https://j.people.com.cn/n3/2025/1105/c95952-20386725.html

Photo: The largest three-dimensional smart strawberry factory in Southwest China, located in Wenjiang District, Chengdu. Photo by Zhang Lang

This fully environmentally controlled strawberry factory, operated by Sichuan Zhongnong Yixiang Agricultural Technology Co. with technical support from the CAAS Institute of Urban Agriculture is the largest vertical cultivation smart strawberry factory in the southwest region. Unlike traditional open-field cultivation, the factory uses an advanced environmental control system to fully manage cultivation conditions, allowing strawberries to grow continuously 365 days a year, making consumers’ dreams of enjoying strawberries year-round a reality.

Traditional open-field cultivation is dependent on the season and weather, and can only produce three to four harvests a year. However, the factory allows for a stable 10-time harvest per year. The factory began trial operations in June 2025, and is currently smoothly entering its first bumper harvest season, continuously producing large quantities of fruit. Freshly harvested strawberries are immediately shipped. Based on current production capacity, it is estimated that the total annual production capacity across the five work areas will reach 73 tons, and 200 kilograms of fresh strawberries can be shipped per day.

The core of the smart factory is to ‘program’ strawberry growth, reducing human intervention and allowing for more precise control. The factory’s environmental control system is pre-programmed with settings for all processes, including LED supplemental lighting time, temperature and humidity, root irrigation amount, and nutrient supply ratio, and all key parameters are automatically adjusted. In addition, various sensors monitor strawberry growth data in real time and issue prompt warnings if any abnormalities are detected, providing a scientific basis for precise cultivation management.