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Imagine a future where all farming is done by machine, and humans never set foot in the fields.
No, it’s not science fiction. In Shropshire in the UK, engineers in the Hands Free Hectare project are developing automated tractors and fleets of drones to grow and harvest crops.
And their experiment is not alone: agricultural robotics is a booming sector. Investment bank Goldman Sachs estimates the market will be worth $240bn over the next five years.
One reason why the sector is on the up is that global demand for food is rapidly increasing. The World Bank estimates we will need to produce 50% more food by 2050 if the planet’s population continues to grow at its current speed. Add to this to the forecast that yields will decrease by over a quarter due to climate change, and the situation looks serious.
Could futuristic farming provide the answer?
One company in Japan believes so. The firm Spread has dispensed with farming on land altogether, and instead grows vegetables on stacks of trays indoors in an automated factory.
"In countries like Japan, where land is actually a very scarce resource, it makes more sense to stack your production, just like a skyscraper," says JJ Price, Spread's global marketing manager.
Mr Price told the BBC that this method of vertical farming not only reduces costs by 50%, but it is also greener. LED lights cut energy bills by a third, and 98% of water can be recycled. By growing crops close to where people consume them, transport costs and emissions are also minimised, he says. They hope to be producing 30,000 lettuces per day next year.
And where will we buy this futuristic food? Perhaps in shops with no staff? Amazon has recently launched its first Amazon Go store in the US, which has no checkouts. Customers simply pick their items from the shelves, and technology does the rest.
All this begs the question: if everything is automated, what jobs will people do? The mechanisation of farming means fewer and fewer people work the land. From 1950 to 2010, agricultural labourers have decreased from 81% to 48.2% of the workforce in developing countries, and from 35% to 4.2% in developed countries, according to the International Labour Organization. It’s a trend that looks set to continue.
词汇表
to set foot (in) 去（某处）
automated 自动化的
fleet 舰队、船队
robotics 机器人技术
sector 行业，领域
on the up 蒸蒸日上的，稳步上升的
forecast （对形势的）预测
yield （农作物的）产量，常作复数
to dispense with 免去，不再使用
stack 叠
LED lights 发光二极管照明技术
emission （气、热、光等）排放物
checkout 收银处，付款台
to beg the question 引人发问
mechanisation 机械化
workforce 劳动人口