Plant Factory: An Indoor Vertical Farming System for Efficient Quality Food Production, Second Edition presents a comprehensive look at the implementation of plant factory (PF) practices to yield food crops for both improved food security and environmental sustainability. Edited and authored by leading experts in PF and controlled environment agriculture (CEA), the book is divided into five sections, including an Overview and the Concept of Closed Plant Production Systems (CPPS), the Basics of Physics and Physiology – Environments and Their Effects, System Design, Construction, Cultivation and Management and Plant Factories in Operation.

In addition to new coverage on the rapid advancement of LED technology and its application in indoor vertical farming, other revisions to the new edition include updated information on the status of business R&D and selected commercial PFALs (plant factory with artificial lighting). Additional updates include those focused on micro and mini-PFALs for improving the quality of life in urban areas, the physics and physiology of light, the impact of PFAL on the medicinal components of plants, and the system design, construction, cultivation and management issues related to transplant production within closed systems, photoautotrophic micro-propagation and education, training and intensive business forums on PFs.

• Includes coverage of LED technology
• Presents case-studies for real-world insights and application
• Addresses PF from economics and planning, to operation and lifecycle assessment

Table of Contents

PART 1 Overview and concept of closed plant production system (CPPS)

CHAPTER 1 Introduction

CHAPTER 2 Role of the plant factory with artificial lighting (PFAL) in urban

CHAPTER 3 PFAL business and R&D in Asia and North America: status and perspectives

CHAPTER 4 Vertical farming in Europe: present status and outlook

CHAPTER 5 Plant factory as a resource-efficient closed plant production system

CHAPTER 6 Micro- and mini-PFALs for improving the quality of life in urban areas

CHAPTER 7 Rooftop plant production systems in urban areas

PART 2 Basics of physics and physiology e Environments and their effects

CHAPTER 8 Light sources

CHAPTER 9 Plant responses to light

CHAPTER 10 LED advancements for plant-factory artificial lighting

CHAPTER 11 Physical environmental factors and their properties

CHAPTER 12 Photosynthesis and respiration

CHAPTER 13 Growth, development, transpiration, and translocation as affected by abiotic environmental factors

CHAPTER 14 Nutrition and nutrient uptake in soilless culture systems

CHAPTER 15 Tipburn

CHAPTER 16 Functional components in leafy vegetables

CHAPTER 17 Medicinal components

CHAPTER 18 Production of pharmaceuticals in a specially designed plant factory

PART 3 System design, construction, cultivation and management

CHAPTER 19 Plant production process, floor plan, and layout of PFAL

CHAPTER 20 Hydroponic systems

CHAPTER 21 Seeding, seedling production and transplanting

CHAPTER 22 Transplant production in closed systems

CHAPTER 23 Photoautotrophic micropropagation

CHAPTER 24 Biological factor management

CHAPTER 25 Design and management of PFALs

CHAPTER 26 Automated technology in plant factories with artificial lighting

CHAPTER 27 Life cycle assessment

CHAPTER 28 Education, training, and business workshops and forums on plant factories

PART 4 PFALs in operation and its perspectives

CHAPTER 29 Selected PFALs in the United States, the Netherlands, and China

CHAPTER 30 Selected PFALs in Japan

CHAPTER 31 Representative plant factories in Taiwan

CHAPTER 32 Challenges for the next-generation PFALs

CHAPTER 33 Conclusions: resource-saving and resource-consuming characteristics of PFALs.

About the Authors

Toyoki Kozai Ph.D, is the president of The Agricultural Academy of Japan. After establishing his early work on greenhouse light environments, energy savings, ventilation, and computer applications, his scientific interest was extended to in-vitro environments and their control for sugar-free medium micro-propagation and transplant production in closed systems using artificial lighting. He served as President of the Japan Plant Factory Association (a non-profit organization) and is leading the research and development of controlled environmental greenhouses using heat pumps, artificial lighting, fogging,?CO2 enrichment, and nutrient solution control systems.

Selected awards are Lifetime Achievement Award (2009) from Society of In Vitro Biology, USA. The 2002 Purple Ribbon Award from Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports. Japan Prize of Agricultural Sciences from Association of Japanese Agricultural Scientific Societies, 2018 honorary PhD degree from Mahidol University, Thailand ‘The Order of the Sacred Treasure, Gold and Silver Star’ from Japanese Government 2019.

Genhua Niu is a professor in urban horticulture with Texas A&M AgriLife Research at Dallas and Department of Horticultural Sciences. Her area of expertise is controlled environment agriculture and plant stress physiology. Her current research focuses on hydroponics, nutrition management, LED lighting, optimization of growing environment, and development of best management practices related to urban controlled environment agriculture. She is the co-editor and author of the book “Plant Factory - Indoor Vertical Farming for Efficient Quality Food Production (1st & 2nd edition). Dr. Niu received several awards from Texas A&M University for her service and research, American Society for Horticultural Science, and USDA-NIFA.

Michiko Takagaki is Professor at the Graduate School of Horticulture, Chiba University, assigned to the University Farm, and has engaged in education and research.

In charge of foreign student affairs since 1997 and of international affairs in general since 2006. She holds a concurrent assignment as the Director of the Center for Environment, Health and Fields Sciences since 2009 (2009-2015, 2018-present). Engaging with research and experiments in Agronomy of Tropical Agriculture with major fields in Thailand, Indonesia and other Southeast Asian countries, He has done research and taught in the fields of tropical agriculture, environmental control, protected horticulture and training of basic horticulture.