Robots to take over mass production of lettuce in Japan

A JAPANESE firm plans to grow more than 10 million heads of lettuce a year by replacing its human farmers with robots in 2017.

The machines will automate every step of the planting process, from germination to seeding, harvesting and delivery while also monitoring levels of carbon dioxide and lighting conditions.

Not only will this boost production by almost 25 percent, it is expected to halve labour costs and these savings could be passed on to consumers.

The futuristic factory is being planned by Kyoto-based firm Spread and will be built at Kansai Science City in Kizugawa, Kyoto.

Spread already produces 7.7 million heads of lettuce each year in its artificially-lit vegetable factory in Kameoka, and its Vegetus brand is sold in 2 000 stores around Tokyo.

Construction of its Kizugawa factory is scheduled to begin next year.

Although Spread hopes to automate every process, human farmers are still currently needed to confirm germination. The robofarmers can not yet successfully carry out the seeding process either, because the seedlings are so fragile.

Spread said it “will start the sequential shipment of goods from 2017 with the construction of the new factory”, and planned to have a production system of 80 000 heads of lettuce a day.

The benefits of these factories is that they are not susceptible to weather changes. – Daily Mail