Plant Factory

Part 1: Overview and concept of closed plant production system (CPPS) 1. Introduction 2. Role of the plant factory with artificial lighting (PFAL) in urban areas 3. PFAL business and R&D in Asia and North America: Status and perspectives 4. Vertical farming in Europe: Present status and outlook 5. Plant factory as a resource-efficient closed plant production system 6. Micro- and mini-PFALs for improving the quality of life in urban areas 7. Rooftop plant production systems in urban areas

Part 2: Basics of physics and physiology - Environments and their effects 8. Light sources 9. Plant responses to light 10. LED advancements for plant-factory artificial lighting 11. Physical environmental factors and their properties 12. Photosynthesis and respiration 13. Growth, development, transpiration, and translocation as affected by abiotic environmental factors 14. Nutrition and nutrient uptake in soilless culture systems 15. Tipburn 16. Functional components in leafy vegetables 17. Medicinal components 18. Production of pharmaceuticals in a specially designed plant factory

Part 3: System design, construction, cultivation and management 19. Plant production process, floor plan, and layout of PFAL 20. Hydroponic systems 21. Seeding, seedling production and transplanting 22. Transplant production in closed systems 23. Photoautotrophic micropropagation 24. Biological factor management 25. Design and management of PFALs 26. Automated technology in plant factories with artificial lighting 27. Life cycle assessment 28. Education, training, and business workshops and forums on plant factories

Part 4: PFALs in operation and its perspectives 29. Selected PFALs in the United States, the Netherlands, and China 30. Selected PFALs in Japan 31. Representative plant factories in Taiwan 32. Challenges for the next-generation PFALs 33. Conclusions: Resource-saving and resource-consuming characteristics of PFALs

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