A 20-story vertical super-plant factory in Chengdu, southwest China's Sichuan Province, is exploring ways to support the country's modernized agriculture, focusing on intelligent and industrialized crop cultivation.
It is the world's first ultra-high-rise smart vertical plant factory production system, developed by the Institute of Urban Agriculture under the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences.
Wang Sen, chief executive of the institute, said that with automated equipment, plants can be provided with an environment even better than nature, resulting in improvements in both quality and yield.
"As the name suggests, the plant factory grows crops using industrial methods. Light, temperature, water and nutrients are fully automated to create optimal conditions. Land-use efficiency is also extremely high. This 20-story facility can deliver up to 120 times the yield of traditional open-field farming," Wang said.
By minimizing dependence on land and climate conditions, the facility incorporates technological safeguards that allow production to continue even in extreme scenarios. It is also speeding up seed development, a critical pillar of long-term food security.
"This is a wheat breeding accelerator. Traditionally, developing such a new variety takes eight to 12 years. Here, it can be done in just one to one and a half years. In the future, we will expand from staple crops to fruits and vegetables," Wang said.
In Wenjiang District of Chengdu, a base run under the plant factory is in full operation, cultivating strawberries.
"Planted outdoors, a strawberry plant produces about 300 grams a year. In our plant factory, it can reach 1,500 grams. Our technology is globally competitive. More and more countries, such as Uzbekistan, are showing strong interest in our technology. Our future direction of agricultural development is towards an infrastructure-based and intelligent system," said Peng Jie, chairwoman of FutureFarms, an agricultural technology company in Sichuan.
As China looks ahead to the next Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030), experts said smarter, facility-based farming in the plant factories is expected to move beyond pilot demonstrations and play a bigger role in the country's long-term food strategy.
20-story plant factory in Sichuan explores ways to modern agriculture
U.S. stocks ended mixed on Wednesday, with the S and P 500 and Nasdaq Composite rising to fresh all-time highs, as investors remained hopeful about progress toward a U.S.-Iran peace deal.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.15 percent to 48,463.72. The S and P 500 added 0.8 percent to a new record close of 7,022.95. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 1.59 percent to 24,016.02, extending its winning streak to 11 consecutive sessions.
Seven of the 11 primary S and P 500 sectors closed lower, with materials and industrials leading the laggards at declines of 1.3 percent and 1.24 percent, respectively. Technology and consumer discretionary were the top performers, rising 2.08 percent and 1.37 percent.
Stocks have rallied strongly this week on hopes that a deal between the United States and Iran may materialize. U.S. President Donald Trump offered further encouragement, telling Fox Business in an interview on Wednesday that the Iran war is "very close to being over."
Broadcom was among the session's standout performers, rising 4.19 percent after Meta Platforms announced an extension of their partnership to deploy custom chips based on Broadcom's technology.
Meanwhile, the U.S. economy grew at a "slight to modest pace" over the past six weeks, even as consumers faced higher prices and increasing demand for assistance, according to the Federal Reserve's Beige Book released Wednesday. The report, covering the 12 Fed districts, described the Iran war as "a major source of uncertainty" for businesses. Price growth was characterized as "moderate," despite a sharp rise in energy and fuel costs.
"Many Districts continued to report signs of consumer financial strain, increased price sensitivity, and rising demand at food banks and other social service organizations, while spending among higher-income consumers was resilient," the Beige Book stated.
Shares of all the "Magnificent Seven" technology giants ended higher except for Amazon, led by a 7.62 percent surge in Tesla.
Bank of America rose nearly 2 percent and Morgan Stanley advanced 4.52 percent after reporting better-than-expected quarterly results. Goldman Sachs kicked off bank earnings season on Monday, followed by Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup on Tuesday.
Snap Inc. surged nearly 8 percent after the company announced it would lay off approximately 16 percent of its global workforce, with its CEO Evan Spiegel citing "rapid advancements in artificial intelligence" as a key factor.
U.S. stocks close mixed with S and P 500, Nasdaq hitting record highs
