Japan's "plant factory" breeding workshop. Photo by Du Haichuan
The newspaper went to Japan for a special correspondent Du Haichuan
Map: Japan's "plant factory" breeding workshop. Photo by Du Haichuan
Compared with China, a large agricultural country, Japan has a global awe-inspiring view despite its small size and its hilly terrain, but its advanced agricultural technologies and intensive agricultural traditions. In recent decades, as Japan’s aging population has intensified, young people are generally reluctant to engage in arduous agricultural labor, and Japan has been forced to explore an intelligent agriculture model that reduces manpower and increases production efficiency. The Global Times reporter recently went to Japan with a joint mission of the three countries of China, Japan and South Korea to investigate agriculture. Here, the reporter saw the most advanced Japanese agricultural business model and also learned the lessons of its failure.
Computer vegetables during the day, night robot vigil
The reporter’s first stop was the Fujitsu “Autumn Color†smart farm in Sakata, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. Qiucai Farm Park covers an area of ​​85,000 square meters and has 12 football fields. There are a lot of vegetable sheds up to 6 meters in size in the park. The exterior is a full-glass structure. The structure of the steel frame at the top of the greenhouse is also very small, the head of the farm told reporters that this is to ensure a larger area of ​​light.
Before entering one of the sheds where the peppers were planted, the reporter was asked to put on a plastic jacket, put on rubber gloves and disinfect the soles and hands. The staff also reminded reporters not to touch the plants with their hands and ensure that the environment is as sterile as possible.
Walking in the middle of a row of plants, the reporter saw that the plants were cultivated in dedicated artificial cultivation soil, and water, nutrient solution, and carbon dioxide were connected through the pipeline from the bottom. The branches of the bell pepper grew along the hanging wire, and the staff needed a special lift truck to enter the row of plants for picking. The supply of humidity and nutrient solution in the greenhouse is controlled by computers.
According to Ito Satomi, a manager of Qiu Cai Farm, Qiu Cai Farm was jointly established by a joint venture between Fujitsu, a well-known Japanese IT company, an agricultural financial company and a local seed development company in Putian. At present, Qiucai Farm has initially achieved a high degree of automation of environmental control and visualization of job management. Staff can observe data such as temperature, humidity and sunlight in the greenhouse in real time through multiple displays to achieve remote operation and cloud data. There are many typhoons in Japan. When a typhoon strikes, the staff can open and close the skylight of the greenhouse by remote control.
Ito Sungmin told reporters that there are self-propelled robots walking along the track during the night in the greenhouse, using LED lights and other equipment to monitor the plants and form photosynthetic color imaging maps for workers to adjust temperature and humidity.
"Plant Factory" Becomes Investment Hot
After leaving Shizuoka, the reporter went to a plant factory in Chiba Prefecture. The so-called “plant factory†uses computers to automatically control the environmental conditions such as temperature, humidity, light, carbon dioxide concentration, and nutrient solution of plant growth. In a very short period and in a very small space, large-scale plant production can be achieved and crops can be realized. Continuous production of efficient agricultural systems. The concept of "plant factory" first appeared in Northern Europe, but it was first applied in Japan on a large scale. There are currently more than 400 plant factories around the world, half of them in Japan.
In a small two-story building surrounded by vegetable greenhouses in the National Chiba University Park, the reporter saw the 74-year-old director of the Plant Research Institute of Japan planted in Mapletree. In an interview with a reporter visiting a plant factory, the plant factory was a closed environment. The staff monitored the growth of vegetables through a set of “growth management systems†unique to Chiba Prefecture. It takes about 20 days from the start of planting to the emergence of vegetables, and on this basis, more than 10 days can be harvested. A plant factory greenhouse that requires 10 people to manage can harvest 1 million vegetables a year and sell 100 million yen (about 5.84 million yuan). In the visiting room, the reporter also saw a small plant factory for family and university teaching. The size is the same as that of a refrigerator, and it is also possible to establish contacts with other people through the Internet App.
In recent years, plant factories have become a popular target for global agricultural investment. One of the reasons for the increase in investment, according to an ancient introduction, is the large-scale use of LED lights in plant factories. In the past, plant plants accounted for about 25% of the cost of electricity, and the use of LED lamps led to a substantial drop in electricity costs, which reduced investment costs. It is understood that artificial light-type plant factories mainly produce a variety of vegetables, researchers are concerned about the higher value of medicinal materials, such as angelica and so on. There is also a plant factory in China that focuses on the production of cosmetic raw materials.
The lessons of Japanese agriculture
Earlier this year, there were reports that some Japanese plant factories were poorly managed, 70% were making money, and Toshiba and other big companies were divesting their funds. Prior to this, many Japanese farmers had received subsidies of as much as 70% from the government and had launched plant factories. However, due to the lack of related technologies, these plant factories collapsed after exhausting government subsidies. Some commentators said that this is a negative teaching material for China's agricultural development.
In response, Koo said that at present, plant plants that are truly profitable in Japan account for about 30%. However, he believes that 70% of the factory plant deficit is not surprising. "The media's negative impact on new things should not be over-exaggerated. 50 years ago, no one agreed that greenhouses grow vegetables. Now 80% of Japan's tomatoes and 90% of the strawberries are Planted in a greenhouse."
In addition, lack of funds is also a major bottleneck restricting Japanese agricultural development. In ancient times, Mapletree said that due to insufficient investment, the development of plants in Japan and South Korea is in a dangerous state. Japan’s richest man and Japan’s Softbank Group’s CEO Masayoshi Son have invested in an American plant plant and sparked heated discussions. The Chinese LED company Sanan Group and the Institute of Botany of the Chinese Academy of Sciences jointly invested in the largest plant factory in the world and made the ancient impression on Fengshu. profound.
Although Japanese peasants have the meticulous patience of “embroideryâ€, Japanese agriculture companies have a long-standing phenomenon of “single fight aloneâ€, which is also a factor restricting their agricultural development. When Ito Sumitani told the Global Times reporter about the original intention of the establishment of Qiu Cai Farm, he said that in the past Japan’s agriculture was “pointing toward one-wayâ€, “research on research, production on production, and circulation on the circulationâ€. Take Japan's agricultural breeding model as an example. Currently, there are only two large-scale breeding companies in Japan. The seed quality cultivated by many small-scale breeding workshops is not bad, but because it does not open the downstream, the added value is low. â–²
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