2015年CRI 台湾农民采用高科技种植农作物

Meet Chang Chen-kai, one of a new generation of high-tech 1 farmers in Taiwan.

Rather than toiling 2 in the fields, Chang works in an air-conditioned room at a plant factory operated by Taiwanese biotechnology company, ARWIN.

It's one of a growing number of plant factories in Taiwan which grows vegetables under LED lights.

Here, plants are grown in closed environments, meaning growers can control temperatures, humidity, nutrients 3 and water, all the while using LEDs as the only light source.

Chang says that leads to many advantages.

"The advantage of LED-grown plants? To grow plants in the soil outdoors, you would need much more land for plantation 5. But to grow vegetables in the water, you need less land and even less space. And to grow plants outdoors, you would need to use pesticides 6 often, but in here you don't need pesticides as the room's environment is all controlled."

In a similar way to hydroponics, these LED-grown plants are cultivated without soil.

Instead they use mineral nutrient 4 solutions in the water.

In the past few years, Taiwan has seen a boom in its LED industry.

Taiwan manufacturers have made LED lights which consume less energy and have a broad-spectrum 7 that closely mimics 8 the intensity 9 and spectrum of natural sunlight.

With their low cost and natural-looking light, many now see LED lights as a viable 10 option in the agricultural sector 11.

Ting Mao Agricultural Biotechnology started their plant factory in 2007. Today they're a leading producer of LED-grown vegetables in Taiwan.

One of their most popular products is this 'ice plant', a thick, leafy vegetable from South Africa. It's sold for 400 US dollars a kilogram.

The factory now produces a variety of exotic vegetables after extensive research into various light settings, temperatures and nutrients certain crops require.

According to company's CEO Lawrence Lo, Taiwan is well placed to become an international leader in terms of high-tech plant factories.

"Actually, Taiwan has an advantage on this, because we have a well-developed lighting 12 industry, environmental-control equipment industry and many other electrical appliance industries. These are all the things that a plant factory would need."

Ting Mao has up to 5,000 members and restaurant operators who order vegetables directly from them.

Aside from manufacturing various products, the company has also set up their own restaurant which uses vegetables from the factory.

Some restaurant customers are assured of the benefits of LED-grown vegetables in comparison to traditional ones, despite the higher price tag.

Long Si-wei is a restaurant customer.

"This fresh vegetable not only tastes good, but it's also trouble-free. You just take them out and eat them right away."

But Food writer and Professor at Innovative 13 Institute of Technology, Lily Chang isn't so convinced. She thinks vegetables grown in the soil benefit from all sorts of minerals in the ground.

For CRI, this is Yu Yang.