The largest greenhouse in the US, located in Appalachia, Kentucky, has way more going for it than its size. This high-tech eden, called AppHarvest, uses robotics, artificial intelligence and complex data to grow up to 45 million pounds of tomatoes a year.
This means the 60-acre complex can yield 30 times more tomatoes per acre than open fields while using 90% less water, AppHarvest says. The facility collects data from over 700,000 plants using AI technology, and can monitor even the smallest details about soil, moisture and nutrients. Then, robots can carefully pluck the ripest tomatoes. This kind of absolute stability — a well-oiled machine, if you will, could help reduce the environmental impact of global food production.
The Appharvest solution may be the wave of the future especially in locations where the climate may limit the season length due to existing or future climate effects.
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