The Farm That Grows in 42 Days
No sunlight. No soil. Just 42 days. BIVAN SALUSEKI Yangling, China IN YANGLING, China’s “Agricultural Science City”, a seed becomes a head of butter lettuce ready to eat in 42 days – grown under LED lights, fed by nutrient solution and picked without washing. Welcome to the Yangling Smart Agriculture Demonstration Park. The park brings together more than 1,100 new technologies. On the ground floor, Red Tilapia are raised at 120kg per cubic metre in recycled water. Only five percent of the water is changed daily, yet the farm produces 30-40 tonnes of sashimi-grade fish a year, worth about K5 million. Upstairs, in a 30,000m² smart greenhouse, Dutch tomatoes grow in coconut bags with no soil for 11 months. Yield: 28kg per square metre. A farmer checks temperature and humidity on his phone –…
