為什么室內(nèi)農(nóng)業(yè)運(yùn)動(dòng)正在興起

為什么室內(nèi)農(nóng)業(yè)運(yùn)動(dòng)正在興起

As the world emerges from a pandemic that has kept about one in five people in their homes for weeks, it's little surprise that the idea of indoor farming is gaining traction. After all, we've had a lot of time to think about what we can do indoors — and maybe even ponder what we may have done outdoors that contributed to this mess.

隨著世界從一場讓五分之一的人在家里待上數(shù)周的大流行中走出來，室內(nèi)種植的想法獲得越來越多的關(guān)注也就不足為奇了。畢竟，我們有很多時(shí)間考慮我們?cè)谑覂?nèi)可以做什么，甚至可能考慮我們?cè)谑彝饪赡茏隽耸裁磳?dǎo)致了這種混亂。

No soil. No sun. No problem. (Photo: Yein Jeon/Shutterstock)

Indoor farming, on the other hand, isn't as land intensive. In fact, new technologies and advancements in hydroponics are making it possible to grow crops without pesticides, soil or even natural light. And since indoor crops can be stacked vertically, there's no need for vast tracts of land. Imagine farms as downtown office towers, offering floor after floor of fresh produce.

另一方面，室內(nèi)種植不需要大量土地。事實(shí)上，新技術(shù)和水培技術(shù)的進(jìn)步使種植農(nóng)作物不使用殺蟲劑、土壤甚至自然光成為可能。由于室內(nèi)作物可以垂直堆放，所以不需要大片土地。把農(nóng)場想象成市中心的辦公大樓，提供一層又一層的新鮮農(nóng)產(chǎn)品。

Farming takes a bite out of wilderness

農(nóng)業(yè)使荒野少了幾分荒涼

At first blush, it may seem like an unlikely partnership. What does an organization dedicated to wilderness preservation have to do with the development of farms? But part of the WWF's mandate is to find ways to reduce the environmental imprint of growing food, especially since vital habitats like forests are often cleared to make space for farmland.

乍一看，這似乎是一種不太可能的合作關(guān)系。一個(gè)致力于荒野保護(hù)的組織與農(nóng)場的發(fā)展有什么關(guān)系?但是，世界自然基金會(huì)的部分任務(wù)是找到減少糧食種植對(duì)環(huán)境的影響的方法，特別是在重要的棲息地，如森林，經(jīng)常被清除，為農(nóng)田騰出空間的情況下。

Advances in hydroponics and technology have made it possible to grow more of our food indoors. (Photo: Yein Jeon/Shutterstock)

But will indoor crops — whether housed in sky-spanning towers or intricate caves — ever fully replace their outdoor counterparts as breadbasket to the world?

但是，室內(nèi)作物——無論是生長在摩天大樓里還是錯(cuò)綜復(fù)雜的洞穴里——是否會(huì)完全取代室外作物，成為世界的糧倉呢?

Probably not. Even vertical farms stacked as high as skyscrapers will eventually run into the same space constraints — unless, of course, we find a way to stack them to the moon. And we're just talking about a perfect vegetarian world here. No one is thinking about confining animals to caves and towers.

可能不會(huì)。即使是像摩天大樓一樣高的垂直農(nóng)場最終也會(huì)遇到同樣的空間限制——當(dāng)然，除非我們找到一種方法把它們堆到月球上去。我們?cè)谶@里談?wù)摰氖且粋€(gè)完美的素食世界。沒有人會(huì)考慮把動(dòng)物關(guān)在洞穴和高塔里。

Besides, we're all relatively new to the trade. After all, humans don't have a lot of experience growing their food indoors like they do with traditional farming.

此外，我們都是這一行的新手。畢竟，人類不像傳統(tǒng)農(nóng)業(yè)那樣有很多在室內(nèi)種植食物的經(jīng)驗(yàn)。

But indoor operations may be able to ease at least some of the pressure industrial farming puts on our sorely overtaxed Earth.

但是，室內(nèi)作業(yè)至少可以部分緩解工業(yè)化農(nóng)業(yè)給我們不堪重負(fù)的地球帶來的壓力。

The grow-your-own food movement

自己種植食物運(yùn)動(dòng)

The best part about an indoor farming revolution may be that it's already begun — with individuals. The lockdown has seen a massive surge in the grow-your-own food movement, as people look not only for something to do with their time but also reduce their reliance on grocery stores.

室內(nèi)農(nóng)業(yè)革命最好的部分可能是它已經(jīng)開始了——從個(gè)人開始。由于人們不僅在尋找打發(fā)時(shí)間的方式，還減少了對(duì)雜貨店的依賴，“自己種植食物”運(yùn)動(dòng)在全國掀起了一股熱潮。

In the U.S., as Mashable reports, garden centers and seed delivery services have seen sales grow 10-fold during the pandemic, with Walmart selling out of seeds completely.

據(jù)互聯(lián)網(wǎng)新聞博客Mashable報(bào)道，在美國流感大流行期間，園藝中心和種子配送服務(wù)的銷售額增長了10倍，沃爾瑪?shù)姆N子全部售罄。

There's much breathless enthusiasm, and understandable optimism, to the indoor movement as people look to do things a little differently in the post-pandemic era.

在大流行后的時(shí)代，人們希望以稍微不同的方式做事，室內(nèi)運(yùn)動(dòng)有許多令人窒息的熱情和可以理解的樂觀。

"Thanks to giant leaps forward in the science of hydroponics and LED lighting, even people in windowless, gardenless apartments can participate in the revolution," writes Chris Taylor in Mashable. "With a number of high-tech consumer products on the way, the process can be automated for those of us without green thumbs."

克里斯•泰勒在Mashable網(wǎng)站上寫道:“由于水培技術(shù)和LED照明技術(shù)的巨大飛躍，即使是住在沒有窗戶、沒有花園的公寓里的人也能參與到這場革命中來。”“隨著一系列高科技消費(fèi)品的推出，這一過程可以自動(dòng)化，為我們這些沒有綠色拇指的人服務(wù)。”

And some farmers, like Benjamin Widmar, didn't need a pandemic to be the change he wanted to see. He's trying to grow enough tomatoes, onions, chillies and microgreens to meet an entire town's needs. All from his indoor farm in Norway's Svalbard archipelago, about 650 miles south of the North Pole.

有些農(nóng)民，比如本杰明·威德馬，并不需要大流行來實(shí)現(xiàn)他想看到的改變。他試圖種植足夠的西紅柿、洋蔥、辣椒和微型蔬菜來滿足整個(gè)城鎮(zhèn)的需求。這些都來自他在挪威斯瓦爾巴群島的室內(nèi)農(nóng)場，該群島位于北極以南約650英里處。

"We're on a mission … to make this town very sustainable," he tells the Thomson Reuters Foundation. "Because if we can do it here, then what's everybody else's excuse?"

他對(duì)湯森路透基金會(huì)表示:“我們的使命是……讓這座城市變得非常可持續(xù)。因?yàn)槿绻覀兡茉谶@里做到，那么其他人的借口是什么?”