Factory-style plant production systems of various kinds are the final goal of greenhouse production systems. These systems facilitate planning for constant productivity per unit area and labor under various outside weather conditions, although energy consumption is intensive. Physical environmental control in combination with biological control can replace the use of agricultural chemicals such as insecticides, herbicides and hormones to regulate plants. In this way, closed systems which do not use such agricultural chemicals are ideal for environmental conservation for the future. Nutrient components in plants can be regulafied by physical environmental control including nutrient solution control in hydroponics. Therefore, specific contents of nutrients for particular plants can be listed on the container and be used as the basis of customer choice in the future. Plant production systems can be classified into three types based on the type of lighting: natural lighting, supplemental lighting and completely artificial lighting (Plant Factory). The amount of energy consumption increases in this order, although the degree of weather effects is in the reverse order. In the addition to lighting, factory-style plant production systems consist of mechanized and automated systems for transplanting, environmental control, hydroponics, transporting within the facility, and harvesting. Space farming and development of pharmaceutical in bio-reactors are other applications of these types of plant production systems. Various kinds of state-of-art factory-style plant production systems are discussed in the present paper. These systems are, in general, rather sophisticated and mechaized, and energy consumption is intensive. Factory-style plant production is the final goal of greenhouse production systems and the possibilities for the future are infinte but not clear.

채소작물을 재배하기 위한 식물공장과 같은 생산설비는 북유럽에서는 일반적인 예이다. 식물공장의 건설은 1980년대 이후로 시작되어왔다. 이 결과로 NFT를 비롯한 수경재배의 경험을 축적하여 왔다. 현재 북부와 중부 유럽 (노르웨이, 핀란드, 스웨덴, 덴마크, 네덜란드, 벨기에, 독일)에서 상추와 향신채같은 샐러드용 채소류를 생산하기 위한 식물공장이 약 15개 정도 있다. 독일에서의 채소작물의 공장적 생산은 1992년이후 1ha에서 상추를 생산하고 있고 벨기에에서는 2개의 식물공장에서 1995년부터 상추를 생산하고 있다. (중략)

Since 1966 tissue culture has been used as a tool for the production of disease indexed stocks from selected plants and their rapid (clonal) mass propagation through the procedure now referred to as micropropagation. The major advantages have been the rapid introduction of new plant cultivars, created within conventional and mutation breeding programmes, as healthy stock for beneficial distribution and the expansion of the world wide horticultural industry. (omitted)

The importance of plant factory which blend agriculture and manufacture has been discussed widely. This company has researched hydroponics technique for cultivation which has been mainly developed in the sites of Okinawa and Hyougo Prefecture. In 1987, we stopped the previous research there, and started a new one far plant factory at the Agricultural Research Center of Chiba Prefecture. In 1989, we built four experimental plant factories (120㎡) at Chiba Oil Factory Refinery in Ichihara-city, developing techniques of cultivation, equipment production and environmental control for cultivation system of tomato, strawberry and leaf vegetables. (omitted)

식물의 공장적 생산으로 생산방식을 전환 발전시키기 위한 기술의 구성요소는 보는 관점에 따라 다를 수 있겠으나 생산의 공정화, 규격품의 주년생산, 최적한 인공환경조성, 생산물의 무공해 청정화로 볼 수 있다. 첫째로 생산방식의 공정화는 3차원적 생산구조로서 광의 수광태세를 개선시키고 작업대상인 작물을 작업장치에 이동시키는 동적생산체계를 구성함으로써 생산의 효율화를 달성하는 것이다. 둘째로 규격품의 주년생산을 달성하기 위해서는 년중 균일한 고품질 상품을 생산함으로서 기존 생산물과 품질의 차별화를 시키는 것이 목표이다. (중략)

최근 우리나라 농업은 계속되는 농촌노동력의 감소 및 노령화ㆍ부녀화와 WTO체제 출범에 따른 농축산물 수입개방 둥 대내외적으로 매우 어려운 처지에 놓여있다. 이러한 농업여건변화에 따라 우리농업을 경쟁력 있는 강한 체질의 산업으로 육성하여 국제경쟁력을 키우고 국민소득 증대에 따른 고품질 농축산물 수요증가에 적절히 대응하기 위하여 품질이 좋은 농축산물을 값싸게 생산 공급할 수 있는 자본기술집약적 농업의 필요성이 점차 높아지고 있다. (중략)

A garlic (Allium sativum L.) is an important and useful vegetable such that it is not only most used for spices but also exploited for health foods and pharmaceuticals. The garlic is a kind of vegetable propagated vegetatively through cloves. Therefore, development of new varieties of garlics is possible only through selection breeding because cross breeding is impossible. (omitted)