ANSWER: Japan
Explanation:
- A Japanese firm said it would open the world’s first fully automated farm with robots handling almost every step of the process, from watering seedlings to harvesting crops.
- Kyoto-based Spread said the indoor grow house will produce 30,000 heads of lettuce a day. The farm, measuring about 4,400 square meters, will have floor-to-ceiling shelves where the produce is grown.
- Seed planting will still be done by people, but the rest of the process, including harvesting, will be done (by industrial robots).
- The move to robot labor would chop personnel costs by about half and knock energy expenses down by nearly one third.
- The pesticide-free lettuce will also have more beta carotene than other farm-grown lettuce, the company said.
- Robot-obsessed Japan has repeatedly turned to automated workers to fill labor shortages that are projected to get worse as the country rapidly ages.
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