Smart agriculture "plant factory" paints a new picture of harvest

Plants all rely on sunlight and soil to grow. If they are separated from sunlight and soil, is there a way to maintain plant growth stably and continuously? In fact, vegetables and fruits can be grown without sunlight, rain, or even soil. This is the real scene of the "plant factory".

"Plant factory" is an emerging agricultural production method. In the "plant factory", seeds will be sown in a nutrient matrix. The temperature, light, water, air, liquid and carbon dioxide for plant growth will be precisely controlled to meet the needs of plant growth. Nutrient solution will be added regularly, and the plants can take root, sprout and bear fruit smoothly, effectively overcoming the plants' dependence on natural growth conditions under normal growth conditions.

In layman's terms, artificial light replaces sunlight, nutrient solution replaces soil, and the production environment of plants is set to controllable parameters. Compared with traditional planting methods, the growth and development of crops grown in plant factories are not or are less affected by natural conditions. Food can be produced at any location, and "whatever you want to eat" can be achieved all year round; through intelligent regulation, the crop growth period can be greatly shortened, and the yield per unit area can reach dozens of times that of traditional planting.

The planting environment of "plant factories" is relatively closed, and the pressure of pest control is relatively low. The food produced by soilless cultivation is highly clean, safe and pollution-free. Therefore, the crops produced in "plant factories" are more advantageous in quality, taste and safety. "Plant factories" can not only expand the functions of urban agriculture, but also be built on non-arable land such as Gobi, desert, and saline-alkali land. They will help ease the bottleneck constraints of my country's agricultural resources, provide important support for ensuring the "vegetable basket" of residents, and play a greater role in promoting agricultural efficiency and increasing farmers' income.

"Plant factory" is not a new concept. In the past, it was mainly used to solve the problem of growing vegetables in extreme environments. With the development of technology, this technology has gradually entered the public eye and has been applied in many places. For example, in Shuangmiao Village, Qiaolin Street, Pukou District, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, an important vegetable producing area in the Yangtze River Delta region, the "plant factory" about 8 meters high and covering an area of ​​4,488 square meters uses hydroponics and intensive planting. The growth cycle of vegetables planted in the field for 2 months only takes more than 20 days here, and the output of the same area is more than 50 times higher than that of field planting. In recent years, Shihuiyao Town, Chengde County, Hebei Province has introduced the "vegetable factory" project, applying technologies such as soilless cultivation and water-saving irrigation to create a modern agricultural demonstration park, achieving uninterrupted production of various vegetables throughout the year, and helping rural revitalization.

The development of plant factories requires scientific researchers to continuously innovate and tackle key problems, reduce the energy consumption of artificial light sources and air-conditioning systems, realize intelligent management and control of plant factories, and further build a "low-carbon, intelligent, and efficient" production technology system in order to thrive on the road to high-quality development.

Review expert: Gao Zhiling, Professor of College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, Hebei Agricultural University

China Association for Science and Technology Department of Science Popularization

Xinhuanet

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