China has made a new step forward in vertical farming with the opening of its first automated vegetable factory in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province.
Crops grown in a 20-story vertical farm. Photo: CMG
The new 20-story vertical farm is the tallest in the world to date and uses industry-leading automation technology, according to Gan Bingcheng, deputy director of the farm construction research institute. Similar to a conventional model, the farm is built indoors with rows of large shelves and hundreds of LED lights. Plants are arranged in areas that suit their individual needs, CGTN reported on December 3.
While vertical farms save on land, the first iterations come with their own set of challenges, including efficiency. Unlike a typical horizontal farm, where all plants receive equal amounts of water and sunlight, compact vertical farms have a bit more issues due to their vertical nature.
However, a team at the Institute of Urban Agriculture (IUA) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAAS) has solved this problem. The Chengdu farm uses robots that can grow and harvest lettuce in just 35 days, thanks to an artificial intelligence (AI)-based control system that can adjust the light and fertilizer applied to the plants.
“We can combine different types of red, blue, yellow, near-UV and near-IR light at different stages of the plant growth cycle,” said Wang Sen, a researcher at IUA. “We have built a database of 1,300 combinations for 72 crops.”
According to Wang, the team’s initial research found no significant differences between plants grown in the lab and those grown on traditional farms. The indoor farm can produce vegetables much faster regardless of the surrounding environment, making it an ideal model for urban areas, wastelands, and deserts. According to Li Zonggeng, a research assistant at IUA, they can harvest more than 10 crops of vegetables per year.
The farm also serves as a breeding accelerator, cutting the time it takes to breed wheat, cotton, and soybeans by at least 50%. The new technology means researchers don’t have to travel to tropical regions like China’s Hainan Island in the winter, saving more resources during the breeding process. IUA says it is in talks with companies like Foshan NationStar Optoelectronics to commercialize its vertical farm.
An Khang (According to CGTN )
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