Tsai Wen-Chin, Ceo, Yeshealth Group
The history of agriculture shows steady, incremental efforts towards making farming more agreeable with our society’s nutritional needs. According to the United Nation’s ‘Global Nutrition Report’ of 2018, malnutrition is responsible for more ill health than any other cause, affecting one in nine people in every country around the world. Traditional farming is inefficient as it takes up lots of space, uses lots of resources and inadvertently harms the environment. As harmful chemicals are rampantly used to produce crops with poorer nutritional value, the practice leaves lesser resources for the future generations. As UN also identified that farming consumes 70 % of the world’s freshwater supply and 30 % of our food is wasted annually, the need to promote sustainability in farming is extremely pressing.
Vertical farming, the practice of growing crops indoors supported by the latest scientific know-how, is a step towards the solution. In contrast to traditional methods, vertical farming yields better quality crops much faster in smaller plots of land, is resistant to adverse weather conditions and promotes greater environmental conservation. And being able to efficiently produce higher quantities of nutritious, fresher and tastier crops, it can suitably serve the dietary needs of the world’s growing urban populations.
Facilitating Safer, Fresher and More Nutritious Vegetables to More People
The illness and recovery of a serial entrepreneur named Tsai Wen-Chin lead to the development of ‘YesHealth Group’, the world’s most cost-efficient vertical farming company supported by advanced AgriTech processes. The success of his previous ventures came at the cost of his health and he was diagnosed to have liver cancer. And his recovery was possible only through naturopathy, a healing system that treats ailments by a strict healthy diet of fresh vegetables, fruits, water, exercise and so on. After this life-changing experience, Tsai Wen-Chin wanted to extend his technological expertise to facilitate healthier, fresher and nutritious vegetables to more people. He brought experts from various industries together and over eight years through persistent research and development, the technology to grow vegetables efficiently without harmful chemicals was ready. Thus in 2013, the headquarters of YesHealth Group was established in Taoyuan, Taiwan.
‘iFarming’ is YesHealth’s intelligent vertical farming solution that’s supported by extensive scientific knowledge about plant biology, microbiology, lighting, automation engineering, smart data collection and analysis. Tsai Wen-Chin, the CEO of the company, reveals, “We have spent years developing what we call plant recipes, which is the formula for most optimal environment conditions for growth of plants e.g. temperature, humidity, water and nutrient quality, light spectrum, period, and intensity, and much more.”
Free of harmful chemicals, YesHealth’s products are completely safe and healthy to eat. Tsai Wen-Chin says, “Also, our products taste better and last longer than traditional products. Our products can be in the supermarket the very same day they are harvested. Many places in the world, the products travel thousands of kilometers before they reach the shelf of the supermarket; however, our products are grown locally year-around and thus much fresher and tastier.”
Promoting the Adoption of Vertical Farming Worldwide
Today, YesHealth is a unique AgriTech company in the Asia-Pacific because all of its key technologies—from organic fertilizers to provide nutrients and control bacteria, to LED lighting with the right wavelengths tailored for diverse plants—have been developed in-house. And it is well established. It manages two of Asia’s largest and most energy efficient vertical farms in Taiwan and China. It has established an advanced and cost-efficient supply chain in Taiwan and now serves top supermarkets and restaurants.
The company’s newer vertical farms in Malaysia and Denmark will be operational in 2020. In response to its top challenge of high costs to build and operate vertical farms, Tsai Wen-Chin says, “We will continuously invest in research and development that will make our technology more cost-efficient and attractive to partners around the world.”
Tsai Wen-Chin shares some more valuable thoughts, “We believe that vertical farming will become a serious contribution to a more sustainable agriculture as technology becomes cheaper and more efficient over the next years.” As vertical farming will be practiced more widely in the future, YesHealth Group aims to be the preferred technology partner for customers around the world interested in vertical farming.