Five-year research programme aims to develop solutions in renewable energy, plant quality enhancement and intelligent greenhouse monitoring and analysis
Australia’s RMIT University has launched a research hub aimed at pioneering solutions in renewable energy, plant quality enhancement, intelligent greenhouse monitoring and analysis to drive forward the vast potential of protected cropping.
The Research Hub for Intelligent Energy Efficiency in Future Protected Cropping (E2Crop Hub) is an Australian Research Council (ARC) supported initiative led by RMIT University and includes researchers from 3 other Australian universities.
Working alongside 12 industry partners over a five-year research programme, the Hub will focus on delivering advanced energy technologies for greenhouses, enabling them to be self-sustained, affordable, and powered by renewable energy, and new automated decision-making techniques for farmers
Tianyi Ma, E2Crop Hub director, said it was an example of tertiary-industry collaboration to solve societal challenges of today and the future.
“The E2Crop Hub brings together leading research capabilities from RMIT University, The Australian National University, Western Sydney University and The University of New South Wales,” he said.
“This expertise is paired together with innovative industry leaders such as Innofocus Photonics Technology, South East Water, ClearVue Technologies, Vecor Technologies, GreenPlus, Protected Cropping Australia, Evident Australia, and many more.”
The five-year project is supported by A$25mn in total funding commitments: A$5mn in ARC funding, matched by A$5mn in contributions from industry partners, which include organisations from across the materials, energy, photonics, advanced manufacturing, and protected cropping sectors.
Ma said the Hub was well-positioned to meet the challenge of developing a more sustainable agricultural industry.
“The world urgently needs smarter and more sustainable ways to grow food,” he said. “Protected cropping – including high-tech greenhouses and vertical farming – will play a critical role in future food production.
“But these systems are energy intensive. To scale sustainably, the future of agriculture must be a future of intelligent and energy efficient innovation.
“That is the challenge that sits at the heart of the E2Crop Hub, and it is one we at the Hub are uniquely positioned to address.”
Research themes
The first theme is renewable energy, which focuses on solving the large energy consumption challenge associated with controlling the microclimate in greenhouses, including lighting, temperature, humidity, and CO2 levels. The Hub aims to develop intelligent, energy-efficient systems that can dynamically adjust these factors in response to real-time environmental changes.
The second theme is plant optimisation, to amplify crop yield and nutrition within controlled environments. Focusing on tailoring nutrient and CO2 levels, alongside precise microclimate adjustments, this theme promises to fine-tune the internal conditions of greenhouses to achieve unparalleled efficacy in crop cultivation.
The final theme is intelligent cropping, converging Artificial Intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), and big data to foster intelligent cropping, aiming for responsive and self-regulating greenhouse ecosystems. The focus is on real-time monitoring and predictive analytics for proactive management, streamlining greenhouse operations for optimal plant performance with minimal resource input.
