Agricultural Lighting - Another Blue Ocean of LED

China is a big country in agriculture. The status of agriculture is self-evident. At the same time as the development of agricultural technology, the challenges faced by agricultural development are also increasing. For example, the impact of climate change on agricultural production is increasing day by day. Modern agriculture with high technology, low consumption, and high efficiency has become an important direction of agricultural development. The development has an important strategic position and is highly valued. The No. 1 Document of the State Council of the People's Republic of China in 2010 “Several Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Strengthening the Overall Development of Urban and Rural Areas to Further Consolidate the Foundations of Agricultural and Rural Development” also clearly indicated that we must actively support the transformation of agricultural development methods and improve agricultural science and technology innovation and promotion capabilities.

It should be noted that with the continuous development of modern agriculture, the demand and energy consumption of agricultural lighting are continuously expanding, and new challenges are also raised for traditional agricultural lighting lighting technology. LED as a new generation light source, in addition to the characteristics of environmental protection and energy saving, compared with artificial light sources such as fluorescent lamps or high pressure sodium lamps commonly used in the agricultural field, has the advantages of adjustable light quantity, adjustable light quality, low cooling load, and the ability to increase the cultivation volume per unit area. The closed environment controlled agricultural production environment, such as the plant tissue culture room, is a very suitable artificial light source. At the same time, it also has great potential for application in culture and microalgal culture.

It can be foreseen that the application of LED will bring a brand-new "revolution" to agriculture. For example, plant factories are considered to be advanced stages of facility agriculture and integrate high-tech technologies such as modern biotechnology, information technology, and artificial environment control. Not only is the output higher than open field cultivation, but it can also be produced on non-cultivable lands such as Gobi, deserts, islands, water and even city buildings. It is also considered as an effective technical means to solve the problems of population, resources and environment in the future.

Whether it is from the perspective of promoting the development of modern agriculture or achieving energy conservation and environmental protection, LED application in agriculture is of great significance. The status and development needs of agriculture also provide opportunities for LED development.

At present, domestic LED lighting has begun to use LED, such as Shaanxi Yangling Agricultural Demonstration Zone to establish solar photovoltaic LED plant factory. In addition to some applications, related technology research and development of LED applications in the agricultural field is also receiving increasing attention. In December 2010, the "Plant Factory Innovation Innovation Conference" was held at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences. The Beijing High-tech Enterprise, Beijing Zhonghuan Yida Facility Horticultural Technology Co., Ltd. launched a home plant factory and home gardening product series. We signed strategic cooperation agreements with dozens of internationally renowned companies such as Philips Lighting of the Netherlands, Mitsubishi Chemical of Japan, Electrician of Panasonic (China), Taiwan billion light, Yangzi Electric Appliance, and Oulin Group to control the LED plant lighting source, industrial control, and air conditioning environment. The technological innovation and market development in the field of nutrient solution preparations and other areas were agreed and a strategic alliance was signed. The holding of the conference not only marked the official birth of the first domestic version of the plant factory, but also heralded the formal formation of a strategic alliance for plant plant research and development.

In addition, with the development of LED technology, the United States, Japan, South Korea and other countries have taken LED agricultural lighting applications as an important direction of development, and actively layout. Many domestic and foreign manufacturers have also entered the agricultural lighting, LED competition in the field of agricultural lighting is quietly carried out.

Development status of LED agricultural application at home and abroad

It is understood that the application of LED in agricultural lighting mainly includes plant production, aquaculture, microalgae cultivation, edible fungus production, etc. Japan, South Korea, the United States and other countries have proposed relevant projects, (as shown in Table 1).


Table 1 Related Projects and Contents of LED Agricultural Lighting Development in Major Countries in 2010

Propose time

country

Project Description

year 2010
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April

Japan

Japan’s Mitsubishi Chemical Corp. transformed a large-scale container into a “plant factory,” which uses LED as a light source to perform photosynthesis of crops. To meet the needs of new plant factories, Showa Denko has developed LED products specifically for “plant factories” that can emit red light at specific wavelengths that encourage crop growth. Currently, it has been adopted by more than 10 plant factories in Japan. In 2010, Sales are expected to reach 1 billion yen.

year 2010
June

Korea

The Korea Ministry of Knowledge Economy announced that it will invest KRW 3 billion (approximately RMB 16.5 million) for the research and development of IT-LED cultivation core components and core technologies. It plans to complete chip development by the end of 2010 and build a 495m2 scale LED cultivation base. One of the core components of the IT-LED cultivation system is an LED plant artificial light source. A related person from Korea’s Ministry of Knowledge Economy stated that “LEDs can provide plants with light sources of specific wavelengths for their photosynthesis and their growth, and control the growth rate of plants by controlling the intake of nutrients. This year (2010), the cultivation base will be experimentally cultivated. Ginseng and strawberries are then commercialized and is expected to be planted in large areas starting in 2011."

October 2010

United States

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has funded Purdue University’s $4.88 million for a four-year research project to assess and increase the use of LEDs in greenhouses.

Although the application of LED in the field of agricultural lighting is still in its infancy, it is optimistic about its application prospects. In terms of patents, according to Yang Qichang, director of the Center for Facility Agriculture Research of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, there are nearly 100 patents available in the field of LED agricultural lighting at home and abroad, of which the largest number is applied in Korea and China, followed by Japan and the United States. Overall, at present, innovations in LED agriculture are mainly applied innovation and technology integration. The applications are focused on plant growth lamps, lighting for livestock and poultry farms, fish trapping lights, and trapping lamps for selective pests.

In the field of domestic agricultural research, Yang Qichang introduced that as early as 1998, domestic research institutes represented by the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and Nanjing Agricultural University had begun research on LED agricultural application-related fields. In 2003, the Institute of Agricultural Environment and Sustainable Development of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences began to conduct research on the application of LED in plant seedling factories. In 2006, it designed and built the first closed LED artificial light plant in China and developed it. Corresponding LED light environment control software and light environment control device have carried out LED experimental research on vegetable seedlings, plant tissue culture, vegetable cultivation and medicinal plant cultivation, published 14 papers, and obtained 8 national patents. In April 2009, the R&D team of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences successfully developed the first intelligent plant factory in China. LED and fluorescent lamps were used as artificial light sources for vegetable cultivation and seedling breeding, and put into operation in Changchun. During the "Eleventh Five-Year Plan" period, the Ministry of Science and Technology in the 863 plan innovatively arranged the application of LED research in agriculture, funded nearly 1 million research funding, and Nanjing Agricultural University undertook the research of this project. In 2009, a total of 3 varieties of LED plant lights, 1 "LED plant breeding intelligent light control system" and 1 "LED bio-intelligent light incubator" were developed and 2 national invention patents were granted. In livestock and poultry farming applications, Chinese scholars have studied the effect of red, blue and white LED light sources on chickens and other poultry production performance. The intensity and photoperiod control of various LED light sources have also received some attention. Hangzhou has launched The intelligent chicken LED light source system has been applied in chicken farms.

LED agricultural lighting product development and promotion of artificial light and lighting is the most important application of LED agriculture, according to the different needs of animal and plant development, using different wavelengths of monochromatic light as an artificial light source, and has light intensity, Irradiation frequency and the characteristics of flexible adjustment at different time intervals have been applied in production. LED light source products can be designed according to different production needs and application of different types, it is understood that the current application of a wider range of LED round headlights, LED light source board, LED lamp, LED flexible light strips.

At present, there are a large number of LED plant lighting products on the market, but in the animal husbandry industry, LED lighting products are relatively few. In February 2010, at the International In-Farm Equipment Exhibition in Atlanta, ONCE’s AGRISHIFTTM launched a gradient poultry-breeding LED lamp. This LED uses a timer to control the photoperiod, which is relatively simple, but it does not conform to different birds and different growth. The stage needs light color, light intensity and photoperiod, and the current LED special products for animal husbandry and aquaculture need to be further developed.

It is understood that the domestic use of agricultural lighting and product types and foreign countries are basically the same, mainly including LED plant growth lights (LED round headlights, LED light source board, LED lamp, LED flexible light band), LED agricultural pest trap lamp, LED Trap fish, LED livestock and poultry farm lighting.

According to people in the industry, compared with home lighting, the current domestic LED agricultural lighting products have disorderly products, non-standard production design, lack of unified product standards and quality management issues. Taking the plant lighting fixtures that are currently the largest in the market, as an example, LED lamp bead configurations based on red and blue light have been selected according to the needs of plants. However, there is a lack of scientifically uniform specifications for light quality adjustment and light intensity design. The lack of special high temperature, high humidity environment for plant lighting waterproof, electrical and corrosion-resistant design, resulting in some plant growth lamp products, there are hidden safety problems, and the service life is not long.

LED core manufacturers have marched into the field of agricultural lighting applications. With the development of LED applications in fields such as biology, medical care, and health, the huge market potential for LED applications in the field of plant growth has gradually gained attention. Some international companies have begun to venture into the field of LED plant lighting. Among them are some well-known companies such as Philips, Mitsubishi Chemical, Seoul Semiconductor, Taiwan Everlight, Showa Denko, and Japan Pan Qing. According to industry sources, the common feature of these manufacturers is their strong financial and technical strength. Some of them are collaborators with intellectual property rights in chip production and packaging, and they also have core intellectual property rights in the field of plant lighting. They are planning to develop LED lighting sources in the direction of LED plants. The other part is to have a good brand, customer market and sales. The traditional plant growth light source of the channel, and also has strong strength in the field of LED, the company has the potential to develop the direction of LED light source lighting.

Among them, Philips has increased its R&D efforts in China in recent years, established corresponding R&D institutions, and actively carried out research work in China, accumulating foundation for follow-up R&D and promotion work.

Osram completed a pilot project with Fionia LightingA/S in Denmark and partner distributor Arrow in 2010, using the red LED lighting products in the horticultural lighting system, and also confirmed the LED application in horticulture. Has great potential for energy saving.

In addition, Japan's Mitsubishi Plastics announced in April 2010 that it will develop and sell vegetable production equipment that combines solar lighting and LED (light emitting diode) lighting in a heated house, and strives to achieve results conversion in 2011 and sell it to large-scale farms.

On the mainland of China, it is understood that there are many manufacturers entering the field of agricultural lighting applications, but most of them are small and private enterprises, mainly located in Shenzhen and southern China, but most of them have not formed a sales scale and are still in the initial stage.

In terms of agricultural applications, on the one hand, the Chinese government has accelerated the application of LED in agricultural applications through support for scientific research projects. For example, during the “Eleventh Five-Year Plan” period, one topic was established through the 863 Plan, and during the “Twelfth Five-Year Plan” period, There are several LED agricultural research projects approved by the project. Some local governments have also encouraged the introduction of energy efficient LED agricultural lighting applications in the park through the establishment of agricultural science and technology demonstration parks.

For the current application of domestic LED in agriculture, Yang Qichang believes that, overall, the country’s policy support and R&D investment in LED agricultural application is relatively small, which affects the promotion and application of LED in the agricultural sector to some extent. The study of LED light sources in the agricultural field is still in its infancy. It lacks systematic and complete research and the corresponding technical level is relatively low. It is necessary to increase research and development efforts, increase investment in R&D capital, strengthen demonstration applications and publicity, and improve independent innovation in the industry. Ability to improve the overall quality of the enterprise and the overall competitiveness of the industry.

According to the spirit of the No. 1 Document of the State Council, the establishment of a modern agricultural demonstration area will be an important way to improve the ability of agricultural science and technology innovation and promotion. According to industry sources, increasing the use of LED in agricultural ecological demonstration areas, such as the Shouguang Vegetable Base in Shandong and the Yangling Agricultural Demonstration Area in Shaanxi, should be an important way to promote the development of LEDs in agricultural applications.