改革印記：“帶電栽培”助力中國(guó)新農(nóng)業(yè)革命
Chinese growers have the answer to a question that has been baffling scientists for three centuries: Can electricity boost plant growth?
電能促進(jìn)植物生長(zhǎng)嗎?對(duì)于這個(gè)困擾了科學(xué)家三個(gè)世紀(jì)的問題，中國(guó)的種植戶們有了答案。
To find out, China has been conducting the world’s largest experiment and the results are transforming agricultural production in the world’s most populous nation with a jolt.
為了找到答案，中國(guó)一直在進(jìn)行世界上最大規(guī)模的試驗(yàn)，其結(jié)果將為這個(gè)世界人口大國(guó)的農(nóng)業(yè)生產(chǎn)帶來(lái)巨變。
Across the country, from Xinjiang’s remote Gobi Desert to the developed coastal areas facing the Pacific Ocean, vegetable greenhouse farms with a combined area of more than 3,600 hectares have been taking part in an “electro culture” program funded by the Chinese government.
在全國(guó)各地，從新疆偏遠(yuǎn)的戈壁沙漠到面朝太平洋的沿海發(fā)達(dá)地區(qū)，總面積超過3600公頃的蔬菜大棚正在參與中國(guó)政府資助的一項(xiàng)“帶電栽培”計(jì)劃。
Last month the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and other government research institutes released the findings of nearly three decades of study in areas with different climate, soil conditions and plantation habits. They are hailing the results as a breakthrough.
上個(gè)月，中國(guó)農(nóng)業(yè)科學(xué)院和其他政府研究機(jī)構(gòu)發(fā)布了對(duì)氣候、土壤條件和種植習(xí)慣不同的地區(qū)近30年研究的結(jié)果，他們稱結(jié)果具有突破性。
The technique has boosted vegetable output by 20 to 30 percent. Pesticide use has decreased 70 to 100 percent. And fertilizer consumption has dropped more than 20 percent.
這項(xiàng)技術(shù)使蔬菜產(chǎn)量提高了20%至30%，農(nóng)藥使用量減少了70%至100%，化肥消耗量下降了20%以上。
The vegetables grow under bare copper wires, set about three metres above ground level and stretching end to end under the greenhouse roof. The wires are capable of generating rapid, positive charges as high as 50,000 volts, or more than 400 times the standard residential voltage in the US.
這些蔬菜生長(zhǎng)在裸銅線下，銅線高出地面約3米，在溫室大棚頂下首尾相連。這些銅線能夠產(chǎn)生高達(dá)5萬(wàn)伏的快速正電荷，相當(dāng)于美國(guó)標(biāo)準(zhǔn)住宅電壓的400多倍。
The high frequency electricity kills bacteria and virus-transmitting diseases in the air or soil. It also suppresses the surface tension of water on leaves, accelerating vaporization.
高頻電流能夠殺死空氣或土壤中的細(xì)菌和病毒，從而抑制疾病傳播，它還能抑制葉片水分的表面張力，使其加速蒸發(fā)。
Within the plants, the transport of naturally charged particles, such as bicarbonate and calcium ions, speed up and metabolic activities, like carbon dioxide absorption and photosynthesis, also increase.
而在植物內(nèi)部，碳酸氫根離子和鈣離子等天然帶電粒子的運(yùn)輸速度加快，二氧化碳吸收和光合作用等代謝活動(dòng)也在增加。
Professor Liu Binjiang, agriculture scientist and a leading member of the project, said the electric current flowing through the wires is only a few millionths of an ampere by volume – lower than a smartphone cable’s workload.
農(nóng)業(yè)科學(xué)家、該項(xiàng)目的主要成員劉濱疆教授說(shuō)，裸銅線中的電流只有百萬(wàn)分之幾安培，比智能手機(jī)電線的負(fù)荷還要低。
“It does absolutely no harm to the plants or to humans standing nearby,” he said.
他說(shuō)：“帶電栽培對(duì)蔬菜和站在近旁的工作人員完全無(wú)害。”
Thanks to the positive findings of the study, the area devoted to electrified farms in China is now growing with unprecedented speed, according to Liu, from 1,000 to 1,300 hectares each year.
劉濱疆教授說(shuō)，得益于這項(xiàng)研究的積極成果，中國(guó)帶電栽培農(nóng)場(chǎng)的面積正在以前所未有的速度增長(zhǎng)，每年增加1000至1300公頃。
That means up to 40 percent growth in electro culture farming could be achieved within the next 12 months.
這意味著，在未來(lái)12個(gè)月內(nèi)，中國(guó)帶電栽培的增長(zhǎng)率可達(dá)40%。
“Most recent investments have come from the private sector,” Liu said. “The business is taking off. We are supplying the technology and equipment to other countries including the Netherlands, United States, Australia and Malaysia.
劉濱疆教授說(shuō)：“最近的投資大多來(lái)自私營(yíng)領(lǐng)域，業(yè)務(wù)正在飛速增長(zhǎng)。我們正在向荷蘭、美國(guó)、澳大利亞和馬來(lái)西亞等其他國(guó)家提供技術(shù)和設(shè)備。”
The British and American authorities each commissioned separate studies on electro culture in the early 20th century. The British findings were positive, while the American results were negative.
20世紀(jì)初，英國(guó)和美國(guó)當(dāng)局分別開展帶電栽培的研究，英國(guó)的研究結(jié)果是正面的，而美國(guó)的結(jié)果則是負(fù)面的。
These experiments were mostly small and conducted in open fields, with conditions which varied from one location to another. The wide range of natural elements affected the final output and there was no universal standard for hardware design or technical details such as voltage and frequency.
那些試驗(yàn)大多規(guī)模較小，而且是在空曠的田野進(jìn)行的，條件因地而異。各種自然因素影響著最終結(jié)果，而且在硬件設(shè)計(jì)或技術(shù)細(xì)節(jié)(比如電壓和電頻)等方面也沒有通用的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)。
The scientists in these pioneering studies also lacked advanced equipment, such as today’s portable spectrum analyzer, to study the plant’s response to electricity at the molecular level.
從事這些開創(chuàng)性研究的科學(xué)家也缺乏先進(jìn)設(shè)備，比如當(dāng)今的便攜式頻譜分析儀，來(lái)研究植物在分子層面上對(duì)電的反應(yīng)。
As a consequence, explanations of the observed phenomenon remained speculative and interest waned with the advent of chemical fertilizers and pesticides to achieve mass agricultural production.
因此，對(duì)實(shí)驗(yàn)觀察結(jié)果的解釋仍然是推測(cè)性的。隨著化肥和殺蟲劑的出現(xiàn)，農(nóng)業(yè)實(shí)現(xiàn)了大規(guī)模生產(chǎn)，人們對(duì)帶電栽培的興趣逐漸消退。
Public interest in electro culture revived with the rise of organic farming and the Chinese government started funding experiments in the technique in 1990.
但在有機(jī)農(nóng)業(yè)興起之后，人們對(duì)帶電栽培恢復(fù)了興趣，中國(guó)于1990年開始資助這項(xiàng)技術(shù)的試驗(yàn)。
He Feng, senior technician of Yufa Jingnan Vegetable Production and Sales, one of Beijing’s largest vegetable producers, said the company had taken part in the program since 2014 and the results were “very satisfactory”.
北京最大的蔬菜生產(chǎn)企業(yè)之一榆垡京南蔬菜產(chǎn)銷專業(yè)合作社的高級(jí)技術(shù)員何峰(音)說(shuō)，該公司自2014年以來(lái)一直參與這項(xiàng)計(jì)劃，結(jié)果“非常令人滿意”。
In just two years the electrified vegetables had brought in extra revenue of nearly 1.2 million yuan.
僅僅兩年時(shí)間，帶電栽培蔬菜就增收近120萬(wàn)元人民幣。
“We are still running the equipment, which consumes very little power,” he said.
他說(shuō)：“我們還在使用那些設(shè)備，耗電很少。”
One hectare of electrified greenhouse requires about 15 kilowatt-hours of electricity per day, which is about half the power usage of an average American family.
一公頃的帶電栽培溫室大棚每天需要用電大約15千瓦時(shí)，大約是美國(guó)一個(gè)普通家庭每天用電量的一半。
Inside the greenhouse the air smells like the aftermath of a summer thunderstorm. Humidity is low and the plants rarely get sick.
在溫室大棚里，空氣中彌漫著夏天雷雨過后的味道。濕度低，植物很少患病蟲害。
The biggest burden is the installation cost, He said, with the necessary hardware costing tens of thousands of yuan. Without government support, the company could not have afforded to wire up all its greenhouses.
何峰說(shuō)，最大的負(fù)擔(dān)是安裝費(fèi)用，所需的硬件成本達(dá)數(shù)萬(wàn)元。如果沒有政府的支持，該公司沒有財(cái)力讓所有的大棚都實(shí)現(xiàn)帶電栽培。
Liu Yongyi, owner of City Luhai Xinghua Sightseeing Agriculture company in Beijing’s Daxing district, which is also engaging in electro culture, said the technology would significantly improve China’s food safety by massively reducing the use of pesticides.
北京市大興區(qū)都市綠海興華觀光農(nóng)業(yè)有限公司也在從事帶電栽培，該公司老板劉永義(音)說(shuō)，這項(xiàng)技術(shù)將大大減少農(nóng)藥的使用，從而提高中國(guó)的食品安全水平。
“Pesticide residue is a huge threat to public health. Electricity provides a physical solution to disease and pest control. It is much cleaner than chemicals. The government should subsidize the electro culture revolution,” he said.
他說(shuō)：“農(nóng)藥殘留是對(duì)公眾健康的巨大威脅，電力為控制病蟲害提供了物理解決方案，它比化學(xué)品干凈得多，政府應(yīng)該補(bǔ)貼帶電栽培革命。”
Liu said visitors to the farm were intrigued when they saw the system at work and he believed the public would be quick to embrace the technology.
他說(shuō)，參觀農(nóng)場(chǎng)的人們看到這個(gè)系統(tǒng)時(shí)都很好奇，他相信公眾會(huì)很快接受這項(xiàng)技術(shù)。
“The theory is easy to understand. I believe people would be willing to pay a premium for electrified vegetables and fruits in the near future,” he said.
他說(shuō)：“這個(gè)理論很容易理解。我相信，在不久的將來(lái)，人們會(huì)愿意為帶電栽培的蔬菜和水果支付更高的價(jià)格。”
Professor Liu said there were no plans to electrify them all, as the investment would be unaffordable for most farmers.
劉濱疆教授說(shuō)，目前還沒有給所有溫室大棚通電的計(jì)劃，因?yàn)榇蠖鄶?shù)農(nóng)民負(fù)擔(dān)不起這筆投資。
His project team is taking a different approach and developing a compact, all-in-one vegetable growing chamber using electro culture technology.
因此他的項(xiàng)目組正在采取另一種方法：利用帶電栽培技術(shù)開發(fā)一個(gè)緊湊的、一體化的蔬菜種植室。
“Each family would be able to grow their own food in the kitchen, on the balcony or in the backyard,” he said.
劉濱疆說(shuō)：“每個(gè)家庭都能在廚房、陽(yáng)臺(tái)或后院種植自己的食物。”
The chamber uses an artificial light source and electric field to stimulate plant growth and prevent diseases. Operation is automatic and almost care and maintenance free.
這個(gè)種植室利用人工光源和電場(chǎng)來(lái)刺激植物生長(zhǎng)和預(yù)防疾病，操作全自動(dòng)化，幾乎不需要料理和維護(hù)。
“One day these tiny chambers may become an alternative to large scale farms,” Liu said. “That would trigger another agricultural revolution.”
他說(shuō)：“有朝一日，這些小種植室可能會(huì)替代大型農(nóng)場(chǎng)，那將引發(fā)另一場(chǎng)農(nóng)業(yè)革命。”
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