LG U+ announced on July 21 that it will carry out smart farm business in earnest with LG CNS and Farm8, the No. 1 plant factory company in Korea.
It plans to build a "future-oriented plant factory" at Sangdo Station in Seoul to demonstrate a block chain system that can track the entire process of production, shipment, distribution and delivery.
A plant factory is an agricultural form that maintains a constant growth condition for 24 hours and 365 days through artificial lighting, temperature and humidity, carbon dioxide and culture fluid control in an enclosed space.
When the future plant factory promoted by the three companies is established, management of crop growth and cultivation environment can be done remotely through smartphones, and self-control of air-conditioning and water pumps can be made under optimal conditions.
Based on the block chain, production history and distribution information are automatically stored in stages, enabling the provision of food safety history management services that cannot be falsified.
To this end, LG U+ will provide an integrated smart farm control platform based on environment and growth monitoring sensors, telecommunication infrastructure, cloud, big data, and AI, while LG CNS will establish a food safety history management system using a block chain solution called 'Monachain'.
Farm8 is responsible for the plant demonstration test bed and crop cultivation and operation in Sangdo Station.
"We will prepare for the future of agriculture and take the lead in digital transformation of agriculture, starting with the demonstration project of future plant factories," said Joo Young-joon, head of LG U+'s Future Technology Development Lab. "We will actively cooperate with our partners to find various business models for smart farms."
