide all of my fruits and veggies. I wouldn't trust something grown like that.. I saw a quote on Facebook and posted it.. "Men in overalls built this country and men in suits have destroyed it." - AMEN!

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Amy Bovaird link
10/9/2015 08:51:39 pm

Hi Francene,
I know that farmers have been struggling for a long time in this country, since my college days. My college roommate's father was a farmer. I think it's great that Japan is trying this out! We'll see how it proceeds. It's good for them because of space issues. Quite interesting!

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    Francene Stanley
    From England, I use news items in my novels which you can see below, all linked to an Amazon near you.

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