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In large buildings outside Madrid, Spain's capital, hop vines grow under special lights and close supervision.
在西班牙首都马德里郊外的大型建筑中，啤酒花藤在特殊的灯光和严密的监督下生长。
A small company believes growing the vines will be important to ensuring a supply of an ingredient in beer, the world's most popular alcoholic drink.
一家小公司认为，种植啤酒花藤对于确保世界上最受欢迎的酒精饮料——啤酒——的原料供应至关重要。
Hops are traditionally grown in areas like Bavaria, Germany, the Czech Republic, or the northwestern United States.
传统上，啤酒花生长在德国巴伐利亚州、捷克共和国或美国西北部等地区。
That is because the plants need a climate that has long summer days and mild temperatures.
这是因为这种植物需要夏季白昼长、气温温和的气候。
However, research shows environmental changes are driving down yields and quality of hops.
然而，研究表明，环境变化正在使得啤酒花的产量和质量降低。
It is a growing problem for the beer industry.
对于啤酒行业来说，这是一个日益严重的问题。
Industry groups say U.S. production was down 12 percent in 2022, while German production decreased by 21 percent.
行业组织表示，2022年，美国的产量下降了12%，而德国的产量下降了21%。
Czech yields fell by more than 40 percent because of unusually hot weather.
由于异常炎热的天气，捷克的产量下降了40%以上。
Spain's Ekonoke is a kind of small business known as a start-up.
西班牙的Ekonoke是一个初创小企业。
Ekonoke is growing hop vines indoors to solve the problem.
Ekonoke正在室内种植啤酒花来解决这个问题。
The company uses nearly 95 percent less water than traditional outdoor farming systems.
该公司的用水量比传统的户外耕作系统少了近95%。
"We're on a mission to save the world's beer," Ines Sagrario, co-founder of Ekonoke, told the Reuters news agency.
Ekonoke的联合创始人伊内斯·萨格拉里奥告诉路透社：“我们的使命是拯救世界上的啤酒。”
The start-up's 11-member team of scientists experiments with different groupings of light and fertilizer and water mixtures.
这家初创企业的11名科学家团队用不同种类的光、肥料和水混合物进行实验。
The goal is to increase production of substances such as alpha-acids and essential oils.
目标是增加阿尔法酸和精油等物质的含量。
These give hops the bitter and fruity smells that are enjoyed by beer lovers.
这些物质给啤酒花增添了啤酒爱好者喜欢的苦涩和果香。
A large number of sensors are attached to the vines to measure water and carbon dioxide levels.
在啤酒花藤上安装了大量的传感器来测量水分和二氧化碳的浓度。
Special LED lights change colors in the growing area.
特殊的LED灯会改变种植区的颜色。
"These hops have never seen any sunlight, only our own light show," said Javier Ramiro, a scientist with Ekonoke.
“这些啤酒花从来没有见过阳光，只见过我们自己的灯光秀，”Ekonoke的科学家哈维尔·拉米罗说。
To finance its research and growth plans, Ekonoke is working with the Hijos de Rivera group, makers of the popular Estrella Galicia beer.
为了为其研究和发展计划提供资金，Ekonoke正在与Hijos de Rivera集团合作，Hijos de Rivera集团生产广受欢迎的埃斯特拉啤酒。
The growers said the next step is to increase production to three rooms of up to 400 plants each.
种植者表示，下一步是将规模扩大到三个房间，每个房间最多种植400株植株。
Sagrario said that in the future, indoor growing areas could be set up near beer makers.
萨格拉里奥说，未来，可以在啤酒制造厂附近建立室内种植区。
These growing areas could reuse the carbon dioxide released during fermentation.
这些种植区可以重复利用发酵过程中释放的二氧化碳。
The company is part of Anheuser-Busch InBev's (ABI) 100+ sustainability accelerator program.
该公司是百威英博100+可持续加速器计划的一部分。
This program aims to give financing to companies that offer improvements in environmental and social problems.
该计划旨在为改善环境和社会问题的公司提供资金。
ABI's Willy Buholzer called the business "very promising."
百威英博的威利·布霍尔泽称这项业务“非常有前景”。
But he said it remains to be seen if it can grow and sell hops that are able to compete with traditional producers.
但他表示，该公司是否能够种植和销售能够与传统生产商竞争的啤酒花还有待观察。
"You should not underestimate traditional (outdoor) hop growers. They always come up with new ideas," he added.
他补充道：“你不应该低估传统的（户外）啤酒花种植者。他们总能想出新点子”。
The most obvious difficulty indoor farming faces, he said, is its high energy cost.
他说，室内农业面临的最明显的困难是能源成本高。
But Buholzer believes high energy prices will return to normal.
但布霍尔泽认为，高能源价格将会恢复正常。
He added that special varieties and more harvests could make indoor farming competitive in pricing.
他补充说，特殊的品种和更多的收成可能会使室内农业在价格上具有竞争力。
"You can't make beer without hops, and they don't want to produce less," Sagrario said.
萨格拉里奥说：“没有啤酒花就不能酿造啤酒，他们不想减产”。
Ekonoke's plan, she added, is to set up indoor growing areas around the world.
她补充说，Ekonoke的计划是在世界各地建立室内种植区。
"This can be grown anywhere: Madrid, Sevastopol or Timbuktu."
“这可以在任何地方种植：马德里、塞瓦斯托波尔或廷巴克图。”
I'm John Russell.
约翰·拉塞尔为您播报。
译文为可可英语翻译，未经授权请勿转载！
