high-tech farms of the future | DW Documentary
Is this what the future of agriculture looks like? Vegetables and lettuces stacked on several floors, artificially lit. Fully automated farming. Protected from drought, frost and storm. This isn’t a futuristic vision. In Japan this is already the reality. In this system we can produce food under optimal conditions with high nutritional content and good taste all year round. That's the big difference to working in the field. Working the fields in Brandenburg. These thick dust clouds are due to the drought. Without massive artificial irrigation, there would be no harvest. Are these fields facing an imminent collapse? As the conditions are currently, I would have to recommend my children look for a different profession. Devastating drought here, heavy flooding elsewhere. Food production is in danger, and catastrophic famines wreak havoc. Throughout the world, researchers are searching for solutions. A typical harvest in Japan. The workers wear protective suits, that are hygienically prepared. The environment is clinical, these lettuce heads are cultivated — without soil, and free of pesticides. In this room, the temperature always remains the same. I find it pretty good that I can always work indoors, regardless of the weather, it’s better than in the rice fields. "Vertical Farming" is the name of this method from Japan as seen here at the company Spread in Kyoto. The roots thrive in a liquid nutrient solution, without topsoil but with the same natural ingredients, such as sodium and potassium. Lamps, with a similar color temperature to sunlight are used. Solar collectors and the building’s green façade indicate that progress is at home here. The University of Chiba in Japan. In this futuristic-looking greenhouse, experiments with vertical vegetable cultivation are being conducted. Professor Toyoki Kozai invented this method in the 1970s. Back then he initially had problems finding the right light and had high electricity costs. The breakthrough came with LED technology. Originally I wanted to help the small farmers who own small land parcels. Vertical farming enables one to achieve 100 times more annual harvest, on a single area, than with conventional farming. So it’s worth investing in such vegetable factories. These facilities can be set up anywhere. It is an important step towards sustainable agriculture.
There are no losses during the harvest, and we use less energy for transport. Productivity and profitability can be increased even further, with the latest technology. This method is mainly used for vegetables and salads. As far as staple foods go such as cereals or potatoes, more research is still needed. In Japan, after the Fukushima catastrophe, there was a lot of interest in these new greenhouses, because it is possible to produce all year round, regardless of external influences. Thanks to our methods, the farmers have a stable production without damage from insects or worms. And of course, the system is sustainable. You can run these vegetable factories in the middle of the city and produce local food as needed. The contrast: agriculture in the fields. Once again the farmers lack water. A lot of water. And the weather is much too hot. Temperatures of up to 40° can dry up the soil to two meters deep. Large parts of Germany are affected by drought in the summer. The result can be the total loss of the harvest, with high financial losses. Hans-Heinrich Grünhagen in Brandenburg is one of the farmers who suffer. He grows potatoes and corn. His farm is located in an area with light, dry soil. Without the help of expensive irrigation systems, nothing would grow on his farm. The water already needs to be pumped from deep underground. And climate experts predict that even more extreme dry periods are expected. If you look at the ground here, there is no moisture. No plant can survive. That’s why there’s not much on this. Here are two miserable potatoes, here are a few more, which might have been okay, if they had enough water. Like last year, we are having a very dry year again. It’s only rained half the amount that we normally would have had, at this time of year. The soil is so dry from last year that even the little rain we’ve had over the last few days, is not enough for the plants. But how can the farmers’ problems be solved, how can we ensure that food supply in the future is safe? Wageningen University in the Netherlands is looking into these questions. At the renowned agricultural university, scientists are working on using new ideas and methods to finally defeat hunger in the 21st century. They are working on the assumption that in just 30 years, twice as much food will have to be produced as today. But the conditions for this have become worse. In order not to exacerbate the climate crisis, the area available for food cultivation should not increase. New methods are therefore needed to produce food in the future. Ernst van den Ende is head of the Plant Science Department.
He understands how grave the situation is. So, if we change nothing, and we keep on consuming the way we are doing, if we do not optimize the way we produce our food, then for the next forty years we will need to produce as much food as we did over the last 8000 years. And I think that really gives a good impression how big the challenge is, to feed the world in 2050. With its huge greenhouses, the Netherlands is the second largest food exporter in the world. And they take care of their resources: vegetable growers here need much less water to grow tomatoes than elsewhere - thanks to new irrigation techniques. Our research is focusing on to produce more food but at the same time to do it with less inputs so we need to produce more nutritious food, more safe food. And this challenge more with less and better, is really the overarching theme of our research programs. This is how daily life looks in the Spanish region of Almeria. Under this sea of plastic tarpaulins lies Europe's largest vegetable garden. Artificially irrigated, grown for export. Millions of tons of tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and other varieties are shipped from here, mostly to Germany. But intensive cultivation has its price. Pesticides and fertilizers contribute to the fact that hardly anything grows here outside the greenhouses. And the Spanish vegetable farmers are running out of water. The whole area is drying up. The situation in Africa is even more extreme. Especially south of the Sahara. The reason: an increase in weather catastrophes. It’s almost impossible for the poor and hungry to lift themselves out of their misery without external help, says the Secretary General of German Agro Action. Since 2014, the number of hungry people has continued to rise, and currently 821 million people suffer. We can see quite clearly that about 30 million people have been affected as a direct result of the climate change. People are personally and very acutely affected by this, because the storms currently hitting these countries were previously completely unknown. And this is just such a sign of the destructive force that a change in climate can trigger, and how the people in the countries where we work, are quite defenseless and at the mercy of the elements. Catastrophes, drought, floods destroy not only the living space of the inhabitants but also valuable agricultural land. Although Brandenburg farmer Grünhagen can solve his drought problems with technical help, supported by the EU, he nevertheless is pessimistic about his future. Irrigation is the only way we can still grow things here. Grain cultivation is actually not feasible anymore and we are no longer competitive worldwide.
The potatoes that we irrigate are sold here in the region, where we still have a market that we can sell to. Back in Japan, at the company SPREAD in Kyoto. Headquarters for the new world of agriculture. SPREAD is currently the world's largest farm for vertical production. An employee of the company on her way to work. Her clothes are more similar to what people wear in an operating theatre, than on an outdoor farm. Here hygiene regulations are very strict. All precautions are used to prevent germs from the outside entering the production, as the food should be clean and unspoiled. In this closed, sterile environment, the plants grow without the use of pesticides and fertilizers. A good 50,000 heads of lettuce leave the factory every day. This hall is only used for packaging, others are used for growing various vegetables, including mushrooms and exotic herbs. The selection is large. None of the produce is washed, as there are germs in the water that may cause the vegetables to spoil. Another advantage of this type of "indoor farming" is that the plants thrive on several floors above each other, and need very little, valuable, floor space. The cultivation in some of halls is already fully automatic. Shinji Inada founded the factory 15 years ago. Back then, climate change or the explosion of the world's population was not a big issue. Nor was there a market for factory grown vegetables. But now we make a good profit. I don't think that factories will replace conventional farming completely, but I think that our way of farming will play a central role in 20 or 30 years. We want to share the technology with poor countries, so that they can produce their own food.
Thanks to the short distances to supermarkets and restaurants, no goods are spoiled during transport — unlike in conventional supply chains. On the other hand, conventional agriculture in Japan is also in a deep crisis. Farmers use pesticides as a necessary tool in rice cultivation. Rice, which is sacred to many Japanese, is heavily subsidized in Japan. The market is largely protected by high customs duties. Rice imports are considered an attack on cultural heritage. But the areas under cultivation are dwindling. The average size of a Japanese farm is just 1.8 hectares, which makes it difficult for farmers to make ends meet. That is why there are hardly any young people farming, with the average age of a farmer being 66 years old. Cooperatives are formed in many places, in order to be able to farm more effectively. But the increase in natural disasters is also causing them problems. To avoid being held hostage by these changes, the farmer Akira Iijima was inventive. This is my aquaponic system. - he proudly explains. In his small greenhouse, he is trying out a new form of agriculture: aquaponic. Here, fish are bred in large tanks. Akira Iijima has 250 sturgeons in his facility. The fish excrement is pumped out and used as fertilizer for various vegetables. The water purified by the plants, is then returned to the fish tanks. From rice farmer to modern aquaponic farmer. Almost all vegetables thrive here all year round and are independent of climate changes. The greenhouse has even withstood an earthquake. The neighboring farmers have already suffered this year; it rained too much and their plants did not get enough sun. Akira Iijima however can still carry his harvest to the market. And dreams of an even bigger plant. Such as this one in the Schöneberg district in Berlin.
In the grounds of an old industrial complex: Greenhouses for vegetable growing - in the middle of the city. Groups of visitors from all over the world come here to learn about the goings on inside. This is also an aquaponic farm, but on a grand scale. The current product: Capital City Basil. Grown with the excrement of the fish bred in these tanks. The fish that is marketed in Berlin is of course called Capital City Perch. We want to produce where people consume, so we don't have long supply chains, or long cold storage times, and we have a much better CO2 balance. I think our fish, the capital city perch, is the freshest fish you can buy here in Berlin. The principle is as old as the hills: the water that is polluted by the fish is extracted and used as manure for the plants. It has been used this way for centuries in China and by the Mayans of Central America. The plants grow faster, on shelves or on raised beds in these rooms, than in a natural environment. The young entrepreneurs produce 9,500 basil pots per week for a supermarket chain. So it won’t take long before the costs, for the 1.4 million euro construction, are recovered. 7.8 billion people currently live on our planet, in a mere 30 years, it will be 11 billion. More and more people are leaving the rural areas, and according to a United Nations study, two-thirds of the world's population will be living in cities in 2050. So more of these farms will have to be built, especially in Asia. There the megacities already that extend over huge areas without any agriculture. More plants, and more greenery is needed in the cities! Urban planners face a new challenge.
The inhabitants of megacities not only have to be supplied with living space, water and energy, they also need room for growing food. The Düsseldorf architect Christoph Ingenhoven and his staff are planning huge residential and office complexes in almost all the world’s megacities. And they need to make them attractive to live in. We have to deal with overheated cities. Cities are significantly warmer and hotter than the surrounding areas. We are dealing with cities that are not only dense, so to speak, but also sealed. There is little contact between the environment and the earth, with correspondingly negative consequences, due to the influx of people, and overcrowding. It is no longer possible to ignore this problem. So the idea of revegetation, and of green architecture - will play a major role in the future. This residential and office complex in Singapore - as high as the Berlin television tower - is an example of the Düsseldorf architects’ work. 20,000 people live and work here. A small town in a single building complex. In the middle of it is a green heart. 350 different plant species help to provide better air and a better climate. This is certainly not the solution for normal rural Central European areas, but it is the solution for high- density locations. Of course, if you plan to create a green area, you can also use it to produce food, so you have two effects: You have the shading effect, and the fact that the food is produced here, so you have the benefit of oxygen production, and an additional advantage, is that if the produce is grown here, you also save CO2 due to shorter transport routes. Green areas — and not just for recreation.
Agricultural producers growing food in high-rise buildings? Or on roofs next to huge office towers? I wouldn't dismiss it, although it does of course seem bizarre, because I think that, from a central European perspective, it’s difficult to imagine the density and intensity, as well as the difficulties many of these cities will face in the next 50 years. What comes next is to achieve this with a quality, that enables the people to live healthy lives there, on a permanent basis. What sounds like a futuristic dream is already reality in Asia. But also in Europe, more and more people are moving to the cities, and the transport supply chains for food are getting longer. In the center of Tokyo. The Ginza, the main shopping street of the metropolis, home to the large Japanese corporations and long-established institutions. A rice field in the middle of it - on the roof of a high-rise building. A sake brewery grows the raw material for its rice wine here. In Japan, sake is not just an alcoholic beverage, it is an indispensable part of the country's culture, just like rice. Which is why sake and rice belong right in the heart of Tokyo, for this brewery. It is also an experimental field for new varieties. The roof of a high- rise building as an agricultural alternative? In the beginning they didn't take us seriously, no rice would grow here, it’s much too bright here at night, and on the roof it’s much too hot. But our experiments have been good and we’re harvesting more and more. The rice grows well here. I think it is right that in Japan they are looking for different ways to grow rice and vegetables. It’s a challenge. And after all, rice is part of our tradition. Each season the brewery produces 50 bottles of sake from its small rice field on the roof. The historic building, Gropius Bau, in the centre of Berlin. Right next to the Museum’s entrance hall is a restaurant. The illuminated glass cabinets are not just part of the decor.
Inside grow herbs and salads. An Israeli start-up based in Berlin has placed these plant cabinets in various restaurants in the city as well as in the stores of a supermarket chain. They function similarly to the plant factories in Japan, and ensure that the produce is fresh on the table. There are 50 such mini-greenhouses in Berlin alone. And about 200 already distributed throughout Europe. 2 square meters of space in the plant cabinet corresponds to 250 square meters of regular farmland. And less food is wasted in the kitchen, because you only harvest what is necessary for the dishes, that guests have ordered. We are harvesting from our farms two or three times a week. We don’t have to wash it because it doesn’t have any dirt, it has just water and roots. So it is perfect for the cook and also for the guests. This is, for example, is a crystal lettuce.
Crystal lettuce is very hard to get in the market. So you can see that it’s super crispy. And the fact that you are just harvesting it and putting it straight into the plate. It makes a huge difference. But the other thing, and this is the most important one, is that you have access to flavors and to plants that you cannot get anywhere. For example, this one is mustard, and it is something that you cannot get in the market. It tastes really like mustard. It is sharp and spicy. Admittedly, this kind of special preparation is more for the enjoyment of a metropolitan minority. Presently, these greenhouses are not yet planned for mass production in Germany. At least the lettuce here doesn’t travel far, to be put on the table. Factory plants, grown under artificial sunlight, without earth, and with little water. An important step for the nutrition of the future. And a challenge for conventional agriculture. We work with nature, if you look around here, the larks are singing, the insects are flying around, but that isn’t the case in these facilities. I believe that this is not what you want in the future. It is not nature. It is just an artificial product.
I just can't imagine it, it has nothing to do with my ethos as a farmer. For me, farming is having an area of land here where something is growing, that I can take care of. Artificial farming goes against the philosophy of what I want to represent with my soul, as a farmer. But do we have another choice? Classical agriculture alone will not be able to supply the growing world population, without the help from the laboratory for much longer. With plants that develop in a controlled way, without the use of fertilizers and pesticides, and with less water. Soon there will be a world population of 10 or 11 billion people. We can’t yet imagine how big the cities will become, and at the moment it's almost considered ‘progress’ if you can successfully cope with overcrowding at all. It is an essential part of 21st century technology that we achieve this, because if we don’t — our survival on the planet may not happen. What do you want? Do you want to produce in such a way that you have suboptimal yields, and you use - you need to use a bigger surface. And that means that you have to destroy nature. Or you want to have your optimal use per square metre? So my opinion is that we use our agricultural fields in such a way that we optimize the growth in order to save the environment. Our research is still just starting. However in the coming decades, cities throughout the world will need to host vertical agriculture with safe, clean and sustainable produce, if we are to prevent food from becoming scarce.
