Dive Brief:
- Panasonic has begun selling vegetables it grows in a plant "factory" in Singapore to a chain of Japanese restaurants in that country.
- The electronics giant has built a 248 square meter factory filled with plant containers piled high in a sort of green, skyscraper-like model that takes advantage of limited space.
- The factory, which produces 10 varieties of vegetables, is a a "pinkhouse," a climate-controlled facility that uses LED lights and recycled water rather than sun, dirt, and rain to grow produce.
Dive Insight:
The city-state of Singapore is different from other nations for a number of reasons, including a lack of land suitable for farming on the island. Folks in the teeming urban environment — it's the second-most densely populated place on earth according to the World Bank — import some 90% of their food. That makes Singapore the ideal place for pinkhouses.
But the thing that's interesting about the new high-tech farms with their hydroponics, LED lights, and sterile rooms is that you can set one up anywhere. With this flexibility, many companies are seeing plenty of opportunities in lots of places. Fujitsu is growing lettuce in Japan. Toshiba recently entered the business too. Sharp is growing strawberries in Dubai. And there's a pinkhouse operating in Texas.