The Sweet Future of Vertical Farming | Hiroki Koga | TED

譯者: Esther Lam 審譯者: Zoe Walmsley

So here's a strawberry.

這裡有一顆草莓。

But not just any strawberry.

但這可不是一般的草莓。

This one can be up to three times sweeter than a regular one.

這顆草莓的甜度 可是普通草莓的三倍。

Just like the ones I grew up eating in Japan.

就像我在日本長大時吃的那些一樣。

As a child, when I came home and I saw strawberries on the table,

小時候，當我回家看到桌上有草莓時，

it meant we were celebrating something special.

那代表我們正在慶祝甚麼，

Holidays, birthdays, anniversaries.

例如節日、生日、週年紀念日等等。

Strawberries are considered the king of fruits in my culture,

在我的文化裡，草莓被視為水果之王，

and they're never sold just as strawberries,

而且出售時，從來不只是叫做草莓，

they always have their varietal names.

它們總有各自的品種名稱。

Amaou, Benni Hoppe, Tochiotome.

甘王、班尼霍普、栃乙女。

Any Japanese person can name a few.

每個日本人都能說出幾個品種。

Up until now,

直到現在，

these strawberries could only be grown

這些草莓只能在特定的 日本氣候條件下生長。

under very specific Japanese climate conditions.

But today you can grow them anywhere around the world

但今天，你可以透過 我們的垂直農業技術

using our vertical farming technology.

在世界各地種植這些草莓。

By the way, does anyone want to try these strawberries?

在座有誰想嘗試這些草莓嗎？

Yeah?

有嗎？

There you go.

給你。

No fighting over them, we have more.

不用搶，因為我們還有很多。

So today I'm going to try to give it a shot

今天，我會嘗試說服在場的每一位，

and try to convince everyone here

that this technology is no longer some futuristic idea,

這項技術不再是某種未來的構想，

but something that is going to mainstream very quickly,

而是即將迅速普及的現實，

much, much sooner than you'd imagine,

比你們想像的要快得多，

by sharing some of our secrets.

我要通過分享一些我們的秘密來說明。

So how did I get here?

而這一切是如何開始的呢？

I grew up in Japan,

我在日本長大，

I came to the US in 2015 to pursue my MBA.

2015 年來到美國攻讀 MBA。

On the second day of my arrival,

到達美國的第二天，

I went to the local grocery store in California.

我去了加州當地的雜貨店。

I was amazed by the beautiful produce aisle.

我被美麗的蔬果區驚豔到了。

Green, red, yellow paprika side by side,

青椒、紅椒和黃椒並排擺放，

everything was huge and shiny.

每一樣既碩大又閃亮。

The color was incredible.

顏色非常鮮豔，令人難以置信。

But the taste ...

但是味道...

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

I was especially disappointed with strawberries.

尤其是草莓，讓我非常失望。

I thought I was eating a cucumber.

我以為自己在吃黃瓜。

I'm sorry.

抱歉。

I later learned that this is because the US agriculture system

後來我了解到，這是因為 美國的農業系統優化了一切，

had optimized everything towards mass production,

專注於大規模生產， 而不是品質和風味。

as opposed to quality and flavor.

But this was the moment that I immediately realized

但就在那一刻，我立刻意識到

that there's a huge opportunity here

這裡存在巨大的機會……

if I could grow Japanese-quality fruits and vegetables

如果我能在美國的土地上 用垂直農業技術

on US soil using vertical farming technology.

種出日本品質的水果和蔬菜。

But back then, experts told me that vertical farms were expensive

但在當時，專家告訴我， 垂直農場成本高昂，

and they could only grow leafy greens.

而且只能種植葉類蔬菜。

So your lettuces, your kales, your spinaches,

例如生菜、羽衣甘藍、菠菜，

because anything beyond that requires bee pollination.

因為除了這些之外的作物 都需要蜜蜂授粉。

But bees were known not to operate well in a sunless vertical farm environment.

但眾所周知，蜜蜂無法在 沒有陽光的垂直農場環境工作。

But regardless, my partner Brendan and I,

儘管如此，我的合夥人布蘭登和我，

we decided to tackle this problem

決定挑戰這個難題，

and started building our first farm in 2017, with our own hands.

並於 2017 年親手開始 建設我們的第一座農場。

As two non-engineer MBAs,

我們兩個非工程背景的 MBA，

we nearly lost a few fingers just trying to cut PVC pipes.

在切割 PVC 管的時候 差點切斷幾根手指。

Almost electrocuted ourselves a few times.

還有幾次接近坐上電椅的意外。

But we were really determined to solve one of the world's largest problems

但我們非常堅定地要解決

這個世紀人類面臨的最大問題之一：

that mankind is facing this century:

the failing agriculture system.

正在失敗的農業系統。

Extreme weather, lack of water,

極端氣候、缺水、

lack of arable land, heavy use of pesticides,

耕地不足、大量使用農藥、

and just not enough workers to keep up with the growing population.

勞動力不足以應對不斷增長的人口。

All of these things have contributed in the global agriculture production cost.

所有這些問題都對 全球農業生產成本有影響。

Vertical farms can actually solve all of these problems.

而垂直農場可以解決所有這些問題。

We don't use any pesticides,

我們不使用任何農藥，

we can recycle most of the water that we use,

我們可以回收我們 使用過的大部分的水，

we don't even need arable land.

我們甚至不需要農業土地。

In fact, one of our farms used to be a Budweiser factory.

事實上，我們有個農場 曾經是百威啤酒廠。

Imagine if you could turn all beer factories around the world

想像如果能把全世界 所有的啤酒廠變成草莓農場，

into strawberry farms,

we'd be much healthier, right?

那不是健康很多嗎？

Yes? No?

是嗎？不是嗎？

Some people think beer’s healthy.

有些人認為啤酒是健康的。

That's OK.

沒關係。

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

But despite all of these benefits, skeptics still say,

儘管有這些好處，懷疑者仍然說，

well, vertical farms are too costly of a solution.

垂直農場的解決方案太昂貴。

It's not a viable business model.

這不是一個可行的商業模式。

I get it.

我明白。

They're not entirely wrong, right?

他們也不完全錯，對吧？

We are still sort of expensive today,

現在確實還有點貴，

but think about where computers or mobile phones started, right?

但想想電腦或手機 剛開始的時候，對吧？

The real question is, can vertical farms get there

該問的是，垂直農場 可不可以做到同樣的進程？

and can we get there quickly enough?

以及多快可以實現？

What I can tell you

我只能說你們剛才吃的那盒草莓，

is that a pack of our strawberries that you just ate,

they used to go for 50 dollars per pack five years ago.

五年前一盒 50 美元，

Now they're 10 dollars,

現在只要 10 美元，

available in more than 100 grocery stores on the East Coast.

在美國東岸有超過 100 多家超市都買得到。

So we came here in five years.

我們在五年內就做到了。

So you can probably imagine at this pace where we could get to

所以你們或許可以想像， 照這個速度，五年之後的成就。

in another five years.

We might even be cheaper than conventional products.

我們甚至可能比傳統產品還便宜。

But how?

但該怎麼做呢？

How is that even possible?

真的能實現嗎？

Vertical farms look expensive, I hear you.

垂直農場看起來很昂貴， 我知道你們的感受。

The short answer to that question

這個問題的簡短答案是

is that we can innovate so much faster in a vertical farm,

垂直農場的創新更快，

and we can also do things traditional farms simply can't do structurally.

因為我們能做到傳統農場 受限於環境無法做到的事。

For example, in a traditional farm,

例如，傳統農場每年只有一次機會，

you can only experiment once a year:

during the season,

除了等待農產季節的到來， 你還有無法控制的天候。

under climate you have no control over.

At Oishii, we have dozens of grow rooms

Oishii 有幾十個栽種空間，

where we can control every aspect of the environment

我們能控制每一個環節，

包括溫度、濕度、二氧化碳濃度，

from things like temperature, humidity, CO2 levels,

all the way down to even light spectrums and wind speed.

甚至是光譜和風速。

So we can conduct experiments

因此我們能在可控的環境下 更有效率地進行試種。

so much more efficiently in a controlled manner.

And on top of that, we can start these experiments anytime during the year

最重要的是，我們一年到頭 隨時都能開始種植，

because we're not impacted by the outdoor seasonality at all.

因為完全不受戶外季節性的影響。

And using this approach,

通過這種方法，

we were able to go from just a few berries on a plant

原本每株植物上只有少數幾個漿果，

to five times of that in just a matter of five years.

在短短五年內增長到五倍。

If you try to accomplish something like this

如果你試圖在傳統農場做同樣的事，

in a traditional farm where you can only experiment once a year,

而每年只能種一次的情況下，

it could have taken us nearly 500 years to get to the same outcome.

那可能需要近 500 年 才能達到同樣的結果。

And using this hyper-speed experiments,

拜這實驗超快速度所賜， 我們也取得三個重大進展：

we were also able to accomplish three major breakthroughs:

bee pollination,

蜜蜂授粉、人工智慧、和機器人。

AI

and robots.

Let's start with bees.

我們先講蜜蜂。

I know this is everyone's favorite topic.

我知道這是每個人最喜歡的主題。

You need bees to grow most produce,

大多數農作物的種植都需要蜜蜂，

strawberries, tomatoes, melons, peppers, you name it,

草莓、番茄、甜瓜、辣椒等等，

because the bees will pollinate the flowers

因為蜜蜂會對花朵進行授粉，

that then become the product.

然後結成為產品。

But bees, they need the sun and the natural environment to navigate.

但蜜蜂需要太陽和自然環境 才能知道自己所在和飛行。

So in a vertical farm,

所以在垂直的農場，

they wouldn't even come out of the hive.

他們甚至不出蜂巢。

Even if they did, they will "drunk fly" and can't find the flowers.

即使他們飛出來，也會 「醉酒飛」，找不到花。

Just like how drunk humans are completely useless,

就像喝醉酒的人一樣， 毫無無用武之地，

so are drunk bees.

醉酒的蜜蜂也是如此。

They just can't get the job done.

牠們無法工作。

On top of that,

除此之外，

you need somewhere between six to 15 visits by a bee

每朵草莓花需要 6 至 15 次的 蜜蜂駐足，才能完全授粉。

to fully pollinate a strawberry flower.

Anything less or more will result in missed pollination,

過多或過少於這些數字 都會導致授粉失敗，

meaning you won't have product.

也就是說不會結果。

So for these reasons, an average Japanese farm

基於這些原因，

一般傳統的日本農場平均來說，

a traditional farm is said to have a pollination success rate

授粉成功率大約是 百分之 60 到 70 之間，

of somewhere between 60 to 70 percent,

meaning three to four flowers don't even become products.

這意味著三到四朵花不會結果。

In order to solve all of these bee problems,

為了解決所有這些蜜蜂問題，

Brendan and I, we interviewed many, many apiologists, experts.

布倫丹和我，我們採訪了 許許多多的養蜂專家，和其他專家。

We spent so much time in the farm observing the bees ourselves,

我們花了大量時間在農場觀察蜜蜂，

getting stung at times.

甚至有時還被螫傷。

Or ultimately we mapped out every environmental parameter

我們最後將每項環境參數──

of outdoor farms versus our indoor farms

戶外農場的與室內農場的── 逐項進行比較。

and went one by one.

And after two years,

兩年後，

finally figured out the bee recipe.

我們最終找到了蜜蜂的解決方案。

So today we have bees,

所以我們的農場現在有蜜蜂── 清醒的蜜蜂──做授粉工作。

sober bees, in our farms,

doing all the pollination for us.

And what's more,

更重要的是，

with the help of data science and AI,

在數據科學和人工智慧的幫助下，

our pollination success rate is above 95 percent,

我們的授粉成功率超過了 95%，

meaning more than nine flowers out of ten become berries.

這意味著每十朵花中 有高於九成的會結果。

(Applause)

（掌聲）

So we're much more efficient than conventional methods.

所以比起傳統的方法，我們更有效率。

We have these self-driving camera carts

我們有自動駕駛的攝影小車，

that’s taking real=time visual data

能收集農場裡的每株植物的 即時影像數據，

of every single plant in the farm,

which helps us not only to determine yield and plant health information,

那不僅幫我們判斷 植物的產量和健康狀況，

but also how much bee activity is needed that day

還能幫我們決定當天 需要多少蜜蜂去進行授粉。

to help with the bee pollination.

These AI-powered robots can automatically detect only the ripest berries,

這些由人工智慧驅動的機器人 能自動檢測成熟的果實、採摘、

pick them automatically, and they can work 24/7.

還能每週工作七天， 每天 24 小時。

So when data is coupled with AI and robots,

因此，當資料與人工智慧 和機器人結合時，

you can do so many things

你可以做很多在 傳統農場無法做到的事情。

you simply can't in a traditional farm setup.

We even figured out how to extend our plants' lifespan.

我們甚至找到了延長植物壽命的方法，

So our strawberry plants can keep them producing berries 365 days a year,

所以我們的草莓植物一年 365 天都能持續生產，

as opposed to just a couple of months in a traditional farm.

而不像傳統農場那樣只有一兩個月。

This means we're generating four to five times more revenue

這意味著每株植物的 年產量可提高四五倍。

per plant per year.

So here again,

所以，真的，我們的方法比較有效率。

we're significantly more efficient.

So these are all of the reasons why,

而這種種因素就是為什麼，

even though outdoor farming may seem cheaper,

即使戶外農業看似便宜，

because we can innovate so much faster

但我們創新速度快，

and because we can do things and achieve efficiencies,

還能做到傳統農場無法企及的效率，

you possibly can't in a traditional farm,

vertical farms can actually become cheaper than conventional farming,

垂直農業最終可能比傳統農業更便宜，

especially considering how conventional agriculture cost

尤其是當傳統農業的成本 只會愈來愈高。

is only to go up from here.

And guess what?

你知道嗎？

We are already doing this at a massive, massive scale.

我們已經在大規模地進行這項工作了。

This building, which used to be a plastic factory,

這棟曾經是塑膠工廠的大樓，

is now refurbished,

現在已經翻新了，

it's solar powered,

它使用太陽能發電，

we're recycling majority of the water that we use.

我們回收了大部分所使用的水。

This farm is already producing strawberries every single day as we speak.

現在，這個農場 已經每天都在生產草莓。

And this technology can be used to grow

而且這項技術除了草莓 還可以用在許多其他作物上。

so many more things beyond strawberries.

Vertical farming is no longer some fluffy futuristic concept,

垂直農業已經不再是 遙不可及的未來概念，

but it's already here as we speak today,

其實它早就已經開始了，

to change our lives and our planet for the better.

同時也開始讓我們的生活 和地球變得更好。

Imagine if these delicious, pesticide-free,

你能想像嗎？如果這些甜美無毒的、

sustainable strawberries were available at your local supermarket

對生態環境無損的草莓 隨時都能在你附近的超市買到，

every single day, just for a few bucks.

而且只要少少幾塊錢就能買到。

Isn't that a sweeter future?

那不是一個更甜美的未來嗎？

Thank you.

謝謝大家。

(Applause)

（掌聲）