Plant Factory

Basics

• A word for a Controlled Environment Agriculture system that is large enough, and has enough throughput to be considered a factory
• It is cost competitive if not better for localized as of now for greens and sprouts
• It is counter intuitive due to the preference for shorter, faster growing plant varieties, and high edible/usable mass (ie little leafs, giant fruit, little to no stem, this is why leafy greens work so well)
• This means much of it's next success depends on Selective Breeding and Genetic Engineering of plants
• They are also intresting in that they make for great labratory's for testing these new varieties as all conditions can be varied, and high throughput means lots of possible tests/samples
• Typically use Vertical farming , Grow Lights , Agricultural Atmosphere Enrichment , Hydroponics / Aeroponics / Aquaponics and HVAC
• Thus are rater energy intensive, but are often paired with solar and/or biomass power generation
• They also can be placed anywhere, even on mobile platforms such as cargo ships and IMCs
• Many are in Asia, partially due to the local market, but also because of surplus Cleanrooms from the tech industry that are easily converted
• Plants are also grown in a sterile (Or only with selected benificial microrganisms) enviroment and thus have longer shelf life
• If paired with Controlled Atmosphere Storage, Refrigeration, Food Irradiation, Preservatives, Food Drying, or some combination of these shelf life would be almost irrelevant
• Also they use NO PESTICIDES, little water, and low nutrient use (Especially if using aquaponics)
• Since Location becomes Irrelevant (Outside of Cost), transportation can be reduced, and farmland can be returned to wildland or developed, thus saving land

See Also

• Open Source Controlled Environment Agriculture Construction Set
• Greenhouse
• Vertical farm
• Rooftop Garden

Useful Links

• A Youtube Series Going over Research on This, it's Effectiveness/Efficiency, and it's place in the current and future market