According to reports, an old tunnel in South Korea has been transformed into a vertical farm, using LED growth lights to grow vegetables and fruits to solve various problems caused by extreme weather, agricultural land and labor shortage.
According to reports, an indoor farming company called NextOn has leased a closed tunnel in South Korea and transformed it into a smart farm by setting up vertically stacked floors, using hydroponics and LED lighting to grow crops. According to the company, this is the world's first indoor vertical farm built in a tunnel, and it is also the largest vertical farm in South Korea, covering an area of 2,300 square meters.
Using NextOn's cultivation system, the farm grows 60 varieties of crops. Choi Jae Bin, NextOn's chairman, said the tunnel's temperature range of 10-22 degrees Celsius (50-72 degrees Fahrenheit) helps optimize growing conditions for crops.
It is reported that in 1970, South Korea built the tunnel for a major highway and closed it in 2002. Using this abandoned tunnel, NextOn cut construction costs in half. And, the vertical farm started supplying vegetables to a food retailer and a bakery chain by the end of August.
As the global climate warms and the agricultural workforce continues to shrink, smart farms using LED lighting technologies and systems have emerged as a potential solution for sustainable food production.
