Robot Farming on Lanai Island

[Durian Fiend]

...I'm willing to try it, but we need labels! LABELS! How else can one know?

LABELS!!

For starters you have the Sensei farms label.  

So, Foodland Kea'au has 4 or 5 lettuce variety packs of this brand.  As of today their stock is mostly on sale, perhaps a bit old because they don't look very fresh. I dislike the plastic packaging they come in.

There is also a local Mountain View brand available at this store.

[kalianna]

Better options than supporting tech billionaires and packaging in plastic:

Ola Farms farm box, sign up online to get notices, pickup in Hilo on Thursdays
Kea'au Farm to car -- order online Fri-Mon, pickup at the Hongwanji in kea'au on Wed. 3-6 pm
Hydroponic Hut in Ainaloa on Rainbow Dr. drive up and pickup anytime.
any number of local farmers markets but ask if produce is local
or better yet, grow your own.

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

Better options

There are two local farms with fresh greenhouse grown lettuce at the Sunday morning Volcano Cooper Center market.  Wear a jacket and knit cap!

There’s also a local hydroponic lettuce grower at the smaller Volcano market Thursday 3-6 PM, also Cooper Center.

All are probably picked hours before they’re sold.

[Durian Fiend]

The local outlets noted above are great options. Thanks. My only concern with locally grown lettuce is rat lung disease. An epidemiologist friend of mine refuses to eat any local greens for this reason. Granted, some people might consider him to be an alarmist.

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

This article adds a few more details, and notes that the lettuce sells for $24.00 a pound. I think the hydroponic lettuce I buy at the Volcano market weighs about a pound, for $5.00.

https://beatofhawaii.com/the-most-expens...xperiment/

[HiloJulie]

"This article adds a few more details, and notes that the lettuce sells for $24.00 a pound. I think the hydroponic lettuce I buy at the Volcano market weighs about a pound, for $5.00."

Well now, let's be fair. 

Larry's annual "compensation" went from almost 140 million in 2022 to just a measly 7ish million in 2023, and 8ish million in 2024, while still officially earning a "salary" of $1.00 per year.

Someone's got to pay. Right?

[terracore]

...the article goes on to say, if we lose our immigrant agriculture workers, only companies with robot workers will stay in business.

Who gets paid more?  

First person on Punaweb to buy and sample some robot grown veggies please raise your hand.

My first "robot grown" veggies were from an Aerogarden we had in Alaska 16 years ago.  The fresh produce and heck, even the grow light, was a welcome break to the long dark winter.  

I didn't read the articles about Ellison, but robot farming is already here.  They have combines that run 24/7 using centimeter-accurate GPS to work the fields that only stop to refuel.  Here's an automatic coffee harvester:  https://oxbo.com/products/oxbo-9240plus/  Here's another:  https://www.agriexpo.online/prod/jacto-i...43476.html  (they may not be fully "robotic" yet but that's just a matter of implementation).

Here's a tractor that kills weeds using AI and lasers.  The largest model can clear 10 acres/hour.  https://carbonrobotics.com/

I don't know how many people here have toiled in the fields directly under the sun from dawn until 5pm every day for months on end until the harvest is over, but I have, and let me tell you it is some of the worst work you can ask human beings to do, and at the lowest wages.  The sooner they can replace human suffering with robots and the only people left in the fields are to keep the machines running, the better.

And especially, if the machines can destroy weeds without herbicides etc and dial back the clock on bad GMOs*, even better.

* I don't believe all GMOs are bad, but the ones that only exist to allow more chemicals to be sprayed on the food, yeah, we need to get rid of those.