Improvements to vertical farming, artificial lighting and environmental impact in Canada

加拿大垂直农业、人工照明和环境影响的改进

• 批准号: 577844-2022
• 负责人: Lefsrud, MarkMG
• 金额: $ 10.37万
• 依托单位: McGill University
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Alliance Grants
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2022-01-01 至 2023-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=746278
• 关键词: Improvements; vertical; farming; artificial; lighting

Vertical farming is an increasingly popular, indoor, and space-saving agricultural method that involves growing food crops or other plants in vertical layers with artificial lighting. Advantages include year-round, local and nutritious food production for dense urban areas or food deserts, such as sprawling metropolitans or remote northern communities. In addition, growing plants in this controlled environment may reduce water usage and fertilizer, all while protecting against crop-damaging weather conditions and limiting the incidence of plant pests/diseases. To determine if vertical farming can be optimized for diverse Canadian climates, the overall goal of this proposal is to improve a vertical farming model that refurbishes 40-foot shipping containers as artificial lighting plant factories for leafy green production. The research outlined in this 5-year proposal will explore and ameliorate the use of energy-efficient light emitting diodes (LEDs) that enhance plant growth and nutritional value in leafy greens, as well as spacing between plants, air movement and carbon dioxide enrichment in the plant factory to ramp up crop production of high quality and nutritious products with less fertilizer and without pesticides. New, smart agriculture tools (real-time electrochemical sensors and computational modeling) will be used. The environmental impact or carbon footprint of this commercial vertical farming model will be examined to determine how much water, direct energy, fertilizer, and infrastructure is needed for different Canadian climates (QC, Niagara and northern Alberta) and how this translates to conventional food production costs. Anticipated findings from this much needed research will provide some cost-efficient solutions to our partners and the controlled environmental agriculture sector in Canada for local food production. It will additionally facilitate further work investigating the management and development of a global business model aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions, promoting nutrient recycling, limiting water usage and reducing pesticide use.

垂直农业是一种越来越流行的室内且节省空间的农业方法，涉及在人工照明的垂直层中种植粮食作物或其他植物。优势包括为人口稠密的城市地区或粮食荒漠（例如庞大的大都市或偏远的北部社区）提供全年、本地和营养丰富的粮食生产。此外，在这种受控环境中种植植物可以减少水和肥料的使用，同时防止损害作物的天气条件并限制植物病虫害的发生。为了确定垂直农业是否可以针对加拿大不同的气候进行优化，该提案的总体目标是改进垂直农业模式，将 40 英尺集装箱翻新为人工照明植物工厂，用于绿叶绿色生产。这项为期 5 年的提案中概述的研究将探索和改进节能发光二极管 (LED) 的使用，以增强绿叶蔬菜的植物生长和营养价值，以及植物之间的间距、空气流动和二氧化碳富集。植物工厂旨在以更少的化肥和无农药的方式提高农作物产量，生产出高质量、营养丰富的产品。将使用新的智能农业工具（实时电化学传感器和计算模型）。将检查这种商业垂直农业模式的环境影响或碳足迹，以确定加拿大不同气候（QC、尼亚加拉和艾伯塔省北部）需要多少水、直接能源、化肥和基础设施，以及如何将其转化为传统粮食生产成本。这项急需的研究的预期结果将为我们的合作伙伴和加拿大受控环境农业部门的当地粮食生产提供一些具有成本效益的解决方案。它还将促进进一步研究全球商业模式的管理和开发工作，旨在减少温室气体排放、促进养分回收、限制用水和减少农药使用。