In China about 250 locations are currently using vertical famring to grow their crops. Beijing AgriGarden Protected Horticulture Technology Co, established in 2002, was one of the first such companies in the country to use vertical farming. The company, located at the National Agricultural Science and Technology Innovation Park in the Zhongguancun area, boasts seedling laboratories, vertical farming planting areas, ecological meeting rooms and garden offices.
A workshop in the park, which grows cucumbers on an area of about 1,200 square yards, achieves a yield of more than 440lb, while strawberries planted at the farm boast a yield far superior to that of traditional planting methods.
Wei Lingling, chief executive of Beijing AgriGarden Co, said: “Harvesting of a single crop can only be achieved once or twice a year in field planting. But in our greenhouse laboratory we can harvest crops 12 times a year because the vegetables ripen every 28 to 30 days.”
Although large-scale commercial vertical farming is still not well established in China, real estate companies, local governments, schools and libraries nationwide have collaborated with Wei’s company in more than 100 vertical farming projects.
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