双语前沿|城市农场：农业新未来 Urban Farming Is the Future of Agriculture

     城市垂直农场就是将农产品、牲畜养殖等农业环节放入到可模拟农作物生长环境的多层和高层建筑中，通过能源加工处理系统，实现城市粮食与能源的自给自足。

     垂直农场的发展趋势对社会生态和自然生态的影响都不可小觑。我们摘录来自Futurism的一篇文章，来深度讨论城市农业的意义。

 Surplus and Scarcity 

 丰裕却匮乏 

The planet is growing more food than ever, and yet millions ofpeople continue to starve worldwide. People are hungry everywhere — in the country, in the suburbs. But increasingly, one of the front lines in the war against hunger is in cities. As urban populations grow, more people find themselves in food deserts, areas with “Limited access to supermarkets,supercenters, grocery stores, or other sources of healthy and affordable food,”according to a report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

地球上出产的食物比以往任何时候都要多，但全球仍有数以百万计的人在挨饿。世界各地，从乡下到郊区等，都有处于饥饿状态的人们。然而，越来越多的城市居民也开始忍受饥饿。美国农业部报告显示，随着城市人口的增长，越来越多的人发现自己生活在“食品荒漠”，这些地方的超市、超级中心、食品杂货店或其他健康、价格合理的食物来源都非常有限。

New technologies are changing the equation, allowing people togrow food in places where it was previously difficult or impossible, and inquantities akin to traditional farms.

新技术正在改变这个困境，允许人们在以前很难或不可能的地方种植食物，收获数量与传统农场相似。

 Farming at New Heights 

 农场新高度 

Urban farms can be as simple as traditional small outdoor community gardens, or as complex as indoor vertical farms in which farmers think about growing space in three-dimensional terms. These complex, futuristic farms can be configured in a number of ways, but most of them contain rows of racks lined with plants rooted in soil, nutrient-enriched water, or simply air. Each tier is equipped with UV lighting to mimic the effects of the sun. Unlike the unpredictable weather of outdoor farming, growing indoors allows farmers totailor conditions to maximize growth.

城市农场可以像传统的小型户外社区花园一样简单，也可以像室内垂直农场那样复杂——需要用三维方式思考种植空间。这些复杂的未来农场可以用多种方式配置，但其中大部分都包含了一排排的架子，植物扎根于上面的土壤、营养丰富的水或者空气中。每一层都配备了紫外线灯来模拟太阳的照射效果。与户外农业不可预测的天气状况不同，室内种植使农民能够为实现最大增产创造条件。

With the proper technology, farming can go anywhere. That’s what the new trend of urban farming shows — these farms go beyond simple community vegetable gardens to provide food to consumers in surrounding areas. All vertical farmers need is some space and access to electricity, no specialfacilities required. Farmers can buy everything they need to start and maintain their farms online as easily as shopping on Amazon.

有了适当的技术，农业生产可以在任何地方进行。这就是城市农业的新趋势，这些农场超越了简单的社区菜园，为周边地区的消费者提供食物。所有垂直农场都需要特定的空间和电力支持，但不需要特殊设施。农民可以在网上购买他们需要的一切，来开始和维护他们的农场，就像在亚马逊上购物一样方便。

In fact, because it’s so easy to access starting materials,officials don’t really know how many urban farms are running in the United States. A 2013 survey by the National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT) received 315 responses from people operating facilities they describe as urbanor suburban farms. However, federal grants for agriculture development show thousands of city-dwelling recipients, indicating that the number of urbanfarms is likely much higher.

事实上，因为很容易获取原材料，政府官员并不知道美国到底有多少个城市农场。2013年，美国国家适当技术中心(NCAT)的一项调查收到了315份回应，这些人宣称自己正运营城市或郊区农场。然而，联邦政府对农业发展的资助显示有数千个城市农场，这表明城市农场的数量可能要高得多。

“You have to look at these facilities in cubicfeet as opposed to square feet. We can really put out a lot of produce from a facility like this,” Dave Haider, the president of Urban Organics, a companythat operates urban farms based in St. Paul, Minnesota, told Futurism.Technology allows vertical farmers to control the environment in their farms,enabling them grow a lot more in the same amount of space, according to a 2014 study in the Journal of Agricultural Studies.

明尼苏达州圣保罗经营城市农场的公司Urban Organics总裁戴夫·海德尔（Dave Haider）说：“你必须用立方米而非平方米这样的标准来衡量这些设施，我们真的可以从这样的设施中生产出大量产品。”2014年《农业研究杂志》(Journal of Agricultural Studies)上刊发的一项研究显示，技术允许农民控制他们垂直农场的环境，使他们在同样数量的空间中种植更多作物。

Urban farms can grow more than just fruits and vegetables. Urban Organics grows three varieties of kale, two varieties of Swiss chard, Italian parsley, and cilantro, but uses the same water to raise Arctic char and Atlantic salmon — a closed-loop system often called aquaponics. Fish waste fertilizes the plants, which clean and filter the water before it goes backinto the planters; excess drips into the fish tanks.

城市农场不仅可以种植水果和蔬菜。Urban Organics公司种植了三种甘蓝、两种瑞士甜菜、意大利欧芹以及香菜，还可以使用同样数量的水来饲养红点鲑（Arctic char）和大西洋鲑鱼（Atlantic salmon），这通常被称为aquaponics封闭循环系统。鱼的排泄物会使植物生长更茂盛，而植物可以清洁和过滤水，使之重新进入水循环，多余的水则进入鱼缸。

Urban Organics opened its first farm inside a former brewery complex in 2014. In the years since, it’s brought food where it’s needed most:to people in the food deserts of the Twin Cities. In 2014, The Guardian named the company one of the ten most innovative urban farming projects in the world.

2014年，Urban Organics公司在前酿酒厂内开设了第一家农场。在这之后的几年里，它把食物带到最需要的地方，比如双子城（Twin Cities）处于“食品荒漠”困境中的人们。2014年，《卫报》评选世界十大最具创新的城市农业项目，Urban Organics公司名列其中。

“Trying to put a dent in the industry when it comes to food deserts is really one of the driving factors behind our first farm, which was actually located in a food desert,” Haider said. Urban Organics sells its produce to local retailers and provides locally-sourced fish to nearby restaurants. “That was sort of a sort of our approach — let’s try to grow produce and raise high-quality protein in an area that needs it most.” As more people move to cities, problems like food scarcity might get even worse.

海德尔说:“在食品荒漠里，试图为食品行业打开缺口是我们建立第一个农场背后的驱动因素之一。”Urban Organics公司将其产品卖给当地的零售商，并向附近的餐馆提供当地鱼产品。海德尔表示：“这是我们的独特方式，我们尝试在最需要的地区种植和培育高质量的蛋白质。”随着越来越多的人迁往城市，像粮食短缺这样的问题可能会变得更糟。

The vertical farm is also environmentally-friendly. Aquaponics systems result in very little waste. Vertical farming allows growers to use their finite area more efficiently, so we collectively can better utilizeestablished space instead of creating more arable land, leaving more ecosystemsintact. Placing the farms close to vendors and consumers means that fresher produce can reach tables with less reliance on trucks, which contribute to pollution and global warming.

垂直农场也具有环保效益，Aquaponics系统产生的废物非常少。垂直农业使种植者能够更有效地利用他们的有限空间，因此我们可以更好地利用现有的空间，而不是创造更多的耕地，以便让更多的生态系统保持完整。将农场设置在靠近供应商和消费者的地方，这意味着更新鲜的农产品可以减少对卡车的依赖，从而减少污染和全球变暖。

 What’s the Harm in an Urban Farm? 

 城市农场有什么缺点？

As people all over the world move to cities, urban centers sprawl to accommodate them. Often, that means taking over former farm land to support more people. In New Jersey, cities like Camden and Trenton are becoming more populous as they convert into urban spaces.

随着世界各地的人们迁往城市，城市中心不断扩张以容纳他们。通常，这意味着要占据以前的农田来支持更多的人。在新泽西州，像卡姆登和特伦顿这样的城市人口正变得越来越多，它们已经变成了城市空间。

Vertical farming can limit that sprawl. “Vertical farms canactually come into these areas to recolonize the city and to take spaces thathave been removed from producing anything,” Paul P.G. Gauthier, a vertical farming expert at the Princeton Environmental Institute, told Futurism.

垂直农业可以限制这种蔓延。普林斯顿环境研究所的垂直农业专家保罗·高蒂尔(Paul Gauthier)说：“垂直农场实际上可以进入这些地区，重新对城市进行改造，并接管那些已经无助于生产的空间。”

But setting up an urban farm is often not an easy task. Finding enough space for an affordable price can present a significant obstacle for potential farmers. Vertical farmers also need to know how to operate more technology, including systems that control elements such as soil contaminant sand water availability, that nature takes care of on a traditional farm.

但建立城市农场往往不是一件容易的事。以可承受的价格找到足够大的空间，可能是农民面临的最大障碍。垂直农场的农民还需要知道如何操作更多的技术，包括控制土壤污染物和水供应等元素的系统，这是以前传统农场不太需要关注的。

Now, companies are popping up to help urban farmers get their facilities up and running. One Brooklyn-based company, Agritecture Consulting,helps people and organizations that want to start their own vertical farms toconduct market research and economic analyses, and to design and engineer thefarm plans. The company has successfully completed more than a dozen projectsto date, creating farms around the world, including some in the cramped confines of Manhattan and Brooklyn.

现在，企业纷纷伸出援助之手，帮助城市农民把他们的设施建设起来。总部位于布鲁克林的公司AgritectureConsulting，帮助想要自己建立垂直农场的人们进行市场研究和经济分析，并设计和制定农场计划。到目前为止，该公司已经成功完成了十多个项目，在世界各地建立农场，其中有些位于曼哈顿和布鲁克林狭窄的区域内。

The benefits of urban farming practices extend beyond the tangible aspects of growing food in underserved areas — there’s also afortunate side effect of cultivating community. That’s a big draw for organizations, including Urban Organics and Agritecture Consultants.

城市农业带来的好处不仅仅可在服务不足的地区种植粮食，也有助于建立社区声望。这对包括UrbanOrganics和Agritecture Consultants在内的公司来说，拥有巨大的吸引力。

 Growing Communities 

 成长的社区 

Urban Organics opened a new facility this past summer. It’s much larger than the organization’s other locations, and could provide more than124,700 kilograms (about 275,000 pounds) of fresh fish and nearly 215,500kilograms (more than 475,000 pounds) of produce to the nearby area each year.

去年夏天，Urban Organics开了一家新农场，规模要比其他农场大得多，每年可以为附近地区提供超过124700公斤的新鲜鱼类和近215500公斤的农产品。

The former brewing complex in which the new farm is located is undergoing a revitalization, adding artists’ condos and even a food hall,according to a press release emailed to Futurism. Haider is excited about the potential of the new facility and the impact it will have on the developing neighborhood. “Not only are we creating some good-paying, quality jobs with some medical benefits, but these are jobs that just didn’t exist in the area prior to Urban Organics. And these are the things that excite us,” he said.

Urban Organics新农场所在的前酿酒厂地区正在经历一场复兴，增加了艺术家公寓，甚至还有食品大厅。海德尔对新设施的潜力和它对发展中社区的影响感到兴奋，他说：“我们不仅创造了许多高薪、高质量的工作，还有许多医疗福利，而且这些工作在Urban Organics之前是不存在的。这些都是让我们感到兴奋的事情。”

This winning formula of bringing food and jobs to these areas can help build underserved communities. “Once that’s done, we get to go out toidentify the next markets and then do it all over again,” Haider said.

这种将食物和工作带到这些地区的成功模式可以帮助那些服务不足的社区。海德尔说:“当某个地区获得成功后，我们就会去寻找下一个市场，然后重复这样的模式。”

Empowering individuals to get into urban farming can build community, too. Henry Gordon-Smith, the co-founder and managing director ofAgritecture, has a side project called Plus.farm, a do-it-yourself resource website for individuals and small groups looking to start urban farms of their own. It’s his passion project, his “labor of love,” he told Futurism. “This ismy way of not-so-subtly democratizing some of the best practices. It’s a great way for people to create their own approaches, which is what I really want tosee.” The site allows farmers to come up with their own hacks — better lights,better sensors, better growing techniques — and share them on the site’s forum.That’s how an ancient practice like farming continues to improve with modern tools.

授权个人参与城市农业也可以帮助建立社区。亨利·戈登-史密斯（Henry Gordon-Smith）是Agritecture的联合创始人兼总经理，他有个名为Plus.farm的项目，这是为准备建立城市农场的个人和小群体提供DIY资源的网站。戈登-史密斯表示：“这是我的激情项目，以不那么微妙的方式民主化某些最佳实践。对于那些想要创造个人项目的人来说，这绝对是个好方法，这也是我真正想看到的。”Plus.farm网站允许农民们想出他们自己的小窍门，比如更好的灯光照射、更好的传感器、更好的种植技术等，并在网站论坛上分享。这就是为什么像农业这样古老的行业会随着现代工具的发展而不断进步的原因。

 Farms of the Future 

 农场的未来 

As people continue to study and tweak urban farming practices,we will continue to learn more about how they can benefit the areas surrounding them and the greater global community. Data on how urban farms directly affecttheir local communities may compel lawmakers to support and invest more inurban farms.

随着人们继续研究和调整城市农业实践，我们将继续了解更多关于它们如何使周边地区和更大的国际社会受益的问题。关于城市农场如何直接影响当地社区的数据可能会迫使立法者支持并加大对城市农场的投资。

Gordon-Smith has planned another side project to this effect: an entire building or neighborhood to test urban farming technologies while gathering data. Though the location has not yet been decided, Gordon-Smith has already received a $2 million commitment from Brooklyn borough president EricL. Adams; he has also taken his proposal to the New York City Council. The proposal is waiting for consideration from the Committee on Land Use, and thereis no indication of when it will be decided.

戈登-史密斯已经计划了另一个项目增强这种影响：在收集数据的同时，建立一个完整的建筑或社区来测试城市农业技术。虽然地点尚未确定，但戈登-史密斯已经收到了来自布鲁克林区长埃里克·亚当斯（Eric L. Adams）的200万美元支持承诺。他还向纽约市议会提出了自己的建议，目前正在等待市议会对该项目土地使用的审议，没有迹象表明何时会作出决定。

Vertical farming, and urban agriculture in general, could be a significant boon for areas with the resources to invest, feeding residents and bolstering the local economy. Still, it’s important to know that urban agriculture is not a singular solution to solve a massive problem like helping people access enough nutritious food. Gauthier, the Princeton urban farming expert, points out that there are a lot of important crops that simply cannotbe grown indoors, at least not yet. “We’ll probably never grow soybeans, wheat,or maize indoors,” he said. “Vertical farming is not the solution for solving hunger across the world. It’s not the solution, but it is certainly part of the solution.”

对于那些有资源进行投资、养活居民和支持当地经济的地区来说，垂直农业可能是个巨大的利好。然而，重要的是要知道，城市农业并不是解决像帮助人们获取足够营养食物这样重大问题的单一解决方案。普林斯顿大学的城市农业专家高蒂尔指出，有很多重要的农作物无法在室内种植，至少现在还不能。他说：“我们可能永远不会在室内种植大豆、小麦或玉米，垂直农业并不是解决全球饥饿问题的解决方案，但它肯定是解决方案的一部分。”

Other efforts to combat world hunger grant people in poor nations more economic freedom by giving them lines of credit, or instituting basic income policies, like those being tested in Kenya. Education, social change, and female empowerment are all social initiatives that can help more people access the food they need to sustain themselves and their families.

其他对抗全球性饥饿的努力通过给予贫穷国家的人们信用额度或制定基本收入政策，为他们提供更多的经济自由，就像在肯尼亚接受测试的项目那样。教育、社会变革和女性赋权都是社会倡议，它们可以帮助更多的人获得维持自己和家庭所需的食物。

Urban farms have the potential to change the world's agricultural landscape. Granted, we’re probably not going to see a planet of supercities in which all farming is done in high-rise buildings. But urban farms can bring greater yields in smaller areas, increase access to healthy options in urban food deserts, and mitigate the environmental impact of feeding the world. That seems like enough of a reason to continue to develop and expand these transformative farming practices.

城市农场有可能改变世界农业格局。当然，我们可能不会看到“超级城市行星”出现，即所有的农业都在高层建筑中进行。但是，城市农场可以利用较小的空间带来更大的收益，增加城市在“食品荒漠”中健康选择的机会，并缓解对世界的环境影响。这个理由似乎足够让我们继续发展和扩大这些改变农业的做法。

内容摘自futurism.com、网易科技

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