VEGETABLES GROWN IN FACTORIES

Hi-tech

Hi-tech

Vegetables Grown in Factories

Key to Solving Food Shortage

　

The earth’s population, now seven billion, is said to exceed nine billion in 2050. Various problems need to be fixed to feed everyone. The conventional method of farming is influenced by weather, including hours of sunshine, temperature and rainfall. This method grows plants, which have their roots deep in the ground, while protecting them from diseases and insects, but it is difficult to assure a stable food supply. Under these circumstances, many factories where vegetables are grown indoors without using soil have been built in Japan. Fresh vegetables grown in these factories are being consumed in homes and restaurants. They have many advantages. One is that they are grown without using agricultural chemicals such as pesticide. The Japanese technology is attracting attention from overseas as well.

Year-round Vegetable Production Possible

　Vegetable factories are buildings in which they grow vegetables while artificially controlling the light, temperature, humidity and nutrients with computers. Some of them open their roofs to use natural sunlight, but what is attracting attention in Japan are those in which artificial lights, such as fluorescent lamps and light-emitting diodes (LEDs), are used instead of sunlight in a totally closed environment. Instead of soil, water in which nutrients are added is used to grow vegetables. As this method is not influenced by sunshine hours or temperature, it can grow plants all year round regardless of the season or location. Because vegetables are grown indoors, they are free from diseases, insects and weeds. So, a big advantage of this method is that it does not use agricultural chemicals and can produce vegetables safe to eat. Recently, studies are being made to grow more nutritious vegetables by, for example, controlling the wavelength of LED lighting.

　At present, it is said that there are more than 30 vegetable factories in Japan which grow plants using only artificial lighting. Plans to build such factories are spreading very rapidly to many parts of the country.

20,000 Heads of Lettuce per Day

One of the largest vegetable factories in Japan　© Spread Co. Ltd.

　A leading vegetable factory in Japan is in Kameoka City, Kyoto. It is a four-story building, where four layers of shelves are built on each floor to grow lettuce. The total area of cultivation is 21,400 square meters. The factory ships about 20,000 heads of lettuce every day for sale at supermarkets and other stores. Since the building is four stories high, it can use the land very efficiently. Harvest per unit of space is 100 times greater than that of conventional ground farming.

　Sixty people are working in this plant. People who grow vegetables are all dressed in clean, white work clothes and wear masks and white caps. Before they enter the area where vegetables are grown, they thoroughly disinfect their hands with alcohol and take an air shower so they do not bring into the production area diseases, insects, viruses or bacteria that will harm the vegetables. These workers look entirely different from farmers who grow vegetables on the ground. As the temperature, humidity, sunshine hours and water with nutrients are all controlled with computers, the factory looks like a plant that makes precision machinery or medicines rather than a farm.

Taking an air shower before entering the area where vegetables are grown　 © Spread Co. Ltd.

A grower checking how lettuce is growing © Spread Co. Ltd.

Growing Vegetables in City Buildings

　There are vegetable factories in many places in Japan, but the most unique location is the Showa Base at the South Pole, which Japan has built for polar observation. Built in 2008, it is small, but grows lettuce, basil and other vegetables, using mostly fluorescent lamps as a source of light. As the South Pole is a harsh environment, where the temperature sometimes drops to almost minus 40 C, meals eaten by observation team members had tended to be mostly freeze-dried or retort-packed food. The vegetable factory has made them very happy because they can now eat fresh vegetables all year round.

The headquarters building of a company in the center of Tokyo operating an in-house vegetable factory　© Pasona Group Inc.

Vegetables grown in the hall on the first floor. Lighting is adjusted according to the speed of growth.　
© Pasona Group Inc.

　Meanwhile, there are companies growing vegetables in urban buildings. In a business district of Tokyo, a major company that dispatches temporary workers to businesses has built a vegetable factory in the company premises and supplies harvested vegetables to an employee cafeteria. Moreover, it grows lettuce and other vegetables on the first floor of the building and also in part of a conference room so visitors can see.

　In addition, it grows cucumbers on the ceiling above the reception area and tomatoes on the ceiling of a reception room. Once, the company grew rice as an experiment. It proves that it is possible to grow plants in urban buildings if the vegetable factory technology is used.

　Faced with an explosive population increase, many countries have to worry about their food supply. Against that background, vegetable factories in Japan receive an increasing number of visits and inquiries from overseas. The day appears near when Japan’s vegetable factory technology will contribute to solving the global problem of food shortage thanks to its advantages such as the absence of influence by the weather or environment and no soil pollution.

Vegetabl VEGETABLE-growing facility on the wall of a conference room. Harvested vegetables are supplied to an employee cafeteria.　© Pasona Group Inc.

Tomatoes are grown on the ceiling of a reception room.　© Pasona Group Inc.