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By the year 2050, nearly 80% of the Earth's population will live in urban centres. Applying the most conservative estimates to current demographic trends, the human population will increase by about three billion people by then. An estimated 109 hectares of new land (about 20% larger than Brazil) will be needed to grow enough food to feed them, if traditional farming methods continue as they are practised today. At present, throughout the world, over 80% of the land that is suitable for raising crops is in use. Historically, some 15% of that has been laid waste by poor management practices. What can be done to ensure enough food for the world's population to live on?

到2050年，接近80％的地球人口将在城市中心生活。对当前的人口发展趋势采用最保守的估算，那时人类将增加约30亿人。如果继续像现在这样使用传统的农耕方法，那么需要大约10亿公顷新土地(大约比巴西大出20％)来生产足够的食物以供给他们。如今，全世界超过80％适合种植作物的土地在使用中。从历史上来看，其中大约15％因低效的使用行为而荒废。我们能够做些什么以确保有足够的食物供世界人口继续生活下去?

The concept of indoor farming is not new, since hothouse production of tomatoes and other produce has been in vogue for some time. What is new is the urgent need to scale up this technology to accommodate another three billion people. Many believe an entirely new approach to indoor farming is required, employing cutting-edge technologies. One such proposal is for the ‘Vertical Farm'. The concept is of multi-storey buildings in which food crops are grown in environmentally controlled conditions. Situated in the heart of urban centres, they would drastically reduce the amount of transportation required to bring food to consumers. Vertical farms would need to be efficient, cheap to construct and safe to operate. If successfully implemented, proponents claim, vertical farms offer the promise of urban renewal, sustainable production of a safe and varied food supply (through year-round production of all crops), and the eventual repair of ecosystems that have been sacrificed for horizontal farming.

由于温室种植番茄和其他作物已经盛行一段时间，室内农业的概念并不新奇。新的问题是迫切需要按比例扩大这一技术来供养另外30亿人。很多人相信通过使用尖端技术，人们需要一种全新的室内农业方式。“垂直农场”就是这样的一个提议。这一概念是在多层建筑中，粮食作物在环境可控的条件下生长。它们位于城市中心，这将大幅减少将食物运往消费者处所需的运输量。垂直农场需要高效而低成本地建造，并安全地运行。支持者们称，如果成功实施，垂直农场会带来城市复苏的希望，持续提供安全多样的食物供应(通过整年生产所有谷物)，并且最终修复由于水平农业而造成损害的生态系统。

It took humans 10,000 years to learn how to grow most of the crops we now take for granted. Along the way we despoiled most of the land we worked, often turning verdant, natural ecozones into semi-arid deserts. Within that same time frame, we evolved into an urban species, in which 60% of the human population now lives vertically in cities. This means that, for the majority, we humans have shelter from the elements, yet we subject our food-bearing plants to the rigours of the great outdoors and can do no more than hope for a good weather year. However, more often than not now, due to a rapidly changing climate that is not what happens. Massive floods, long droughts, hurricanes and severe monsoons take their toll each year, destroying millions of tons of valuable crops.

如今我们认为很多作物的种植是理所应当的。而人类用了一万年去学习如何种植它们。在这期间，我们在大部分耕地上大肆掠夺，经常将青翠自然的生态地带变成半干旱沙漠地带。在相同的时间范围内，我们进化成为城市物种，其中60％的人如今在城市中垂直居住。这意味着，对大多数人而言，我们人类拥有自然的庇护，而我们将生产粮食的植物暴露于户外的严苛环境，人们只是寄希望于一年气候良好。然而，通常由于快速变化的气候，情况并不如人们所愿。每年都会出现大洪水、持续干旱、飓风以及强烈的季风，数百万吨珍贵的作物被毁掉。

The supporters of vertical farming claim many potential advantages for the system. For instance, crops would be produced all year round, as they would be kept in artificially controlled, optimum growing conditions. There would be no weather-related crop failures due to droughts, floods or pests. All the food could be grown organically, eliminating the need for herbicides, pesticides and fertilisers. The system would greatly reduce the incidence of many infectious diseases that are acquired at the agricultural interface. Although the system would consume energy, it would return energy to the grid via methane generation from composting non­edible parts of plants. It would also dramatically reduce fossil fuel use, by cutting out the need for tractors, ploughs and shipping.

垂直农业的支持者们认为这一系统有许多潜在的优势。例如，可以整年生产作物，因为它们生长在人工控制的理想生长环境中。不会由干旱、洪水或害虫引起与气候有关的作物减产。所有作物可以自然生长，不再需要除草剂、杀虫剂及肥料。系统将大量降低农业接触中一些传染病的发生率。尽管这一系统会消耗能量，通过使用植物的不可食用部分进行沼气发电，可以将能量返回给系统。通过减少对拖拉机、犁和船舶的需要，化石燃料的使用也将大幅减少。

A major drawback of vertical farming, however, is that the plants would require artificial light. Without it, those plants nearest the windows would be exposed to more sunlight and grow more quickly, reducing the efficiency of the system. Single­storey greenhouses have the benefit of natural overhead light: even so, many still need artificial lighting. A multi-storey facility with no natural overhead light would require far more. Generating enough light could be prohibitively expensive, unless cheap, renewable energy is available, and this appears to be rather a future aspiration than a likelihood for the near future.

然而，垂直农业的一个主要缺点在于作物需要人造光。没有人造光，那些距离窗户最近的作物将暴露在更多太阳光下并且更快地生长，从而降低系统效率。单层温室的优势在于有天然的顶部光源，尽管如此，很多温室依然需要人造光。不具有天然顶部光源的多层设施则需要更多的人造光。产生足够的光会过于昂贵，除非有低价的可再生能源，而这是一种未来的愿望，而非不久的将来就能实现的可能性。

One variation on vertical farming that has been developed is to grow plants in stacked trays that move on rails. Moving the trays allows the plants to get enough sunlight. This system is already in operation, and works well within a single-storey greenhouse with light reaching it from above: it is not certain, however, that it can be made to work without that overhead natural light.

人们开发出的一种垂直农业方式是在堆叠的托盘中种植作物，这些托盘可在轨道上移动。移动托盘使植物可以获得足够的太阳光。这种系统已经在运行中，并且在顶部有光照的单层温室中运行良好：然而，并不确定它是否可以在没有顶部自然光的情况下运行。

Vertical farming is an attempt to address the undoubted problems that we face in producing enough food for a growing population. At the moment, though, more needs to be done to reduce the detrimental impact it would have on the environment, particularly as regards the use of energy. While it is possible that much of our food will be grown in skyscrapers in future, most experts currently believe it is far more likely that we will simply use the space available on urban rooftops.

垂直农业试图解决我们在为增长的人口生产足够食物时必然面对的问题。尽管如此，如今需要采取更多措施来减少它会对环境产生的有害影响，尤其是能源的使用。尽管未来有可能我们的很多食物将在“摩天大楼”中生长，目前大部分专家相信更可能发生的是我们将只需要城市屋顶上的可用空间。