China opens world’s tallest unmanned veggie farm

Added on 05 December 2023

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China opens world’s tallest unmanned veggie farm

©Provided by South China Morning Post China's first autonomous veggie farm recently opened in Chengdu, Sichuan province. Photo: CMG

Vertical farms are seen as an essential means of bringing enough food to arid and urban parts of China, with automated facilities that provide year-round harvests. Unaffected by climate constraints, new Chengdu facility can reportedly produce a harvest of lettuce every 35 days under AI-controlled environmental conditions.

Chinese scientists have put the world's tallest unmanned vertical farm into operation in the southwestern province of Sichuan, in response to President Xi Jinping's call to reinforce the nation's food security through technological innovation.

The 20-storey urban farm, built under the oversight of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences in a downtown part of the provincial capital Chengdu, represents world-leading automation in farming, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

It also marks the latest effort to leverage technological innovation to ensure there is enough food to feed the country's 1.4 billion people, as the nation's self-sufficiency drive has become increasingly prioritised against the backdrop of geopolitical tensions that could affect imports and supply chains.

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