The Context:
While there are many questions about what role vertical farming will play in the future of agriculture, there are few things we can count on. These new innovations of indoor farming will become more automated and modular with time. Among those innovations, one such is Planty Cube. Planty Cube is a smart hydroponic indoor farm made by a South Korean-based IoT company called n.thing. This modular vertical farming can be worked out in different settings like apartments and cafeterias.
Agriculture IoT startup n.thing has developed ‘planty cube’, an automated vertical farming system that allows users to maintain crops at any time and from anywhere. The system is connected like LEGO bricks with a modular design made up of multiple capsules called pick cells containing seeds of plants.
Features of Planty Cube Include:
- The Planty Cube environment contains rows and shelves of planters stacked inside in shipping containers.
- The plants in the shipping containers rely not only on soil and human hands cultivating them but also on a computerized system that delivers the right ‘recipe’ of nutrients, water, and light from LEDs to help photosynthesis.
- Humans have limited and little involvement with actual plants during the growth process.
- Pickcells can be linked to make a ‘Planty Square’ or in thousands to make a ‘Planty Cube’, a vertical farm in a shipping container-like space.
- Work like adjusting the LEDs, controlling temperature and humidity, and monitoring plant health is done by the Planty Cube system. The sensors collect the data on the plants and can be controlled remotely by a smartphone.
- Planty Cube system relies heavily on data from farming logs which are fed back into a database known as CUBE Cloud and analyzed with AI to help farmers determine optimal growing conditions.
- The collected data on the plants can also be controlled via a smartphone, providing a unique opportunity to farm remotely.
The ease of use also makes it simpler for clients who want to start vertical farming businesses for increasing the size of their farm at low-costs, over a longer period of time.
“A 30-story vertical farm can feed 50,000 people”
Agricultural Advancements:
Each Planty Cube helps in making the entire system better for everyone. As plants grow, data about the process is automatically fed back into CUBE Cloud. AI analyzes the data helps in determining the optimal growth conditions for various plants. These new innovations are going to benefit farmers.
Planty Cube lets farmers grow plants year-round, giving the advantage for growers in less favorable climates. The system also allows them to alter the conditions of their farm from anywhere by connecting to the CUBE Cloud.
It might be the case that vertical farming won’t catch on right away, it will be an ideal solution to the world’s growing food problem. Vertical farming is a far healthier solution than trying to enhance yield with genetic modification.
Smart farming requires more investment- 10 million won per 3.3 square meters compared to vinyl houses or glasshouses, and take a painstakingly long time, up to 10 years.
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