VOA常速英语2016--农场走向数字化 食品新兴公司牵线农民与美食家

农场走向数字化 食品新兴公司牵线农民与美食家

When it comes to food, it's said that we are what we eat. And what we eat is getting fresher and healthier.

提到食物的时候，人们常说人如其食。而我们所吃用的东西正变得越来越新鲜及健康。

“I think it's very clear people want good food that's sustainable, that's traceable and is good for them.”

“我认为很明显地人们想吃优质，可持续、能够追踪得到、对身体有益的食物。”

New food syrups 1 are connecting farmers to consumers and investors 2 are betting the farm on their success.

而这种新型的食品平台正将农民和消费者联系起来，而投资者们则押注农场以取得成功。

“Kakaxi is a social farming platform that we're building to bring the story of food production to the table. We have internal sensors 3 that can measure the weather data, such as temperature, daily humidity.”

“卡卡西是我们搭建的社交农业平台，目的是将食物的诞生故事带到家庭的饭桌上。我们的内置传感器可以测量天气数据，比如温度和每日湿度等。”

Adam Smith is showing off Kakaxi's farm-monitoring device. Farmers install it to harvest vital data, while consumers connect by an App to see crops growing in real time.

亚当·史密斯正在向我们展现卡卡西农业检测设备。农民们将它安装好就能获得重要数据，而消费者通过手机APP应用连接则能亲眼见证农作物的实时生长。

“Seeing how food is transformed from nothing into something is a miraculous 4 story. When we see food at the supermarket, that story is gone.”

“看到食物如何从无到有是很神奇的事情。如果食物进入超市，那就没有故事可言了。”

Kakaxi works with local community-supported agriculture groups, or CSAs. Farmers get member feedback, along with advertising 5 they might not otherwise be able to afford.

这个平台同支持当地社区农业的组织CSAs开展合作。农民们获得会员回馈，还有广告宣传，如果不是通过这样的途径，他们是无法负担得起的。

“We're not promising 6 5% increase in yields if they use it, but what they all need is better ways to generating content and marketing 7 assistance.”

“我们不是承诺消费者使用后能增加5%的产量，而是他们需要的创造更好的产品及市场协助。”

Another startup shining the spotlight 8 on small farmers is Masienda. For founder 9 Jorge Gaviria, there's no mistaking where the best corn comes from.

而另外一家名为梅斯恩达的新兴公司则将注意力转移到小农场主身上。该公司创始人乔治·贾维莉亚深知哪里才是最好的玉米产地。

“Mexico is really the birth & first place of corn, you know it's home to the most bio-diversity of the species in the world.”

“墨西哥真的是玉米的发源地，那里是全世界玉米种类最多，最为丰富的地区。”

The chance to experience that diversity was limited, the best cultivators were small village farmers with no access to a wider distribution network. This New York-based startup is changing that.

而体验这种多样性的机会十分有限，因为最好的种植者都是小乡村的农民，而这些人没有机会接触覆盖面更广的网络。这家纽约的新兴公司正致力于逐步改善这一点。

“You have that 3 million small holder 10 farmers in Mexico and since at least NAFTA and well before that, with sort of the globalization of food, there were diminished opportunities at home for real sort of economic, thriving enterprises.”

虽然墨西哥有300万名小农场主，但自北美自由贸易协定签署以来及那之前，由于粮食全球化，国内的经济型蓬勃发展企业所面临的机遇不断减少。

Masienda and partners with farmers to purchase their surplus and distribute it to some of the best kitchens in New York, satisfying palates while supporting the original gurus of corn.

梅斯恩达公司及其合作伙伴们同农民合作购买其富余产品并分销给纽约一些最好的餐厅，满足顾客味蕾的同时又对玉米种植专家农民提供支持。

“We used to provide as much access as possible by adding value to these products, and creating, um, really getting it back in the hands of folks who, who had something to say about this in the first place.”

“我们通过提升这些产品的价值提供尽可能多的机会，让这些产品真正地到达人需要的人们手中。”

For famers connecting with today's busy, on-the-go consumer is crucial.

为了让农民们赶上现代繁忙社会的步伐，活跃的消费者是其中的关键。

“Looking at a digitized mobile consumer, if we can make the connection to the farm, you know, in that format 11, then it actually has a future.”

“看看数字化移动端的消费者们，如果我们能让那种形式与农场相连，就会确实为它带来未来。”

And the results are nothing short of delicious.

而结果就是少不了的美味。