Vertical Farming Takes Root In Taiwan

BY JULES QUARTLY

Exposed root system for hydroponically grown plants at YesHealth's iFarm in Taoyuan. Photo: Jules Quartly

After becoming a world leader in semiconductors and other electronic products, Taiwan is now looking to smart agriculture as its next vine to climb. The island aims to supply much of the world’s fruit and vegetables within the next 30 years.

This might seem rather unlikely until you consider that the future of farming is not land and labor but factories and robots. Furthermore, Taiwan already possesses in abundance the tools that tomorrow’s smart farmers will use, including solar and advanced light technology, chemicals, gene editing, drones, smart sensors, software, algorithms, data mining, and big data.

Many of these technologies are being put to use in a glittering new 14-story vertical farm at Copenhagen Markets in Denmark’s capital. The first phase of construction of the 7,000-square-meter facility finished in early December. It is one of Europe’s biggest and most efficient vertical farms and was built using a blueprint of patented technologies from Taiwan’s YesHealth Group.

The result of a partnership between YesHealth and Danish agritech startup Nordic Harvest, the farm looks like a fancy warehouse from the outside. The interior is fitted with rows upon rows and columns upon columns of trays containing leafy greens, growing under an intense battery of more than 20,000 smart LED lights. The plants are tended by engineers in lab coats and guided by software that processes over 5,000 individual data points to optimize plant health.

Rows of fresh produce grown under batteries of LED lights at iFarm. Photo: Jules Quartly

The LEDs provide variable spectrum light for 100 different kinds of plants, nanobubble hydroponics oxygenate the roots and inhibit bacterial growth, and liquid microbial fertilizers derived from oyster shells, brown sugar, and soy milk provide essential nutrients for plants and soil. Even the music played to the plants is science-infused, with classical or light jazz music ranging between 115 and 250 Hertz seeming to work best.

Production at the new vertical farm is set to begin in the new year and will scale up to around 3,000 kilograms of leafy vegetables per day by the end of 2021, equating to approximately 1,000 tons of greens annually. Crucially, unlike most farms, these figures are close to guaranteed since production is not at the mercy of climate, the weather, pests and disease, pesticide residue, nitrate levels, or hundreds of other variables that affect traditional farming. 

According to Jesper Hansen, YesHealth Group’s Chief Communications Officer, the partnership with Nordic Harvest has been a productive one so far. It took just five months to install the farm and all the produce is pre-sold to ensure the operation is profitable by Q3 of 2021.

“This collaboration is just the start of a long-term journey together,” Hansen said in an email from Denmark. He notes that the two partners plan to expand to other Scandinavian countries over the next several years.

Hansen credits Taiwan for its efficient development of the technology and know-how to reproduce vertical farms all over the world and calls the Danish development “a crucial milestone in our international expansion.” He adds that the company is eyeing new partners in Europe, Asia, and the MENA (the Middle East and North Africa) region.

YesHealth is the brainchild of serial tech entrepreneur Winston Tsai, who started an LCD screen company at age 21. His “eureka moment” came after being diagnosed with liver cancer and partly linking his illness to pollution in foods. After recovering, he made it his mission to produce affordable, pesticide-free produce by harnessing the power of technology.

He founded YesHealth Agri-Biotechnology Co. Ltd. in 2011 and six years later established YesHealth iFarm in Taoyuan’s Luzhu District. The iFarm cultivates an ever-expanding range of leafy vegetables and herbs in a 2,500-square-meter warehouse factory. It produces 1,500 kilograms of leafy greens per day, a yield which the company says is 100 times more efficient than a traditional farm using the same space and requires only 10% as much water. In addition, YesHealth has a farm in China’s Shenzhen, which harvests up to 2,500 kilograms per day.

A tour of iFarm is well worth a visit and introduces the wide variety of plants grown there. Photo: Jules Quartly

YesHealth’s products are sold to major retailers both in Taiwan and abroad, including restaurants, hotels, and airports. Its stated aim is to supply a total of 7,000 kilograms of leafy greens per day worldwide in 2021.

Diners enjoy a meal at iFarm’s restaurant, which overlooks the vertical farm. Photo: Jules Quartly

Having sampled the produce at the iFarm, I can confirm the arugula grown there is as tasty as any I have tried, while the lettuce and leguminous alfalfa is a perfectly clean, green, and crunchy eating experience – the result, I was informed, of an optimal growing environment and harvesting at exactly the right time.

A plate of salad featuring leafy greens grown at the iFarm site. Photo: Jules Quartly

In a sense, it’s back to the future for Taiwan, which had a largely agricultural economy up until the 1950s. Agriculture was one of the pillars supporting the nation’s economic miracle after World War II. With the help of mechanization and productivity gains, agricultural production at that time contributed around a third of Taiwan’s GDP.

In more recent times it has accounted for just 1.8-1.9% of GDP. That greatly reduced figure, which includes animal husbandry, fishing, and forestry, is not due to a decline in agricultural output per se, so much as the growth in manufacturing and the emergence of a pervasive service sector.

Taiwan has a wide range of rich, often volcanic soils that are exceptionally fertile, along with a subtropical climate that provides plentiful sun and rain. It is known as the “Fruit Kingdom” because of the quality of its fruit, with dozens of varieties ranging from bananas and papayas to wax apples and guavas. More than 100 kinds of vegetables grow all year round.

On the other hand, Taiwan’s mainly mountainous geography means just 25% of the land is suitable for farming. Meanwhile, climate change is affecting agricultural production by increasing summer temperatures and making rainfall more unpredictable. At the same time, considerable soil erosion, acidification, contamination by chemicals and heavy metals, and strong pesticide use have diminished soil quality over the last 50 years.

Furthermore, the proportion of Taiwanese involved in farming has rapidly declined, from 37% of the population in the early 1970s to the current 15% or less, according to the Yearbook of the Republic of China. Not only is the farming population declining, but it’s also ageing as well.

Those factors may not pose as much of an issue, however, since the old model of agriculture is being disrupted so dramatically that even economies of scale are being upended. Given the large size and advanced technology of the U.S., it may come as no surprise that it is the world’s biggest exporter of food as measured by value. Second on the list, however, is the Netherlands, which has just 0.045% the area of the U.S.

According to a National Geographic report in September 2017, the Netherlands’ achievement can be attributed to the work coming out of Wageningen University & Research, 80 kilometres from Amsterdam in the heart of Food Valley – the world’s agricultural equivalent of Silicon Valley in California. The university strives to come up with ways to increase yields and sustainability, and then to disseminate that knowledge.  

New generation

With its strong background in information technology, Taiwan is in a good position to follow that example. The island manufactures everything required for what is known as precision agriculture, a farming management concept that uses IT to collect data from multiple sources as a means of increasing crop yields and boosting profitability. Taiwan is thus the ideal place for putting together prototypes relatively quickly and cheaply.

YesHealth, for example, makes its own LED lights through a local contractor rather than relying on a major manufacturer like Philips, which means it’s nimbler in terms of bringing focused, new tech to the market – and reaping the dividends. According to the company’s Program Manager, Dennis Jan, Taoyuan’s iFarm has the sixth generation LED lighting, while new iterations that are increasingly productive and energy-efficient are being rolled out on an almost annual basis.

The Council of Agriculture (COA) recognized some time ago the need for a precision approach to farming. In 2016, it developed the “Smart Agriculture 4.0 Program,” which was passed by the legislature a year later.

COA realized that the nation’s “calorie-based food self-sufficiency rate is relatively low” and that “shortages in food supplies and escalations in food prices” will inevitably occur as the world’s population expands from 7.5 billion to an expected 10.5 billion by 2050. 

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations says that in order to meet the needs of all these additional people, about 70% more food needs to be produced. Gains achieved in improving crop yields have plateaued and are unlikely to rise again without a complete transformation of the agricultural landscape through the introduction of city farms, vertical farming, and the application of information technology.

In a written response to Taiwan Business TOPICS, COA commented: “With the rapid development of sensing technology, smart machinery devices, IoT, and big data analysis, smart agriculture has been growing in various fields.

“For example, it can monitor and control the production environment automatically to keep animals and crops in the best condition,” COA said. “It can predict harvesting dates and yields through data analysis and make adjustments to maintain a balance of production and marketing, and it can use smart automated machinery in agricultural operation to significantly reduce the labor burden.” Such uses, says the Council, “make agriculture more competitive.”

Fruitful results

Besides fruit orchards, other sectors that COA has included within Agriculture 4.0 include seedlings, mushrooms, rice, aquaculture, poultry, livestock, and offshore fisheries.

COA cites Taiwan Lettuce Village as an enterprise that has benefited from precision farming. The company halved fertilizer use but improved harvest efficiency 1.5 times by introducing a fertilization recommendation system, a harvesting date and yield prediction system, synchronous fertilizing technology, and transplanter and harvester technology.

According to COA the application of precision farming increased yield prediction accuracy by 5% and prevented 350 metric tons of overstocking. In addition, plant disease and pest control were improved through the use of a cloud-based system and machine learning algorithm. “The results were very fruitful,” COA concluded.

Agriculture 4.0 doesn’t just apply to the growing of produce; it also looks at the storage, transport, and export of goods. As an example, COA points to a relatively new fruit hybrid that was originally developed in Israel in the late 1960s. The atemoya – or pineapple sugar apple (鳳梨釋迦), as it is known in Taiwan – is a heart-shaped fruit with green, scaly skin. A cross between wax apples and the cherimoya (often referred to as Buddha’s head fruit locally), it has become synonymous with Taiwan and export success, much like the kiwi fruit and New Zealand.

Previously, 90% of the country’s atemoya exports went to China because it is so close. Later, the Taitung District Agricultural Research and Extension Station introduced a frozen whole-fruit technique that enables 95% of thawed fruit to have a “consistent ripening texture and dramatically improved the raw material quality.”

The technique involves a quick freeze to -40° Celsius, which inhibits bacteria, allowing the whole fruit to be transported at a fairly standard -18°C. After thawing, it can meet the rigorous food safety standards of Japan and South Korea.

Traditional farmers may harbor concerns about agriculture becoming a primarily manufacturing process, taking place under artificial light. However, Kevin Lin, Head of Business Development at YesHealth, insists that what the company is doing is still agriculture.

“This is nature; we are just optimizing it,” he says. “Sustainability is at the forefront of what we do, and our focus now is on ensuring the energy costs of vertical farming – such as heating and lights – are lowered and the source is sustainable.”

In this way, Lin says, Taiwan can produce cheap, healthy, and environmentally friendly food that can help feed the world, even as the global population approaches the staggering 10.5 billion mark.

Coimbatore’s Hydroponic Farm Delivers Fresh Greens Within Three Hours of Harvest

K Jeshi

Sustainable farming and fresh, zero-carbon food are the philosophy behind the city’s first urban hydroponic farm, located inside an industrial building campus. To know more, MetroPlus makes a visit

I grab a leaf of peppermint from a bed of mint leaves and taste the intense freshness. Next, I look at thyme and smell the powerful aroma. A little away, purple basil with a beautiful, coppery glow beckon. I crush a lemon balm leaf and take in the uplifting, mild scent.

I am at Parna Farms, Coimbatore’s first urban hydroponic farm, located right in the heart of the city at an industrial building campus. Spread across 3,000 square feet, it grows 2,520 plants.

Akhila Vijayaraghavan | Photo Credit: S Siva Saravanan

“Our fresh lemon balm leaves impart a subtle flavour and fragrance, making it especially nice for custards, jam and jellies, cakes and tea,” says Akhila Vijayaraghavan, owner of the farm. “The purple basil is used for colour in salads. Except maybe amaranthus and palak (spinach), you can eat all the greens we grow here raw,” says Akhila pointing to varieties of lettuce, basil, bok choy, and kale.

Asian water spinach (kang kong), red gongura, mustard leaves and methi (fenugreek) are some of the new additions. “We also grow dill leaves, which are used as a garnish for fish and meat dishes and pasta. Fresh peppermint extracts are used in baking. We constantly try new crops based on demand, after rounds of trial-and-error.”

Peppermint grown at the hydrophonic Farm | Photo Credit: S Siva Saravanan

A graduate of Molecular Biology from the University of Glasgow, Akhila ran her own environmental consultancy for over 10 years before turning an urban farmer. “I worked with a lot of companies, from pharmaceuticals to FMCG, and learnt that the supply of quality end-product is a difficult task. Agriculture has always been one of my passions; I was interested in food crops. A herb can be used in cooking, to extract oil, extract nutrients in dry form, and maybe in alternative medicine, perfumery… the possibilities are exciting,” adds Akhila.

She researched hydroponic methodology and educated herself on farming before diving into it. “Anyone can do it, it is not rocket science,” she says.

“Hydroponics combines both sustainability and technology. In indoor hydroponic cultivation, the control on nutrient supply ensures more quality products, for example, improved oil content in herbs, as well as better crop yield. A hydroponic mint has more methanol content than a soil-grown one. The system also uses 80% less water than conventional agriculture. The water is upcycled for reuse.”

At Parna Farms, greens are grown using the nutrient film technique (NFT), where a thin ‘film’ of nutrient-rich water with macronutrients like nitrogen, potassium, phosphorous and calcium nitrate, and micronutrients like manganese and zinc nourish the roots of the plants.

Seedlings at the nursery at the hydroponic farm | Photo Credit: S Siva Saravanan

The farm has a germination area that uses coco peat to sprout plants and a nursery where net cups (small planters) are filled with clay pebbles. There is also the growing system, which involves metal stands and PVC pipes attached to a covered nutrient tank that pumps water to the plants. “We incubate the net cups in a plastic tray for a couple of weeks. Once the plant grows roots, it is transferred to the main system with higher nutrients in the water. This is where it is fully grown and harvested,” explains Akhila.

Hydroponic agriculture, she says, has existed for over 3,000 years, with the Hanging Gardens of Babylon being one of the often-quoted examples of this technique. “It is one of the more accessible forms of modern agriculture, tackling the dual problems of water scarcity and shortage of farmland. It reduces soil-borne pests and diseases.”

Akhila says the objective is to ensure that customers get fresh, pesticide-free produce within three hours of harvest. “Though a palak bunch from here costs ₹130, they are willing to pay the premium to enjoy good health,” says Akhila, adding, “You are what you eat. In hydroponics farming, every day is a learning curve.”

Follow @parnafarms on Instagram to know more

Investment Projects On Construction And Modernization of Greenhouse Complexes Will Be Presented At The 5th Anniversary International Forum And Exhibition Greenhouse Complexes Russia & CIS 2020

Date: 2 - 4 December 2020

Place: Moscow, Baltschug Kempinski

Organized by: Vostock Capital

Tel.: +44 207 394 3090  

E-mail: Events@vostockcapital.com

Website: https://www.greenhousesforum.com/en/

The well-being of our guests and participants is the top priority for our company, so this year “Greenhouse Complexes of Russia and CIS” Forum will be held in “hybrid format”.  The event will take place on 2-4 December 2020. We are delighted to welcome the participants at the traditional venue – Baltschug Kempinski hotel and on the online platform at the same time. Every delegate will be able to choose the most convenient format of networking.

We have already held a successful event in this format. More testimonies to link.

 5th Anniversary International Forum and Exhibition Greenhouse Complexes Russia & CIS 2020 – is an established professional international platform for attracting investment in the Greenhouse Industry of Russia, discussing industry development strategies, exchanging experience between key market players, and signing new win-win contracts.

The Forum is supported by the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation.

Silver sponsor: SVETOGOR. Bronze sponsors: Unitec, Pylot, FITO. Onsite Visit Sponsor: Osram.

Onsite Visits Partners: “Agrokultura Group” Greenhouse Complex, “Podosinki” Greenhouse Complex.

The Forum unites investors from Europe and the CIS, initiators of greenhouse projects for from all regions of Russia, senior executives from federal and regional agricultural holdings, representatives of Russian regulating agencies, heads of the regions, top managers from retail chains and service companies, presidents of national unions and associations as well as investors from Asia.

Among the confirmed companies 2020: ECO-Culture,  Stavropol Flavour, Greenhouse, Ovoschevod, Grow Group Azerbaijan, Yagodnaya Dolina, Tander, X5 Retail Group, Agricultural Complex Gorkovskiy, Agrocombine Moskovskiy, MC AgroPark Plody s Gryadki, Yug-Agro, ECO-farm Mazilovo, Trading House Vyborgec, Green Farmer, Sun Valley, Growth Technology, Yagodnaya Dolina, Udmurt Flowers, FITO, MWM RUS, Horti XS BV, Pylot, AgroBioTechnology, and many others.

Register Now - https://www.greenhousesforum.com/en/registration/

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Forum Highlights 2020:

• 500+ senior executives of major commercial greenhouses and agriholdings from Russia and the CIS – Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Belarus, Armenia, Azerbaijan, as well as investors, government officials, chief agronomists, heads of retails chains and service providers

• NEW! 2 ONSITE VISITS to state-of-the-art greenhouse complexes - “AGROKULTURA GROUP” (vegetable farming) and “PODOSINKI” (flower cultivation)

• Leaders debate: The Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation, agriholdings, investors, initiators. How will the greenhouse industry evolve after the pandemic?

• Greenhouse investment projects on construction and modernisation to be developed in 2021-2025 from all Russian regions and the CIS

• NEW! CITY FARMING. Development prospects of the city farming trend in Russia and the CIS

• FOCUS-SESSION: Diversification – MICROGREENS, LETTUCE, PARSLEY, DILL, AND OTHER GREEN CROPS. If not cucumbers and tomatoes, what else can grow in a greenhouse? 

• HOW MODERN GREENHOUSE TECHNOLOGIES CAN OPTIMISE PRODUCTION? How can innovations boost the greenhouse industry?

• GREENHOUSE MARKETING. How to sell food from the greenhouse properly? Success formula by major producers

• IMPORTANT! POWER SUPPLY IN THE GREENHOUSE INDUSTRY. How to cut power expenses?

• SELLING GREENHOUSE PRODUCTS How to build cooperation with retail chains?

• AGRONOMY DAY - specialized workshops on growing vegetables. How to boost plant fertility and resistance?

• Specialised exhibition of advanced equipment and technology for greenhouses by the lead companies from the Netherlands, Israel, Germany, Italy, Spain, and other countries

• Fast and efficient! Roadshow of innovative technologies and equipment by the global leaders

• Evening cocktails

Register now - https://www.greenhousesforum.com/en/registration/

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The New "ModuleX Plant Factory"

The New "ModuleX Plant Factory" Achieves Genovese Basil Full

Production Cost Below 10 EUR/kg (5$/lbs). And

Wins agtechbreakthrough.com 

“2020 Vertical Farming Solution of The Year”

The full launch webinar is available at https://urbancropsolutions.com/the-launch-webinar/

On September 9th, 2020, Urban Crop Solutions presented their new “ModuleX Plant Factory” at a launch webinar with 500 registrations from 40 countries, of which 245 attended the event live. The webinar was hosted by Henry Gordon-Smith, CEO of Agritecture, an independent horticultural consulting firm. During the webinar, CEO Tom Debusschere and co-founder/CTO Maarten Vandecruys, showed a demo of the new Grow Module with the BenchCarousel (patent pending).

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There was also a guided tour inside of the Indoor Biology Research Center and some in-depth dialogue on the risks and hurdles new entrepreneurs face when starting up a business in Vertical Farming. Other topics covered were the business planning, the 6 months lead time ‘from order to 1st harvest’, and finally the bottom line: an overview of the full production cost (including 10-year depreciation of investment cost) for 3 benchmark crops Romaine Lettuce, Genovese Basil and Red Stem Radish microgreens.

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CEO Tom Debusschere: “We couldn’t be happier with the outcome of our launch webinar. In these times of COVID-19 travel restrictions, we have developed the ability to train and start-up new customers completely remotely. I’m glad to see that within the Vertical Farming community, there is such a wide interest in remote presentation and education as well. I am also proud that Agtechbreakthrough.com has awarded us the 2020 Vertical Farming solution of the year".

Timeslots of interesting topics:

·        8’08” Demo video of the Grow Module with BenchCarousel

·        16’01” In-depth conversation on the end-to-end support

·        29’41” Explanation of full lead time ‘from order to 1st harvest’ of 6 months or less

·        39’08” Guided tour inside the Urban Crop Research Center

·        48’10” Full unit production cost, including CAPEX depreciation over 10 years

Urban Crop Solutions is an ag-tech pioneer in the fast-emerging world of ‘Indoor Vertical Farming’. Throughout years of research, 220+ ‘plant growth recipes’ were developed for efficient indoor growing. All drivers for healthy plant growth, such as optimal LED spectrum and intensity, nutrient mix, irrigation strategy, and climate settings are tested and validated daily in the company’s own Indoor Biology Research Center.

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To date, Urban Crop Solutions has manufactured container Farms and a Plant Factory for clients throughout Europe, North America, and Asia. Urban Crop Solutions’ commercial farms are being operated for vegetables, herbs, and micro-greens for food retail, foodservice, and industrial applications. Research institutions operate the growing infrastructure of Urban Crop Solutions for scientific research on banana seedlings, flowers, hemp, and many more.

Visit www.urbancropsolutions.com for a full virtual tour.

Brecht Stubbe, Sales Director                        brst@urbancropsolutions.com

Maarten Vandecruys, CTO                             mava@urbancropsolutions.com

Tom Debusschere, CEO                                  tode@urbancropsolutions.com 

European headquarters:                                Regional headquarters:

Grote Heerweg 67                                            800 Brickell Avenue, 1100 Suite     
8791 Beveren-Leie (Waregem)                     Miami (FL 33131)
Belgium                                                            Florida

(+32) 56 96 03 06                                             +1 (727) 601 7158

Facebook:                                                            www.facebook.com/urbancropsolutions
Twitter:                                                                  www.twitter.com/U_C_Solutions
LinkedIn:                                                               www.linkedin.com/company/urbancropsolutions
YouTube channel:                                               http://www.youtube.com/c/UrbanCropSolutions

Instagram:                                                            https://www.instagram.com/urbancropsolutions/?hl=en

Valentina De Pauw / Marketing & Sales OfficerMobile: +32 487 40 19 56
E-mail: vadp@urbancropsolutions.com

MAURITIUS: Promotion of Entrepreneurship In Green And Sustainable Agri-Business Activities

Date: August 20, 2020

Domain: Agriculture and Food Security
Persona: Business; Citizen; Non-Citizen; Government

GIS – 20 August 2020: A training course in Hydroponics Crop Production and Greenhouse Management, aimed at encouraging entrepreneurship in green and sustainable agri-business activities among co-operative planters, was launched, today, at the National Cooperative College (NCC), in Terre Rouge.  Some 75 co-operative planters and unemployed persons are participating.

The course, which covers both theoretical and practical aspects of hydroponics, is being offered jointly by the NCC, the University of Mauritius (UoM), and the Food and Agricultural Research and Extension Institute (FAREI).

In his address, the Minister of Industrial Development, SMEs, and Cooperatives, Soomilduth Bholah, recalled that the course is in line with Government’s policy to drive agricultural innovation and promote sustainable agriculture and food production. The training, he said, focuses on providing essential basic knowledge and practical skills pertaining to crop production.

The Minister also lauded the benefits of hydroponics farming which are namely: water conservation, use of fewer chemicals, space-saving, faster growth, nutrient control, bigger yields, no soil erosion, and healthier plants.

This emerging sector, Mr. Bholah indicated, is aligned with initiatives promoting the protection of the environment and of public health, food safety, and entrepreneurship.  He also highlighted that hydroponics farming requires less pesticides and herbicides, resulting therefore in healthier food for consumption.

The Hydroponics course

This part-time course is of a 30-hour duration and will be conducted once weekly at the NCC. Practical sessions will be held at the Mapou Model Farm and the UoM Labs.

The topics being covered include: introduction to agriculture and hydroponics, greenhouse models and structures, fertigation and nutrient solution preparation, management of greenhouse environment, pre/post-cyclone management practices, troubleshooting, choice of varieties of crop, seedling production, cultural practices, pest and disease management, and harvest and post-harvest practices.

It is recalled that financing plans for hydroponics are available at FAREI and the Development Bank of Mauritius.

Government Information Service, Prime Minister’s Office, Level 6, New Government Centre, Port Louis, Mauritius. Email: gis@govmu.org  Website: http://gis.govmu.org Mobile App: Search Gov