The Future Of Farming May Include Robots

While some people are worried that certain groups are after their jobs, Japan is actually giving jobs to an entity that very well may take all of our jobs someday: robots.

Spread, a Japanese lettuce-growing company, is working on an indoor "vegetable factory" in Kyoto where robots will farm lettuce with no human help, according to Fast Company. The factory is set to open in 2017, with construction beginning early next year. As the first of its kind, the robots will "plant lettuce seeds, transplant them, raise the vegetables and automatically carry the fully grown lettuce heads to a packing line, where they can get ready to be sent to local grocery stores."

Fast Company reports that the factory would use less water than a traditional farm, recycling 98 percent of its water. The factory won't be using pesticides or herbicides since "the factory is sealed."

Spread's website states that the new factory will grow 7.7 million heads of lettuce a year with 30,000 heads per harvest. Because the robot-run operation won't have to pay wages, the growing process will be cheaper, allowing the company to sell its products at a lower price.

Before we start screaming about how unnatural this may be, it could help with the whole moving to Mars thing. At least we know we'll have lettuce for our sandwiches and salads.