RIPON - A state-of-the-art vacuum-planting machine “injects” brussel sprout seeds into the 512 tiny squares of a rectangular box full of pre-mixed soil. In another area of the Ripon nursery, hundreds of potted flowering kales look like a chain gang - connected to each other by crisscrossing straw-size black tubes hanging a few inches above the rows and rows of potted plants. It used to take two hours for one person to hand-water the entire lot.