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High-tech in the vegetable industry

Our vegetables from seed cultivation to harvest and packaging are all in a sterile and dust-free environment. There is no need to spray any pesticides during the entire growth cycle of the crop. The vegetables produced are cleaner than tap water and do not require any washing when placed on the table. process. In the plant's workshop, there are no more than 100,000 particles larger than 5 microns per cubic meter of air. This standard is consistent with high-standard pharmaceutical companies.

In this plant factory, there are 3 floors of workshops, each of which is 3 meters high, there are 6 floors of plant cultivation racks. Lettuce, pakchoi, iced vegetables and other vegetables thrive on the cultivation racks, and the head contains blue light. LED light sources with different spectra such as red light and red light, the roots are immersed in a clear nutrient solution.

"The ratio of lighting and nutrient solution are all specially customized by scientists after long-term research according to the needs of different plants." Li Shaohua, a researcher at the Institute of Botany of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Dean of the Chinese Academy of Biology, said that 90% of the biomass of plants comes from photosynthesis. Scientists replaced sunlight, a key factor in plant photosynthesis, with customized light sources. Plants do not absorb all light. They prefer visible blue and red light. Therefore, red light and blue light are made into light sources according to a certain ratio. Can meet the needs of plant growth. In addition to light and nutrient solution, the plant factory also provides the most suitable environment for plant growth and greatly improves their growth efficiency through high-precision and fully intelligent control of various factors that affect plant growth such as temperature, humidity, and carbon dioxide concentration. . "The lettuce grown in the plant factory can be harvested 20 days after the seedlings are transplanted, which takes 35 to 40 days in an ordinary field.

The production efficiency of plant factories is one hundred times that of traditional agriculture. The three-dimensional cultivation mode of multi-layer cultivation racks for plant factories makes the planting area equivalent to several to several tens of times that of the same size of cultivated land. With the characteristics of high planting density, short growth cycle, and no seasonal influence, its output is even more affordable A hundred times that of conventional cultivation.

High-tech plant factories can not only save valuable arable land, but also save water resources and reduce the amount of fertilizer applied. "In plant factories, 90% to 95% of the water is absorbed by plants, and there is basically no waste; the amount of fertilizer is one-fifth of the average amount of vegetables in China now, and no pesticides are used at all.

The lettuce and iced vegetables produced in plant factories that can be eaten raw are crispy, rich in moisture, and slightly sweeter, and they are indeed more delicious than ordinary vegetables.

After testing by third-party agencies, it was found that the vegetable products grown in plant factories could not detect harmful substances such as pesticides and heavy metals, and the nutrients such as vitamins, dietary fiber, and minerals were several times higher than those of traditionally grown vegetables.

Vegetables mass-produced by plant factories are sold to urban supermarkets. In the supermarket, I saw that bags and boxes of vegetables produced in plant factories were placed on a special shelf. Depending on the variety and weight, the price per serving was roughly RMB 10 to RMB 20. If converted by weight, it is about 30 to 40 yuan per catty.

The high cost of "space vegetables" is closely related to the high cost of plant factories. Can plant factories make money?

"Yes." The first 10,000-square-meter plant factory was officially put into operation in June last year, and now has a daily output of 1.5 tons of vegetables, all sold on the same day, and there is no inventory. Products are sold to supermarkets and high-end restaurants in nearby cities, and group purchases are also distributed to employees as benefits.

"The larger the plant factory, the lower the cost of vegetable production." "The equipment construction cost of the first 10,000 square meter plant factory is about 5,000 yuan per square meter, and the Japanese plant factory construction cost is 20,000 yuan per square meter. We have Low cost advantage, commercial operation can be completed". This high-end vegetable is more popular with consumers in developed countries such as Europe and America, and the market is broader

Not only that, with the advancement of related technologies such as the luminous efficiency of LED chips, production costs are still declining. The energy consumption of the second-generation plant factory is 25% lower than that of the first-generation plant factory.

The cost of long-distance transportation of vegetables is much greater than the cost of production, and it is more suitable for local sales. Experts believe that the reasonable distribution radius of the plant factory is within 250 kilometers
More far-reaching is the development of industry. At present, the plant factory only grows high-end vegetables. In the future, it will grow medicinal materials and fruits, as well as special dishes for patients, providing customized vegetables with different functions such as calcium supplementation, blood pressure reduction, and hypoglycemia. "Plant factories may surpass the Internet industry in the future. "In the future, a plant may be an industry, or even more than a dozen industries, such as the in-depth development and utilization of Chinese medicine products."

The standardized production of plant factories helps to overcome the problem of standardization of Chinese medicinal materials. In the plant factory laboratory, the reporter saw Chinese medicinal materials such as Anoectochilus acuminata and Dendrobium huoshanense growing under the light. Laboratory researcher Zheng Yanhai told reporters that the current laboratory research and development of Anoectochilus cuspidatum has been successful and will soon enter the plant factory to achieve mass production. "The quality of Chinese medicinal materials grown in this way is controllable, which can solve the problem of uniformity of medicinal materials. In addition, after our post-processing and adjustment, its medicinal ingredients are much higher than traditionally planted or wild medicinal materials.

Scientists are still working on a "miniature version" of the plant factory. There is a containerized plant factory outside the plant factory. These containerized plant factories can be used in some border guard posts with harsh environments, and border guards can use solar power to assist the plant factories to produce and eat fresh vegetables.

It is planned to use three years to promote the familyization of plant factories. In the future, miniature plant factory incubators may enter thousands of households, allowing ordinary people to eat the freshest "space vegetables".