Taiwan Business TOPICS Exposed root system for hydroponically grown plants at YesHealth s iFarm in Taoyuan. Photo: Jules Quartly
Taiwan is uniquely placed to benefit from the application of information technology to agriculture, enabling it to help provide food for an expanding global population.
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.
The planst are grown under LED lights. Source: Nordic Harvest
One of the robots used in the facility. Source: Nordic Harvest Previous Next
Construction has been completed on Europe’s largest indoor vertical farm.
The facility will be capable of producing 1,000t of salads and herbs per year.
The plants are grown on 14 stacked shelves, equivalent to an area of more than 7,000 square metres, and are grown using hydroponics and LED lights.
The planst are grown under LED lights. Source: Nordic Harvest
As the system is in a highly controlled environment, no pesticides are required.
Danish-based Nordic Harvest has partnered with Taiwanese vertical farm tech company YesHealth Group to create the facility in Copenhagen Markets, on the outskirts of Denmark’s capital.
Giant vertical farm in Denmark will produce 1,000 metric tons of greens a year
Giant vertical farm in Denmark will produce 1,000 metric tons of greens a year. Credit: Nordic Harvest
Nordic Harvest’s new 14-story vertical farming facility is under construction in the Copenhagen Markets, on the outskirts of Denmark’s capital. Standing 14-stories high in a 7000 sq. meter, the vertical farm will soon begin producing 1,000 metric tons of greens a year locally.
The first phase of the construction of the vertical farming facility was started by the Taiwanese company YesHealth Group, in partnership with Nordic Harvest – a startup that aims to make food production more sustainable through technology – in April this year and was completed in just six months. Production will begin in the first quarter of 2021, and profits are projected within the first year.