14 Leaders The EconomistAugust 31st 2019
2 impose extra restrictions on shipments of chemicals that are es-
sential to chipmaking. That affront came in response to a ruling
from South Korea’s Supreme Court, which found that Japanese
companies should pay compensation to South Korean plaintiffs
forced to work in Japanese factories during the second world
war, even though the two countries had signed a treaty that sup-
posedly resolved all claims.
Japan and South Korea often fight about the past. Many South
Koreans feel, quite rightly, that Japan has not sufficiently ac-
knowledged, let alone properly atoned for, all the horrors of its
colonial rule over the Korean peninsula. Many Japanese feel,
quite rightly, that South Korean governments often foster this re-
sentment for domestic political purposes and are constantly
changing their mind about what they want Japan to do. The re-
sult has been decades of bickering.
The latest outbreak of this row is especially worrying because
it is infecting areas that had previously been immune to it. South
Korea’s willingness to curb intelligence-sharing is unnerving,
given the gravity and immediacy of the threat from North Korea
in particular. But equally troubling is the alacrity with which Ja-pan imposed trade sanctions. South Korean chipmakers have
not had any trouble getting hold of the chemicals they need so far
but, by imposing export restrictions, Japan seems to be signal-
ling that it could at any moment cripple South Korea’s biggest in-
dustry—a wildly aggressive, disproportionate threat.
Japan and South Korea need to wake up to their real interests,
but Mr Trump also has a duty to help. He is partly to blame for this
mess. His enthusiasm for using tariffs and other trade restric-
tions to compel governments to bow to his will has established a
dangerous pattern of behaviour, which Shinzo Abe seems all too
happy to follow. Neither has Mr Trump been prepared to take on
the role America used to play in Asian rows, of knocking heads
together. “How many things do I have to get involved in?” he
moaned, when asked whether he was prepared to mediate.
The network of alliances that America has built up in Asia to
counter not just North Korea, but also China, has been hugely
valuable to regional and global stability. Without careful mainte-
nance, it risks disintegrating. If Mr Trump really wants to per-
suade North Korea and China to behave well, he should start by
getting his allies to respect each other. 7M
any foodiespin the blame for farming’s ills on “unnatu-
ral” industrial agriculture. Agribusinesses create monocul-
tures that destroy habitat and eliminate historic varieties. Farm-
ers douse their crops with fertiliser and insecticide, which
poison streams and rivers—and possibly human beings. Inten-
sive farms soak up scarce water and fly their produce around the
world in aeroplanes that spew out carbon dioxide. The answer,
foodies say, is to go back to a better, gentler age, when farmers
worked with nature and did not try to dominate it.
However, for those who fancy some purple-ruffles basil and
mizuna with their lamb’s leaf lettuce, there is an alternative to
nostalgia. And it involves more intensive agriculture, not less.
A vast selection of fresh salads, vegetables
and fruit is on the way, courtesy of a technology
called vertical farming. Instead of growing
crops in a field or a greenhouse, a vertical farm
creates an artificial indoor environment in
which crops are cultivated on trays stacked on
top of each other (see Science section). From in-
side shipping containers in Brooklyn, New
York, to a disused air-raid shelter under Lon-
don’s streets and an innocuous warehouse on a Dubai industrial
estate, vertical farms are sprouting up in all sorts of places, nour-
ished by investment in the business from the likes of Japan’s
SoftBank and Amazon’s founder, Jeff Bezos.
This should cheer anyone who wants organic produce that
has been grown without pesticides and other chemicals, and
which has not been driven hundreds of miles in refrigerated lor-
ries or flown thousands of miles in the belly of a plane. Such
farms can greatly reduce the space needed for cultivation, which
is useful in urban areas where land is in short supply and expen-
sive. Inside, climatic conditions are carefully controlled with hy-
droponic systems supplying all the nutrients a plant needs togrow and recycling all but 5% of their water—which is incorpo-
rated in the crop itself. Specially tuned ledlighting generates
only the wavelengths that the plants require to prosper, saving
energy. Bugs are kept out, so pesticides are not needed. Foliage
and fruit can be turned out in immaculate condition. And the
harvests last all year round.
There is more. As they will remain safe and snug inside a ver-
tical farm, long-forgotten varieties of fruit and vegetables can
stage a comeback. Most of these old-timers have been passed
over by varieties bred to withstand the rigours of intensive farm-
ing systems. A cornucopia of unfamiliar shapes, colours and fla-
vours could arrive on the dinner table.
This glimpse of Eden is still some way off.
The electricity bill remains high, principally be-
cause of the cost of powering the huge number
of leds required to simulate sunlight. That
means vertical farming can, for the time being,
be profitable only for high-value, perishable
produce, such as salad leaves and fancy herbs.
But research is set to bring the bill down and the
costs of renewable energy are falling, too. In a
hot climate such as Dubai’s extensive solar power could make
vertical farms a valuable food resource, particularly where water
is scarce. In a cold climate thermal, wind or hydroelectric power
could play a similar role.
Some field crops, including staples such as rice and wheat,
are unlikely ever to be suitable for growing in vast stacks. But as
its costs fall thanks to further research, vertical farming will
compete more keenly with old-fashioned greenhouses and con-
ventional, horizontal farms where crops grow in the earth. As an
extra form of food production, vertical farming deserves to be
welcomed, especially by the people whose impulse is to turn
their back on the future. 7Plant power
Would you like some vertically grown mizuna with that?Vertical farming