LED lighting, the new growth point of plant factory

In Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan, a large plant factory, which has been operating since 2014, covers an area of ​​about 5,000 square meters and produces four salad vegetables.

Katashi Kai, general manager of the factory's operations department, said that the biggest advantage of using LED grow lights is that they can guarantee stable production and supply throughout the year, independent of climate and environment. The cultivation management and hygiene control methods completely eliminate dust, insect pests, and foreign matter pollution, and can produce high quality and safe vegetables without using pesticides.

In the early days of its establishment, the factory used traditional fluorescent lamps as the light sources. But the fluorescent lamps have various problems. For example, the heat generated by fluorescent lamps can burn plant leaves, and the fluorescent light has a short decay period, and the fluorescent lamps have a risk of causing pollution of foreign matter. Kai said: "LED lights do not have such problems or risks. Therefore, we decided to replace the fluorescent lamps with LED plant grow lights, in the medium and long-term operation, the use of LED lighting can greatly reduce operating costs."

The LED lights were fully utilized in the factory in 2017. Compared to the previous, the electricity cost of the factory was reduced by about 40%, and the growth rate of vegetables was increased by 20% to 30%. Higher growth rates mean higher yields in the facility, lower production costs, and no change in the taste and nutrient content of the vegetables.

Cree launched new LED for agricultural lighting

Lately, Cree launched their new two models of LEDs, XLamp XP-E2 Photo Red (660 nm) and XP-E2 Far Red (730 nm), which are used in the LED grow light. These LEDs have higher lighting effects that can shorten the payback period, and reduce the planting cost under LED lighting.

XP-E2 series is the upgrade version of XP series agricultural LED lighting, having the same mechanical and optic property as the previous generation. In addition, compared with the XP series, the brightness of Far Red LED increase 57%, and that of the Photo Red LED is 21%. The new generation of products reached the top of the industrial level.

Claude Demby, the Manager of Cree LED said that the specific LEDs such as architectural lighting and agricultural lighting are the part of Cree's product strategy. The Photo Red and Far Red full spectrum LED grow light can save more than half of electricity than the HPS plant light. The promotion of agricultural LED lighting is the Cree's promise, that is providing the advanced high power and high performance LED.

It's reported that the farmers in the UK, Netherland, and Belgium have roundly used the LED plant light as the main light source of large indoor planting facilities. As the LED grow light manufacturer, we've been cooperating with the top brand light source supplier like Cree to improve our products.

China's successful LED plant factory

In recent years, with the continuous improvement of the people's pursuit of high-quality life, and the upstream industries such as LED plant growth lights and the agricultural intelligent systems have developed rapidly, the cost of various facilities and equipment has gradually declined. The development of artificial lighting plant factories has entered a golden period.

Red & blue LED grow light in the plant factory

Plant Factory refers to plant cultivation systems that fully or partially control the environmental conditions to make the plant growth unaffected by the natural environment. Its main features are that the planting space is closed, the artificial light completely replaces the sunlight, the production cycle is short, etc. In addition, many countries are scrambling to study space farming technologies. In November 2016, Chinese astronauts brought a miniature LED plant factory into space and conducted a number of experiments in the Tiangong-2 Space Lab.

Xicui Plant Factory is one of the first large-scale commercial vertical plant factories in China. Its industrial crop production process and innovative agricultural production methods are examples of high-tech agriculture in the future. As the industry's leading indoor full artificial light vertical farm, the Xicui Plant Factory uses the computer to accurately control key environmental factors in plant growth, so that plant growth is not affected by climate and geographical conditions. The full-circle-controlled growth conditions make it unnecessary to apply any pesticides for the cultivation of vegetables in the Xicui plant; 12 layers of dense planting, extremely high land utilization; high-efficiency water saving, only 1/10 of the water used in traditional agriculture.

At present, the Xicui Plant Factory covers an area of 3,000-square-meter in Guanhu, Dapeng New District. The daily production capacity is around 10,000 dishes, and the products are positioned as high-end customers. According to the latest research of McKinsey Global Institute, the number of middle-income and above people in China reached 290 million in 2011. The annual per capita consumption of high-quality vegetables in this group reached 115 kg. The demand for high-quality vegetables will reach 33.35 million tons, and the output value will exceed 1006. 200 million yuan. The high-end vegetable market has huge space.

CSA project "General technical requirements for LED lighting system for leaf vegetable production"

Led by the Institute of Agricultural Environment and Sustainable Development of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Xiamen Tongyu Technology Co., Ltd., Dongguan University Optoelectronics Research Institute, Osram (China) Lighting Co., Ltd., and Yimeixinguang (Beijing) Technology Co., Ltd. joint proposal "General technical requirements for LED lighting system for leaf vegetables production" that approved by the CSA Standardization Committee (CSAS) Management Committee, officially established the alliance standard CSA058-201X.

In recent years, New greenhouses, plant factories, vertical farms have developed rapidly at home and abroad, and have become a research hotspot in the field of plant production. Increasing luminous efficiency and reducing energy consumption have always been an important issue in the field of agricultural lighting. LED can adjust the spectrum and irradiation intensity according to demand, and form a spectrum that is basically consistent with the photosynthesis and morphogenesis of plants. The LED's utilization rate of light energy can reach 80%~90%, and the energy-saving effect is remarkable.

The LED grow lights are mainly used to produce leafy vegetables and has gradually formed a market scale. At present, the new agricultural lighting farms that have been built and planned to be built in China have a planting area of ??more than 1 million square meters, and the estimated demand for LED light source products is about 105 million pcs (20W/2.1umol/J), and the annual compound increase rate is 16.7%. This technical report specifies the general technical requirements for the production of LED illumination systems for leafy vegetables based on full artificial light conditions, including terminology and definitions, classification, technical requirements, effect evaluation methods, and measurement methods. At the same time, the “General cultivation management measures for the production of artificial artificial leaf vegetables”, “the common cultivation mode for the production of artificial leafy vegetables”, “General environmental conditions for the production of all artificial leafy vegetables”, “General environmental conditions for the production of typical leafy vegetables”, etc. are used as an appendix to provide a more comprehensive understanding of artificial leafy vegetable production related information.

Currently, the CSAS Secretariat is collecting the standard drafting group within the formal CSAS membership with a view to developing the standard as soon as possible.

LED plant lights help French growers to increase cucumber production

A few days ago, Signify issued a press release announcing that two French vegetable growers have installed Signify's LED garden lighting in their greenhouses to help grow cucumbers throughout the year.

According to the company, Jardins Réunis and Cheminant installed the Philips GreenPower series of plant lights LED Toplight and LED Interlight in their new cucumber greenhouse (located in the Nantes region of France). The two are the first growers in France to use LED lamps to grow steel cucumbers, demonstrating their leadership as a member of the Océane grower cooperative.

Signify pointed out that LED grow lighting can help increase crop yields, and also allows growers to control light and temperature more precisely because LEDs do not generate excessive heat as the light increases. These features ensure the high-quality production of the crop throughout the year as efficiently as possible.

Antoine, a co-owner of Cheminant, said that LED plant lights provide better heat and light balance. Compared to high-pressure sodium lamps, LED lights can greatly increase production without generating heat. According to the calculation, Cheminant's 20,000 square meters semi-enclosed greenhouse is illuminated with LED lights, and the output will be 30% higher than the output of traditional greenhouses without LED grow lights.

Vincent Olivon, co-owner of Jardins Réunis, said that the planting experts can provide good advice and support. LED lighting will help companies improve energy efficiency and reduce production gaps, especially in the winter when revenues are greater. This plays a key role in maintaining the company's position in the market throughout the year.

It is reported that similar to Jardins Réunis and Cheminant, a French Philips Horti LED certified partner Eiffage énergie Systèmes installed Philips LED Toplight (145 μmol/s/m2) and LED Interlight in its 25,000 m2 greenhouse in November 2018. (67 μmol/s/m2).

Summary of LED grow lights in 2018

With the continuous development of modern agriculture, the demand and energy consumption of agricultural lighting is constantly expanding, and new challenges are also raised for traditional lighting technology. As a new generation of the light source, in addition to the characteristics of energy saving and environmental protection, LED has the advantages of the customizable spectrum, high color purity, and rich light color compared with fluorescent lamps or high-pressure sodium lamps.

LED technology has lower power consumption and can save a lot of energy costs compared with traditional plant lighting technology. LED grow lighting solutions can help growers increase yield by 25% and energy costs by 50%. The LED lights with a special spectrum not only optimizes the yield and growth time but also enhances the nutrients contained in the crop and improves its taste and flavor.

It can be seen that LED plant lighting can be designed into various types of light sources according to different crops, precisely controlling the growth of the plants.

LED strip grow lights in the vertical farm

With the continuous improvement of LED plant lighting technology, its application fields will become more and more extensive, including skyscraper tops, vertical farms, greenhouse canopies, homes, shopping malls, and even abandoned containers. According to the data of the Industry Research Institute, the global LED plant lighting market in 2018 is 190 million US dollars, with a growth rate of 26.7%.

According to the estimation of the scale of China's existing agricultural industry, the demand for agricultural LED lighting and its control equipment will reach several billion yuan in the next five years. The LED grow lights for plant factories and greenhouse will be the fastest growing LED lighting field with high technical content. It can be seen that with the increase in the penetration rate of global LED application agricultural lighting, the future market prospect is broad.

LED grow lights help a Swedish farm overcome difficult weather conditions

A Swedish agricultural company, Ljusgarda AB, spent 1.3 million kronor to purchase LED lighting solutions from Heliospectr, known for its intelligent LED lighting systems in plant science and horticulture.

Ljusgarda AB converted a Swedish old factory into an indoor vertical farm with an area of 7,000-square-meter, its estimated annual production is 1,000 tons. Through the introduction of advanced hydroponic cultivation techniques and efficient LED plant lighting, the factory is able to achieve stable output throughout the year and guarantee high quality. Thanks to the closed growing environment, the crop does not require any pesticides, which further guarantees pollution-free production.

In a closed environment, LED plant lights, as the main source of light, play a very important role in plant growth due to the lack of sunlight. And because the spectrum and color ratio of LED lights can be customized according to different plants, growers can use specific LED agricultural lighting according to different plants to achieve the best results.

Ljusgarda has created an optimal indoor environment with LED grow lights and other breeding systems to keep crop production free from adverse weather conditions and achieve high quality and high output throughout the year.

A plant factory combines natural light and LED grow lights have been built in Beijing

The largest sunlight and LED grow lights combination plant factory has been built in Beijing by Jingdong, which has a total area of more than 10,000 square meters. With the help of the combined lighting system, cultivate system and temperature control system, the factory will be in the most suitable environment all years round.

Due to the adoption of the latest technologies, the yield is 3 to 4 times than other traditional greenhouses, and more than 90% of the water is saved. Moreover, the factory maximizes the use of natural light rather than relying on LED grow lighting, which further reduces energy consumption.

It is reported that the vegetable will be sold simultaneously on the Jingdong's online and offline markets.

The world's first underground fully automatic LED lighting plant factory

The use of artificial lighting and nutrient solutions to grow leafy vegetables is no longer a new thing, and many Japanese companies use the waste factory to plant vegetables. A plant factory in Chiba Prefecture, near Tokyo, differs in that the boxes from which the seedlings are grown are transported to the plant factories in the underground space, and the vegetables that are finally grown are sent to the ground by conveyor belts to achieve full automation. Planting vegetables.

This is the world's first underground fully automated plant factory, located in an idle underground municipal complex. The top of the underground tunnel of about 3.1 kilometers is about 5 meters from the ground, the interior is 6 meters to 8 meters wide, and the height is about 4 meters. It was first built in 1995. It was originally planned to be used in the local municipal integrated pipe network and was left unused. Ito Electric Co., Ltd., which develops automation equipment, cooperates with the Chiba Prefecture Corporate Land Administration to utilize this idle underground tunnel. In December 2017, this unique plant factory was built.

According to Okada Akira, head of the Plant Factory Development Headquarters of Ito Electric Co., Ltd., starting from December 2017, the plant factory began to test and cultivate 200 vegetables per day, including leafy vegetables such as lettuce and edible flowers. According to the plan, by 2020, the factory can enter the mass production period and produce 2,500 per day. By 2022, the daily output will be further expanded to 5,000. By then, the underground plant area will reach approximately 3,200 square meters, and the above-ground working area will reach approximately 600 square meters.

It is reported that part of the tunnel has been opened up as a fully enclosed plant growing area with an area of about 120 square meters. Through the plastic wall curtain, some vegetables such as lettuce can be seen layered inside.

According to Okada Akira, the plant has been fully automated. After cultivating the seedlings on the ground, the modular vegetable box is sent underground through the conveyor belt. The LED light and nutrient solution transport in the underground plant can be completed automatically. The underground plant factory can be transported to the ground for sale after 24 days of cultivation.

The staff also brought freshly harvested lettuce to the reporter for tasting. Due to the complete cultivation in a non-polluting environment, these lettuces can be eaten directly without washing, and the taste is also very good.

Okada Akira said that the price of vegetables produced at this plant is now the same as that of ordinary lettuce, and there is room for further cost reduction in the future. When the daily output reaches 5,000, the ground only needs about 10 staff for seedling, harvesting and equipment maintenance. In the future, they plan to develop more automation equipment, with the goal of reducing costs by 20% to 30%.

According to Toshihiko, the deputy director of the Chiba County Enterprise Land Administration, plant factories usually need to consume a lot of electricity for temperature control and lighting, but this plant is set up in an underground tunnel, constant temperature and humidity throughout the year, which can save a lot of air-conditioning electricity costs. . In addition, due to the close proximity to the consumer market, the vegetables produced do not need to be transported over long distances, saving a lot of logistics costs.

Abandoned mine + LED grow lights + other systems = vertical farms

The reduction of waste coal has become a global environmental consensus, so more and more coal mines will be closed in the future. Scholars at the University of Nottingham are beginning to think about the future use of waste mines. They propose vertical farms. The concept is that a mine is a ready-made greenhouse that can be turned into a fully functional farm with the addition of LED lighting and irrigation systems.

According to reports, scholars believe that deep farms have some obvious advantages: they are not affected by the weather, and the temperature of the ground floor does not change much, and expensive temperature control equipment is not needed. Safa of the University of Nottingham said: Tunnels and shafts do not need heating equipment, and even if they do, they consume less electricity, so they are very attractive for food production. We designed a central shaft for mounting robots. With these robotic arms to take care of the crops and harvest, the entire system costs only about $38,000 to build, and then the operating costs are lower. The LED plant grow lighting system does not consume much electricity.

Vertical farms are suitable for vegetables and fruits with short growth cycles, such as spinach, kale, basil, mint, strawberries, mushrooms, carrots, eggplants, etc. Their trials show that a small well-type small farm can produce 80 tons of crops per year. Moreover, production is not affected by the seasons and can reach 10 crop cycles per year, while British outdoor farms only have 4 to 6 times.

LED grow lights help the British institution builds a vertical farm in the city

Based on official sources, by using agricultural lighting, the Stockbridge Technology Center in Selby, North Yorkshire, the UK, has built a new Vertical Farming Development Facility to help growers test and simulate building their urban farm before investing.

The farm applies the new agricultural lighting solution to help companies, farmers and investors better know about technical and environment required to enhance plants yields before beginning their farm.

To encourage commercial urban farms in the UK, the vertical farm center enables investors and growers to communicate and discuss with vertical farm experts. Furthermore, leveraging the LED lighting solutions, they are able to identify and test vertical farm settings to maximize the scale of harvest, nutritional value, etc.

Moreover, the vertical farm includes two identical growing rooms with a total planting area of 228 square meters, applying a full range of climate control and recirculating systems. There are four layers of crop racks, all using LED grow lights to increase the growth of crops.

Malcolm Yare, Development Manager of Current Agriculture at GE, said that the LED grow lighting is a key factor in the successful growth of any crop, and we will create more arable space in industrial and urban areas by combining the most efficient wavelengths and optimal environmental conditions. Increase global crop yields in a way that is sustainable in business and the environment, surpassing traditional farming methods.

Plant factory into investment hot

Based on information technology, intelligent agriculture has solved the problem of less labor and realized the transformation and upgrading of the agricultural industry. The plant factory uses the computer to automatically control the environmental conditions such as temperature, humidity, light, carbon dioxide concentration and nutrient solution of the plant and realizes mass production of plants in a short period of time in a small space.

LED grow lights in the plant factory

A plant factory greenhouse that requires 10 people to manage, can harvest 1 million vegetables and sell one million USD a year. The plant factory first appeared in northern Europe, and there are currently more than 400 artificial plant factories in the world, half of which are in Japan. Located in Japan, a plant factory the plant is a closed-plan environment in a two-story building surrounded by vegetable greenhouses. The staff monitors the growth of vegetables through the computer management system. Vegetables take about 20 days from planting to seedling. The staff can monitor the temperature, humidity, and light of the greenhouse through displayers to realize remote operation.

In recent years, plant factories have become a popular target for global agricultural investment. One of the reasons for the increase in investment is the large-scale use of LED grow lights in plant factories. In the past, the electricity costs accounted for about 25% of the total costs of plant factories. In other words, the application of LED grow lights reduced the costs of investment and production. It is understood that, at present, agriculture LED lighting plant factories mainly produce various vegetables. Meanwhile, researchers are concerned about higher value-added medicines.

LED grow lights help Taiwan orchard save half of the electricity

Taiwan's Tainan City Agriculture Bureau has promoted the Dragon Fruit LED Light Lighting Subsidy Program. In addition to allowing farmers to respond to power saving policy, it can also adjust the excessive price drop of Dragon Fruit production. Xie Mingshu, head of the Piny Farm, who planted the dragon fruit, said that the farm replaced all the traditional bulbs with LED lights about four years ago, saving nearly 50% of the electricity cost every year compared with the past.

Xie Mingshu planted 15 hectares of dragon fruit. He said that before using traditional light bulbs, 2,500 bulbs were needed for 1 hectare. The monthly electricity bill was nearly 25,000 NTD. The orchard was completely replaced by LED grow lights 4 years ago. Nowadays, the monthly electricity costs are almost 10,000 NTD, which not only save a lot of costs but also more environmentally friendly. He said that this kind of LED grow light is actually a plant growth lighting lamp for outdoor use. It adopts the specific spectrum design to increase the flowering rate, and prolong the crop maturity time to avoid the production period and wind disaster.

The Agriculture Bureau pointed out that the planting area of Tainan dragon fruit from 321 hectares in 2015 to 356 hectares in 2017. This year, we tried to promote subsidies for purchasing LED grow lights and invited farmers to save energy and reduce carbon from agricultural lighting.

The Agriculture Bureau said that the planned funding is now 940,000 NTD. If the farmers replace more than 2,500 traditional energy-saving bulbs per hectare and change them to 12W (watts) or more, they will subsidize one-third of the purchases per hectare. Ten thousand yuan is the upper limit.

The Agriculture Bureau said that although the price of the LED grow lights are more expansive than the traditional lights, it can save farmers a lot of electricity bills in the long run.