Singapore: Scientists test nano sensors in vertical farming

The Campus for Research Excellence and Technological Enterprise (Create), which held a symposium on Friday (Dec 1) to mark its 10th anniversary, announced a new initiative to improve agricultural processes and produce in Singapore, as land-scarce Singapore moves towards high-density urban farming.

The Disruptive and Sustainable Technologies for Agricultural Precision programme, formed by the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology, will develop two new technologies to tackle the challenge of food and nutrient production in Singapore’s urbanised environment.

One experiment will involve placing nano-sensors in the leaves of green vegetables to monitor plant molecules. This will help to find out the optimal environment for vegetables to grow, such as how much sunlight and water they should receive.

The researchers — who are from MIT, the Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory, NUS and NTU — will share the knowledge they glean with Singapore farmers.

Dr Azlinda Anwar, assistant director of the Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory’s research and enterprise development division, said that this would help develop healthier and new varieties of plants, and increase farming productivity.

Read more at TODAYonline (Louisa Tang)