Vegetables Grown "In the Air" -- Soilless Cultivation Seen in Weifang

BEIJING--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Technology is making everything easier. It even allows people to grow vegetables without soil.

Such agricultural technology was recently displayed at the 23rd China (Shouguang) International Vegetable Science and Technology Expo held in Shouguang, Weifang, east China's Shandong Province.

At the event, vegetables were seen growing on cultivation racks, with spraying devices atomizing nutrient solution and spraying it directly onto the root system of the plants.

According to a guide at the expo, soilless cultivation saves labor input, as it calls for no ploughing, weeding or other farming activities. In addition, it can be carried out almost everywhere, even in untillable environment such as desert and wasteland. It helps enhance the growing area of vegetables, thus leading to higher yields.

In recent years, Shouguang has massively employed frontier technologies in its vegetable business. Hailed as the largest vegetable production base in China and the "Silicon Valley" of the Chinese vegetable industry, the city has more than 40,000 hectares of greenhouses and trades around 8 million tonnes of vegetables each year. It is a provider of integrated vegetable growing solutions for more than 20 provincial-level regions in China.

https://twitter.com/WeifangMoments/status/1534112933331890176

Weifang, which administers Shouguang, is also a leading player in Shandong's agricultural sector. It is the first city in Shandong to have employed a modernization index system for agriculture and rural development. The total output value of the city's agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery industries hit 118.35 billion yuan ($17.63 billion) the last year.

Besides, a series of national-level platforms have been put into use in Weifang, including a national vegetable quality standards center, a national livestock and poultry slaughtering quality standards and innovation center, and a national modern agricultural park.