New technologies and the latest research in new book ‘Advances in Plant Factories’
Professor Toyoki Kozai and Dr Eri Hayashi have had a major influence on the advancement and global understanding of vertical farming.
By René Groeneveld
Future Farming
Nov 10, 2023
Excerpt:
What do you consider to be the biggest challenges of vertical farming?
We have described several methods and strategies for challenges in the book. Some examples are:
Automatic spacing of plants to maximise the percent of light energy received by leaves over the light energy emitted by lamps, which reduces the cultivation area, electricity consumption, and working hours for transplanting and harvesting in PFALs.
Optimisation of the growth-stage and cultivar-dependent light intensity, its optimal spectral distribution, lighting cycle, and lighting direction (upward and sideward).
Breeding, environment control, and management for maximising harvest index (ratio of marketable produce to total plant weight).
Spatially (three-dimensionally) uniform control of aerial and rootzone environment factors in the plant community to maximise the photosynthesis and growth rates of a plant community (The aerial and rootzone environments are considerably ununiform in the densely populated plant community if uncontrolled).
Generation of all the electricity required for operating PFALs by solar energy or its equivalent to minimise the CO2 emissions per kilowatt hour (kWh) of electricity and per kg of produce.
LCA (life cycle assessment)-based and circular-economy-based design and management of autonomous PFALs with respect to energy, water, fertilizer, CO2, and other resource inputs such as cultivation area, and working hours and time for cultivation.
Implementation of phenotyping (plant trait measurements) and generative AI.
