Greenhouse Intelligent system: full Environmental Control Intelligent greenhouse system to create a New Blue Ocean for Taiwan's Agriculture

Smart agricultural intelligent greenhouse system, maintaining a constant temperature of 20 to 24 degrees Celsius in the hydroponic greenhouse, pink LED light source with purple spots, shining on the tender green leaves, presenting a dreamy atmosphere. Nutrient solution circulated among the dense tubes, which was the only slight sound in this space. Green tendrils, cream lettuce, wrinkled lettuce, Caesar vine and other rare vegetables were swaying with the breeze of the small fan. The greenhouse was thriving. Close your eyes and you feel like you have come to a paradise.

In the past, people used to describe the instability of farmers 'incomes as "relying on the weather to eat." Taiwan, especially in subtropical and tropical areas, faces great challenges to agricultural development due to high summer temperatures and frequent typhoons. However, thanks to technology, a sophisticated smart greenhouse system could reduce climate risks, solve the dilemma for Taiwan's agriculture and spark new hope.

In a hydroponic greenhouse maintained at a constant temperature of 20 to 24 degrees Celsius, pink and purple-tinged LED lights shine on tender green leaves, creating a dreamy atmosphere. Nutrient solution circulated among the dense tubes, which was the only slight sound in this space. Green tendrils, cream lettuce, wrinkled lettuce, Caesar vine and other rare vegetables were swaying with the breeze of the small fan. The greenhouse was thriving. Close your eyes and you feel like you have come to a paradise.

Old hardware factory transformed into hydroponic farm

This is a hardware factory located in Changhua's Xihu. Xihu Town is an important distribution center for cabbage, cabbage and cauliflower in Taiwan. Xihu Fruit Market is one of the three major fruit and vegetable markets in Taiwan. Over a large area of vegetable beds, a tall building with a tin roof stands in the field. If it is not for the idle processing machines in the building, it silently but solemnly announces the golden age of this hardware factory. We may not know that it was once loaded with three containers of barbecue products and shipped to Walmart in the United States, creating a lot of foreign exchange for Taiwan.

However, after the rise of the mainland of China, factories face transformation challenges. As the second generation of a hardware factory, Ma Dao-hsin, head of Tsaiqing Industries, decided to return home to help transform his father's factory.In a chat with friends, he learned about the cultivation method of hydroponic vegetables, and the food safety problem that broke out in Taiwan at that time. He believed that non-toxic and insect-free hydroponic agriculture had great potential for development, and decided to try it out.

Although he had a direction for transformation, Ma Dao-hsin, who had no background in agriculture, spent a lot of effort to enter the field of hydroponic cultivation. He first went online to look up information, then drove to the hydroponic extension center in Taoyuan every day to learn the concepts and techniques of hydroponic cultivation. Later, through the introduction of friends and relatives, he met Hua Shihao, manager of the greenhouse system technology center of the Industrial Technology Research Institute, and started his opportunity to apply the "total environmental control hydroponic cultivation system" to grow high-value greenhouse vegetables.

ma tao hsin says that at first he considered greenhouse systems from many different manufacturers, but the itri system differed from the standardized designs of other manufacturers, and could be customized to meet user needs, such as adjusting the shape, intensity, position, and spectral composition of the light source, intelligent nutrient solution mixing control, and automatic monitoring of nutrient supply. this led him to adopt the itri's fully environmentally controlled greenhouse system.

Greenhouse designed for tropical and subtropical climates

Greenhouse cultivation technology has a long history of development.Since the 1950s, Taiwan has successively introduced greenhouse systems developed by Japan and Holland. However, due to the great difference between Taiwan's climatic conditions and those of Holland and Japan's isothermal cold zone countries, there have been problems such as high operating costs, long equipment recovery period, and yield not reaching the expected target for many years, which have prevented large-scale popularization and industrialization.

Huang Tianfu, director of the Greenhouse System Technology Center of the Industrial Technology Research Institute, said that the greenhouse systems in Japan and the Netherlands are mainly designed for warm and cold climates to solve the problems of heat preservation and light enhancement faced by agriculture in climates below 15 degrees Celsius. Taiwan is located in tropical and subtropical climate, belongs to the island climate, facing high temperature, humid heat, typhoon caused by ventilation, cooling, dehumidification and other problems, so Taiwan greenhouse system urgently needs to be tailored to the local climate, can develop a greenhouse system suitable for subtropical climate.

To this end, the Industrial Technology Research Institute integrates core technologies such as optical-electromechanical, precision environmental control, materials, biotechnology and automation, and cooperates with agricultural production, research and research units to develop the most suitable light source system, advanced three-dimensional cultivation facilities, pathogen detection system, energy-saving control and automatic monitoring system to create a smart greenhouse system suitable for subtropical climate. Over the years, it has helped introduce many different types of crops into Taiwan to improve crop yield and quality.

Customised systems balance productivity and energy savings

However, each customization process requires multiple adjustments to achieve the most appropriate benefits for each case. Hua Shih-hao gives an example: One of the most important aspects of hydroponic vegetable cultivation is "light." To meet Ma Tao-hsin's needs, the Industrial Technology Research Institute has repeatedly tried and adjusted. Hua Shihao explains that ITRI's optimum light technology has been tested in many experiments with different color and brightness spectra to find the most suitable range for leafy vegetables.However, in actual application, adjustments must still be made according to the planting conditions at the time, including the details of the light source, spectrum and light shape of the specially customized lamps, and through the secondary optical reflection structure, so that the light energy can effectively fall on the plants to achieve the goal of energy conservation.