This research program seeks to reduce energy use and increase resource use efficiency by employing new light-blocking (Smart Glass; SG) and existing light-shifting (LLEAF) films in glasshouses operated by the protected cropping industry.
The project is based at the National Vegetable Protected Cropping Centre (NVPCC) on the Hawkesbury Campus of Western Sydney University. The project will further enable the NVPCC to provide a dedicated research centre of excellence for university, government, and industry engagement to trial new technologies to achieve commercial success for the protected cropping industry. The project will also contribute to the education and training of students and personnel for the protected cropping industry, which generally lacks a skilled workforce.
Prof. Zhonghua Chen, globally lauded scientist and Education Leader at Western Sydney University’s National Vegetable Protected Cropping Centre, talks about two projects he leads for FFS, exploring strategies for cooling and sustainable fertigation in glasshouse vegetable production.
Prof. Zhonghua Chen
Hear Sydney-based agripreneur Alex Soeriyadi, an industry partner in the FFSCRC’s ‘Smart glass’, ‘Glasshouse films’ and ‘Methane reduction’ projects, discuss his light-spectra-shifting, crop-enhancing agricultural film LLEAF-Red and the trials it is undergoing at Western Sydney University.