vue - Local researchers develop efficient, affordable multilayer cultivation system

Local researchers have developed a new multilayer cultivation system that can easily be installed in greenhouses. It is expected to help boost productivity because it uses space more efficiently and costs a fraction of existing systems, which will in turn help farmers increase their income. Paul Yi has more. This is a high-tech plant factory in Korea established in 2011. The environmental conditions in the room are automatically regulated by a computerized system that controls the indoor temperature and the amount of light, carbon dioxide and a nutrient solution. Plants can grow all year round without being influenced by external factors. The problem is the high installation price, which can be up to 15-hundred U.S. dollars per square meter. Now, local developers have come up with a more affordable cultivation system that allows them to grow fresh lettuce in tri-level beds. The lettuce growing on the top layer receives sunlight, while the two layers below get additional light from special fluorescent lamps to supplement the solar energy. The cost is only one-eighth that of the existing plant factory, at only 180 dollars per square meter. Productivity, on the other hand, is four times higher than at regular greenhouses with hydroponic systems. "The system is easy and simple to install inside greenhouses and the plants grow well because they can receive sunlight" The researchers aim to install the system at regular farms once they prove its economic feasibility by testing it with crops other than lettuce. Their hope is that it will contribute to boosting farmers′ income in the long run. Paul Yi, Arirang News.