The Institute of Crop Science at Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna in Pisa, Italy, has recently inaugurated an on-site container farm to advance research in indoor farming. This facility enables researchers to study how horticultural crops respond to varying environmental conditions, promoting innovation in 'sustainable agriculture'.
The container for the indoor cultivation of plants
C-Led and Greatit, collaborators on the project, provided the facility to support indoor experiments on plant growth in a controlled environment. "The LEDs can be dimmed and their light intensity adjusted, alongside climate control ranging from +5°C to +45°C and humidity control between 60% and 90%," explain Raffaello Montanari from C-Led and Daniele Bertocchi from Greatit. "In terms of fertigation, the distribution of fertilizer and irrigation water can also be easily adjusted."
Raffaello Montanari of C-Led
The lighting, allow for control and regulation of each individual channel (red 660 nm, blue 450 nm, white 4000K and red far 730 nm), allowing to modify the amount of light available to the plants at any time. This enables researchers to create and test any lighting recipe by varying the percentage of wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum.
Daniele Bertocchi of Greatit
Once the ideal light spectrum is determined for the species being grown, it's also possible to adjust the light intensity level, measured as PPFD (photosynthetic photon flux density, expressed in μmol m-2 s-1), and the photoperiod, or the number of light hours per day. This adjustment is a crucial factor for plant physiology.
A moment during the inaugural ceremony of the vertical farm container
The Demetra 2 isothermal container is a repurposed unit transformed into a vertical farm, fully customized by Greatit srl, an Italian company specializing in sustainable, locally sourced agriculture. This structure includes a chamber for testing various plant types, with an internal volume of 25.13 cubic meters, and is equipped with all the necessary instruments for cultivating plants in a controlled atmosphere.
A cell control unit enables temperature adjustments, humidity control, and the activation of an anti-stratification system that circulates air from the top to the bottom, ensuring a consistent thermo-hygrometric environment throughout the chamber without direct air currents contacting the plants. Additionally, a fertigation system is available to distribute fertilizers through the irrigation water, allowing multiple treatments to be applied simultaneously.
These features make the climate chamber especially well-suited for scientific experiments. It is equipped with racks specifically designed for medium-sized plant species, differing from the typical sizes used commercially for vegetables like microgreens and baby leaves (young seedlings and leaves of leafy greens). Additionally, the chamber includes sensors to measure light quality, an internal camera, and software that enables remote management of settings via smartphone and tablet.
For more information:
C-LED
Via Gambellara, 34
40026 - Imola (BO) - Italy
Tel.: +39 0542 654980
[email protected]
www.c-led.it
Greatit
Daniele Bertocchi
Tel.: +39 3249034218
[email protected]
www.greatit.it