"Smart Agriculture Lighting Innovation Forum" Successfully Held

8月4日下午，即第26届广州国际照明展开展的第二天，“智慧农业照明创新论坛”在广州中国进出口商品交易会展馆成功举办。

This Forum is organized by the China Association of Lighting Industry (CALI), the Smart Plant Factory Innovation Office of the Urban Agriculture Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, and Guangzhou Canton Fair Frankfurt Exhibition Co., Ltd. It is co-organized by Wuxi Lide Times Technology Co., Ltd. (Agricultural Lighting Network), the Agricultural Lighting Professional Committee of the China Association of Lighting Industry, and the Talent Training Work Committee of the China Association of Lighting Industry. We also extend our sincere thanks to SGS SGS Testing & Certification Services Co., Ltd., Songsheng Shares, Shenzhen Tongyifang Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd., and Hangzhou UTE Power Supply Co., Ltd. for their sponsorship and support of this Forum.

In recent years, the global horticultural lighting market has flourished. LED horticultural lighting has shown outstanding performance within the semiconductor lighting sector. Based on the many advantages of LED horticultural lighting, the entire industry is accelerating its exploration. To promote healthy and orderly development in the industry, we have invited numerous industry experts to attend and share new technologies, research, and applications in smart agriculture and horticultural lighting. Experts and representatives from domestic institutions and enterprises in the fields of lighting, agriculture, and testing, totaling over 300 people, attended the conference. Additionally, more than 5000 people watched the event via live streaming.

Wen Qidong, Deputy Secretary-General of the China Association of Lighting Industry, delivered a speech. He pointed out that agricultural lighting has been a hot topic in the lighting field in recent years. Driven by multiple factors, exports of plant lighting products increased significantly year-on-year in 2020. "However, behind the digital prosperity lies a story. First, it was due to the pandemic; second, it was under the process of legalizing recreational marijuana in North America. Overall, agricultural lighting is still in its early stages," he reminded. Furthermore, agricultural lighting is a comprehensive industry spanning multiple disciplines with broad coverage. He hopes that cutting-edge research and downstream applications can be well integrated. "The prospects for agricultural lighting are vast, but the road is winding. Let us work together to make agricultural lighting bigger, stronger, and better. We look forward to a full-scale explosion of the agricultural lighting market, with infinite possibilities in the future," Secretary General Wen concluded.

Academician of the International Eurasian Academy of Sciences and Deputy Director of the Institute of Urban Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Yang Qichang delivered a speech at the forum. He stated that in recent years, plant factories have developed rapidly. Commercial, home micro-scale, mobile, and container-type plant factories have all achieved rapid growth. There is strong market demand for smart agriculture and plant factories, with research institutions and enterprises investing heavily in R&D and construction. "We hope this forum will provide a platform for exchange to better promote the development of plant factories and smart agriculture," Academician Yang further stated. "The Smart Plant Factory Innovation Work Office of the Institute of Urban Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences has always united and connected with colleagues nationwide, conducted extensive academic exchanges, promoted industry-academia-research collaboration and technological innovation, organized the formulation of industry standards, and built a national-level platform for information sharing and business communication, providing effective support for the plant factory industry. In the future, the Smart Plant Factory Innovation Work Office will continue to serve everyone as before, jointly promoting the development of plant factories and smart agriculture."

Wang Sen, Senior Engineer at the Institute of Urban Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, presented a thematic share on "Application of Luminescent Materials in LED Horticultural Lighting". He first introduced the implementation methods of LED. Currently, the most common method for LED light emission is using LED blue or UV chip laser luminescent materials. In terms of horticultural lighting, manufacturers both domestically and internationally are investing in R&D, but there is still a lack of precise "light recipes" that effectively promote plant growth, a lack of practical application data for support, uneven product quality, high prices, and an urgent need for efficient and energy-saving horticultural lighting products. It is imperative to develop high-performance luminescent materials suitable for plant growth lighting. He proposed that rare earth elements can significantly improve the luminous performance of luminescent materials. Rare earth luminescent materials are one of the core materials for current lighting, display, and information detection devices. Rare earth plant supplementary lights made using rare earth luminescent materials can meet the light requirements for different growth stages of plants, provide precise light recipes, thereby achieving effects such as improving crop quality, increasing yield and income, resisting pests and diseases, and bringing products to market earlier.

Zou Chaoyang, Deputy General Manager of Shenzhen Songsheng Electronics Co., Ltd., focused on "Opportunities and Challenges for Smart Agriculture -LED Horticultural Lighting Power Supplies". He stated that in the past two years, under the pandemic background, supply chain transportation and food safety concerns emerged, compounded by the long-term contradiction between global population growth and limited arable land. Meanwhile, the ongoing legalization of industrial hemp in North America has driven a surge in horticultural lighting demand, making smart agriculture an inevitable trend. Plant factories can shorten planting time by 2/3, vertical layouts can be built over ten stories high, and production capacity per unit land area is 40-100 times that of traditional farming, representing a "new paradigm" for smart agriculture. With current applications in plant factories, horticultural lighting requires higher power power supplies to support the light needs of crops at various stages. Songsheng Electronics launched a series of power supply products dedicated to LED horticultural lighting in 2019, which can be customized designed for electrical performance, structural characteristics, lifespan requirements, etc., specifically for LED drivers. According to his introduction, Songsheng's dedicated plant lamp power supplies feature four innovations: patented circuits, structural innovation, precise dimming, and dedicated dimmers. At GILE, Songsheng also showcased a new 1000W dedicated power supply for industrial hemp plant lamps.

Dr. Zhou Huafang, Vice President and Chief Scientist of Aisheng Biotechnology Co., Ltd., delivered a keynote speech titled "Overseas Medical Cannabis Market and Demand for Agricultural Lighting". Plant factories and plant growth lamps can meet the conditions for efficient, high-yield, and high-quality cultivation of special plants. Therefore, under the trend of medical cannabis legalization in North America, the demand for agricultural lighting in medical cannabis cultivation has grown rapidly, providing unique opportunities for plant factories. Dr. Zhou also analyzed the common lamps and spectra used in this crop's cultivation, the proportion of various lighting lamps in medical cannabis cultivation, the impact of lighting on yield and quality, and the factors customers consider when selecting lighting lamps.

SGS Zhang Yanhui, North American Certification Manager of the Consumer Electronics Division at SGS Standard Technical Service Co., Ltd., introduced "European and American Certification Requirements for Plant Growth Lamps". New competitors entering the plant lighting field and exports need to understand safety certifications, DLC, FCC, etc. In addition to traditional lighting product safety and electromagnetic compatibility requirements, horticultural lighting equipment and systems must also consider different installation methods and power supply operations; harsh environments such as high humidity, water spray, dust, corrosion, and high temperatures; photobiological safety, characteristics of light output, and efficiency of effect on plant growth. North American safety standards for plant growth lamps include UL 1598, UL 8800, etc. Each standard specifies requirements for structure, testing, protection against personal injury, etc. For example, regarding photobiological ratings, UL 8800 stipulates compliance with IEC 62471 standards. European safety standards include EN 60598-2-1, EN 62471, etc. Manager Zhang provided a detailed interpretation of these standards and specifications regarding various requirements and precautions for plant growth lamps, helping numerous LED plant lamp manufacturers improve product quality and expand into international markets.

Professor Liu Houcheng from the College of Horticulture at South China Agricultural University shared "New Progress in Plant Lighting Research". As one of the fastest-growing lighting fields in recent years, plant lighting has become an important and hot research area in facility agriculture. Professor Liu began by analyzing literature retrieval and research results on light and plants, introducing a large number of related studies and practical effects, such as progress in green light research, far-red light (FR) research progress, light-regulated plant antioxidant substances, and light quality regulation of greenhouse crop growth. This helped everyone understand that different light qualities or wavelengths have different biological effects on plants , , affecting photosynthesis, morphological structure, organ development and growth, and chemical composition. Through artificial supplementary lighting or light regulation, plant growth can be promoted, yields increased, product morphology and color improved, and functional components enhanced. The continuous progress in plant lighting technology research and development can provide technical support for the healthy development of the plant lighting industry and the development of modern agriculture in China.

深圳市同一方光电技术有限公司营销总经理魏仕权以“LED植物光照助力现代农业种植发展”为题展开分享。同一方植物照明产品主要采用当下主流的“白光+红光”配光方案，其中白光产品系列的光合光子通量效率(PPE) 65mA测试 3.1 μmol/J，红光产品系列PPE 350mA测试高达4.2μmol/J。同一方可根据植物不同生长阶段定制方案，拥有强大的技术实力与提供光源解决方案的能力，未来公司的产品技术发展方向一是提供高效率的光源解决方案（光源、MODULE)，二是提供低高度（近距离）照射下的光均匀度的解决方案。他表示，今年的全球疫情加速植物照明市场需求，以北美市场为代表的用于工业大麻种植的植物生长灯，和欧洲为代表的果蔬、花卉种植的植物生长灯销量都有较明显的增长，同一方在美国、英国、德国、波兰、西班牙等国家有大量的种植案例。

中国照明电器协会农业照明专业委员会秘书长洪兵作“农业照明的市场和技术最新动态”主题分享。植物照明市场规模近些年迅速增长，2020年我国出口农业灯具约5亿美元，同比增长了4倍以上，主要得益于北美特种药用植物种植的需求。根据全球调研机构Technavio研究报告显示，2016年-2020年，全球生长灯市场以11.7%的年复合增长率增长，2020年全球生长灯市场达30亿美元。国际照明巨头公司进入植物照明灯市场，不仅仅是灯具更涉及整个植物生态系统，国内企业也快速布局植物照明业务，2020年我国从事植物照明的企业已经超过300家，比2015年增长了近一倍。然而，他指出，农业照明同样存在一定的挑战，如产业化与标准化水平低，市场规模难以拓展；投入与产出不成比例；光配方研究缺乏、分子机制不清楚、机理研究停留在宏观层面等，在现阶段，基础研究、技术突破、降低成本，加强推广以及建立可持续盈利的商业模式都非常重要。

Horticultural lighting is a highly comprehensive industry spanning the fields of lighting, botany, and agronomy, requiring multi-disciplinary cooperation and collaboration between industry, academia, and research. In the future, the Agricultural Lighting Professional Committee of the China Association of Lighting Industry, the Smart Plant Factory Innovation Work Office of the Urban Agriculture Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, and the Agricultural Lighting Network will actively leverage the influence of their aggregation platform, collaborate with peers in the same industry, and provide services in areas such as standards, market, technology, application, supply chain optimization, and talent training, actively promoting the healthy development of China's smart agriculture and horticultural lighting industry, and driving domestic brands to go global.