Yu Chun-ming (游俊明) worked for the Taoyuan District Agricultural Research and Extension Station under the Council of Agriculture in northern Taiwan for 40 years and retired as the station’s deputy director at the age of 63 in 2008. Shortly after his retirement, however, he began to feel restless and accepted an invitation to share his agricultural expertise by teaching at a technical college. In 2011, Yu received another job offer, this time as a consultant for Solidlite Corp., a light-emitting diode (LED) manufacturer operating in Hsinchu County, also in northern Taiwan.
It may seem a bit odd that Yu, with his decades of experience in agriculture, would be asked to contribute to Solidlite’s LED business. That seeming incongruity vanishes, however, when one learns that Solidlite, which was established in 2001, emphasizes the development of wide-band LEDs, a light source designed specifically for growing plants. That emphasis means that the company needs agriculture experts like Yu to offer advice on the breeding, cultivation, propagation and selection of young plants to facilitate product research and development (R&D).
“On my first visit to Solidlite, I was surprised to see that plants could grow so well in a closed environment under artificial lighting,” Yu says. “It was a real eye-opener to learn that high-tech products can be used to improve the growth, nutrient content, quality and yield of plants, and that they can create new opportunities for agriculture. I’m excited about being involved in this kind of collaborative project.”
Controlled-environment agriculture (CEA) is so named because the important elements needed for plant growth—humidity, light (provided by fluorescent or LED lamps), nutrients, temperature and water—are managed by various systems. Growers, of course, have been using greenhouses for centuries, but the advanced technologies needed to control production fully—automation and mechanization, computerized environmental control and hydroponic nutrition systems—have only been combined for agricultural purposes in the past few decades, and mostly in the United States and Europe.
CEA takes place in semi-closed and fully closed growing facilities, both of which Solidlite refers to as “plant factories.” Semi-closed facilities are essentially high-tech greenhouses that can expose plants to both sunlight and artificial lighting, while fully closed facilities use only artificial lighting and grow crops in trays on multilayer shelves. Growing plants in a closed environment addresses the thorny climate and pest problems faced by conventional farmers and is poised to become a global trend, Yu says, adding that Taiwan cannot afford to lag behind in this emerging industry.
A plant cultivation showcase demonstrates Solidlite’s LED-based systems. (Photo courtesy of Solidlite Corp.)
Chen Hsing (陳興), chairman of Solidlite, says his company initially specialized in producing LEDs for various applications including backlighting and general lighting. About five years ago, a Solidlite customer told Chen that the LED lights designed by his business were very conducive to plant growth, and that discovery motivated the company chairman to begin focusing on LED-based plant factory systems. The result was the development of high-efficiency LED agricultural lighting systems that are now sold in 17 countries. To date, the systems have been used to grow more than 100 kinds of vegetables—cabbage, lettuce and spinach, for example—and fruit like Hami melons, strawberries and tomatoes.
While other manufacturers have produced lighting systems that use blue and red LEDs, the Solidlite chairman says the complete light spectrum is needed to ensure that plants reach their full potential. His company’s wide-band LEDs not only induce photosynthesis, or the conversion of light into energy, Chen says, but also photo morphogenesis, or light-mediated development. Solidlite’s testing shows that its LEDs are able to increase growth rates by up to 30 percent compared with plants grown under red and blue LEDs.
Solidlite has patented its wide-band LEDs in Japan, mainland China, the Netherlands, South Korea, Taiwan and the United States. Chen says that Taiwanese LED manufacturers have a competitive edge in product quality, reliability and pricing, with locally made LEDs costing up to 50 percent less than those made by Japanese companies. The current challenge, he says, is to increase LED energy efficiency, which would reduce plant factory production costs and thus the cost of the fruit and vegetables they produce.
The company has extended its involvement in CEA beyond LEDs and now provides overseas clients, mostly in mainland China, with turnkey plant factory solutions that can be built in as little as two to three weeks. At home, the Taiwan Agricultural Research Institute in Taichung, central Taiwan, Taoyuan City Farmers’ Association and National Taiwan University’s College of Bioresources and Agriculture in Taipei have purchased Solidlite’s plant factory systems for experimental cultivation.
Cultivation systems and materials are tested at a tropical greenhouse built by the Industrial Technology Research Institute and Taiwan Plant Factory Industry Development Association. (Photo by Huang Chung-hsin)
Plant factories make agricultural production possible in cities and areas with extreme weather or scarce water resources, Chen says. The facilities, which can be built in a variety of sizes depending on customer needs, can be used by individual businesses, households and larger food suppliers, or in communities as a means of horticulture therapy to improve the lives of senior citizens and those with disabilities.
Moreover, young people appear to be more open to working in plant factories than they are to working in fields, as the factories can be located closer to urban areas, require less physical labor and have a clean and comfortable working environment. There is a critical need to attract and engage younger generations in the agriculture industry, which faces the problem of aging farmers worldwide, Chen says.
After learning of the many advantages and lucrative business opportunities presented by plant factories, Solidlite established the agriculture technology company Green Seasons and purchased a large piece of land for a CEA facility in Hsinchu County in 2013. Chen’s plan is to construct a high-end greenhouse dedicated to cultivating sweet grass and other herbs used in traditional Chinese medicine. Green Seasons is working with the Development Center for Biotechnology, which is funded by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and based in New Taipei City, to develop Chinese herbal medicines and related extraction techniques.
Plant factories have gained a reputation for efficient agricultural production, and Chen says that has encouraged many governments to offer incentives for their construction, development and operation. Japan, for example, provides subsidies for procurement and installation of CEA equipment, and mainland China and the United States subsidize electricity costs at plant factories.
Su Tsung-tsan (蘇宗粲), general director of the Material and Chemical Research Laboratories (MCRL) at the government-sponsored Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), says that agriculture has begun feeling the effects of climate change in recent years. Those effects include severe weather conditions resulting in unstable crop yields and food shortages, while air, soil and water pollution and the decreasing availability of arable land and access to water have posed significant challenges for conventional farming, she adds. CEA not only addresses such problems, but is also capable of higher annual crop production than outdoor farming, consumes less water, and requires less labor and space. Given all those advantages, it is easy to see why plant factories are gaining popularity around the world, particularly in Japan and the Netherlands, which have taken the lead in the sector.
Employees of Tingmao Agricultural Biotechnology Co. care for plants at the company’s indoor production facility in Taoyuan, northern Taiwan. (Photo by Huang Chung-hsin)
“It’s believed that CEA will be the next agricultural revolution, given that it’s able to increase production efficiency, maintain stable quality and conserve resources,” the general director says. “At the same time, we think its development will stimulate economic growth by raising demand for products including LEDs, monitoring instruments and semiconductors.”
Coordinating Role
ITRI set up the Taiwan Plant Factory Industry Development Association (TPFIDA) in June 2011, with Su acting as the chairwoman, to coordinate the efforts of academia, the government and industry. The association promotes development by providing a coordinating mechanism across various business sectors. The TPFIDA’s goal is to facilitate the formation of a complete supply chain while providing an exchange platform for applications, information and technologies. In its exchange role, the association has organized exhibitions, international forums, seminars, trade missions and training courses. One of the TPFIDA’s coordinating functions is collecting and providing members with information about international development trends in areas such as cultivation techniques, equipment and marketing.
The association comprises 42 corporate members and 10 individual members. TPFIDA counts among its leading corporate members Delta Electronics Inc., a large supplier of power and thermal management solutions, LED manufacturers Epistar Corp. and Genesis Photonics Inc., and Taiwan Fertilizer Co. Also participating in the association are numerous ITRI research laboratories in fields including electronics, green energy, information and communications technology and mechanical systems, Su says.
The TPFIDA chairwoman emphasizes that while plant factories offer a viable option for sustainable crop production, greenhouse design needs to be tailored to the local climate to yield maximum results. Taiwan’s varied geography and its location on the Tropic of Cancer create environmental conditions that have helped local manufacturers accumulate experience and expertise in designing and constructing greenhouses for both subtropical and tropical climates. Climatic variables determine whether the structures will be equipped with advanced computer-controlled cooling systems, films that deflect ultraviolet and near-infrared rays, LED lighting fixtures and solar panels, Su says.
A chef at one of Tingmao’s restaurants prepares salads with fresh vegetables from the company’s plant factory. (Photo by Huang Chung-hsin)
Joining Forces
Materials developed by the MCRL for tropical greenhouses include films that block heat-producing light, as well as solutions with ozone micro-bubbles to sterilize water and materials with water-absorbing hollow fibers to control humidity. ITRI and the TPFIDA joined forces in June 2013 to build a demonstration tropical greenhouse incorporating these materials and systems. So far, the facility has been used for the cultivation of herbs and tomatoes. “Taiwan’s advanced high-tech industry and superior farming techniques give it a competitive advantage in developing CEA facilities, particularly tropical greenhouses,” Su says. “Our main task is to integrate these existing technologies so they work together.”
Similarly, Lawrence Lo (羅信沂), chief executive officer (CEO) of Taipei-based Tingmao Agricultural Biotechnology Co., says that Taiwan’s agricultural and industrial experience increases the likelihood of success in the plant factory field. Tingmao is a family-owned business that has provided electrical and mechanical engineering services for housing projects for 40 years. Lo decided to venture into plant factory R&D in 2007 to create a new source of revenue. While Tingmao has years of experience in systems integration, the CEO says the firm needed an additional three years to evaluate the suitability of hardware and software systems for CEA. In February 2012, Tingmao set up a showroom in downtown Taipei, while October that year saw the company establish a plant factory in Taoyuan for commercial production.
Vegetables cultivated in CEA facilities ripen much faster than those in outdoor fields, Lo says. Boston lettuce grown in a plant factory, for example, can be harvested 28 days after planting, compared with the 50 to 60 days required by conventional farming. There are drawbacks, however, because the initial investment needed to build a plant factory is relatively high, as is the cost of the electricity needed to power systems that control humidity, light, nutrients and water. The higher startup and operating costs typically make produce from plant factories more expensive than that grown by conventional methods.
Despite their higher prices, Lo is upbeat about the potential demand for CEA vegetables, citing their better quality and safety. In the area of quality, Lo says that plant factory vegetables have higher nutritional value and a more attractive appearance, as they grow unhindered by pests and are supplied with carefully calibrated amounts of nutrients and water. Meanwhile, as awareness of the impact of environmental pollution and the improper use of pesticides on food production rises, the CEO expects the pesticide and pollution-free vegetables grown in fully closed plant factories to have increasing appeal for health-conscious consumers.
Tingmao has identified 60 to 70 vegetable strains as suitable for indoor farming and cultivates from 13 to 16 varieties at any given time at its production facility. Lo points out that Taiwan largely relies on imports of lettuce and other leafy greens used in salads, as the country’s climate is unfavorable for their outdoor cultivation. In fact, the main crops cultivated at Tingmao’s plant factory are those that cannot be grown locally, which means that domestic conventional farmers do not have to worry about competition from the plant factory.
Ice plants cultivated at Tingmao’s plant factory are eaten in salads and used to make facial soap. (Photo by Huang Chung-hsin)
After starting production at the Taoyuan plant factory, Lo turned his attention to marketing. Initially, Tingmao adopted a business-to-business strategy that focused on vegetable sales to five-star hotels and upscale restaurants. In early 2013, however, the company launched its own vegetable brand, Nice Green, and began selling the branded vegetables in high-end department store supermarkets and through a home delivery service.
Tingmao has also opened six restaurants in the Taipei area, each of which includes small growing areas and offers fresh produce for sale. The marketing effort continues in the showroom of the flagship restaurant in the Xinyi District, which organizes promotional activities like cooking demonstrations, health lectures and tours. The tours are mostly provided for young students on field trips, who wear clean room suits as they learn about how crops are sown, grown and harvested.
Lo has set the ambitious goals of expanding the number of the company’s restaurants to more than 30 by the end of this year and doubling the size of the Taoyuan production facility to 3,300 square meters. He plans to open the expanded plant to visitors to boost understanding of the value of the new industry. Thanks to the increases in Tingmao’s restaurants, sales outlets and production area, the CEO expects the company’s revenue to rise from NT$50 million (US$1.7 million) in 2013 to NT$300 million (US$10 million) this year.
“We’ve drawn on the agricultural and industrial advances that Taiwan has made, along with years of hard work, to establish a business model that encompasses systems integration, crop production and sales,” Lo says. “Vegetables from plant factories are gaining consumer acceptance because they’re safer and more nutritious. I hope more local farmers and businesses will join in the effort to develop this industry. We’re more than willing to share our expertise and experience with them.”
Write to Kelly Her at kher@mofa.gov.tw