인공광형 식물공장 경영 모델 연구

Abstract

식물공장은 기후여건에 관계없이 365일 농작물을 생산할 수 있는 IT·NT·BT 등 최첨단 기술이 융복합 된 자동생산시스템이며, 소비자 트렌드와 기호변화에 신속하게 대응할 수 있어 소비자 니즈를 반영한 농산물을 생산·공급할 수 있게 해주는 시설이다.

그러나 식물공장에 대한 국민들의 공감대가 형성되어 있지 않고, 식물공장에 대한 법·제도 등이 아직 없으며, 식물공장에서 생산된 농산물에 대한 소비자 선호도가 미흡하며, 초기 시설비와 운영비가 높아 경제성 확보가 어려운 상황이다.

식물공장 운영에 따른 경제성 확보 차원에서 식물공장에서 생산된 농산물을 소비자가 어느 가격에 얼마나 구입할 것인지에 대한 분석과 소비확대 방안을 분석하였고, 식물공장 경영사례를 몇 개의 유형별로 나누어 분석을 하였으며, 정부 지원정책과 연계를 위해 시나리오를 구성·분석하여 경영성과 제고를 위한 “경영모델시스템”을 개발하였다.

다음으로 식물공장의 시장규모를 추정하였다. 식물공장을 완전인공광과 병용형(인공광+자연광)으로 구분하여 국내 시장규모와 주요국의 시장규모를 추정하였으며, 기술적인 면에서는 작물재배기술, 광원 및 조명기술, 양액제어기술, 환경제어기술 등의 국내 기술수준과 향후 기술개발 방향을 분석하였다.

◦ The plant factory is an automatic production system, in which up-to-date technologies including IT, NT and BT are converged to produce crops 365 days regardless of weather circumstances. - Since all facilities shall be made with artificial components, there are number of demerits including high initial investment creating high entry barrier and low economic feasibility with high maintenance costs.

◦ This study is to review operation status of plant factories in both domestic and overseas countries, and to establish management profit model by item by analyzing economic feasibilities by facility scale, kind of crop, and range of automatic facilities.

◦ There is a different stand point of perspective on the plant factory between agriculture industry and individual company. From the perspective of agriculture industry, there is no difference in cultivation between under the sunlight and under the artificial light (or mixed) in indoors. However from the individual company's perspective, it ould be better off with producing crops by machines and sensors apart from traditional agricultural cultivation. - Increase in demand by culture trend: It is expected that the demand for functional foods with increase in interests in well-being would increase since pesticide-free crops, environment-friendly products, and functional agricultural products by adding functional additives to nutrient solution can be produced in the plant factories.

◦ Analysis results on plant factory related companies and consumer surveys - As a result of effects after operation of plant factories, 66.7% of the surveies stated that the relative management costs dramatically increased, 30% quality improvement, and 25% increase in production volume respectively. On the other hand, the sales volume decreased compared to the past due to lack of recognition and competition in price with normal agricultural products. - The following survey was conducted on how much a consumer is willing to pay for each 4 different items (a head of lettuce, strawberry, a kind of groundsel, ginseng) cultivated under normal fields and different light types (artificial light, sunlight, mixed type with artificial light and sunlight). - As a result, the consumers are willing to pay KRW 1,000 for 100g of a head of lettuce cultivated under artificial light, KRW 1,500 for sunlight, and KRW 2,000 for the mixed type whereas they pay for 450g (1 pack) of strawberry with KRW 6,000, KRW 7,000, and KRW 8,000 respectively, and for 100g of ginseng with KRW 5,900, KRW 6,900, and KRW 7,900 respectively. - It is analyzed that consumers prefer soil cultivation (bacteria-free, organic) rather than hydroponics (nutrient solution, bacteria-free) regardless of items in types of cultivation venue of plant factory whereas they prefer the mixed type rather the artificial light type in the type of light, however they prefer the sunlight the most of all. - As a result of survey on items to be cultivated in plant factories, vegetables scored the highest with 80 points whereas flowers, specialized crops, and medicine kinds scored 66.7 points. On the other hand, garden fruits scored the lowest with 40 points.

◦ Analysis results on management performance by cultivation by item and adjustment of shipping - The management performance is analyzed on the 10 items (crown daisy, celery, parsley, broccoli, lettuce, pak choi, chicory, kale, angelica keiskei, etc) by selecting the highest collected price per month. - For the case of lettuce, the average price per kg is KRW 2,553 if it is cultivated and sold for a year. On the other hand, it would be increased to KRW 4,201 per kg creating KRW 1,648 (1.6 times) per kg more profits in case of selectively producing and shipping in a calculated manner by time among parsley, angelica keiskei, kale, and etc.

◦ AHP analysis results for expanding the spread of plant factories - For the industrialization of plant factory, the priority for development of plant factory is addressed and degree of importance for each area is analyzed for the subject of industry, academic and research. - It is researched that the utmost urgent issue is securing economic feasibility followed by R&D on technology. The opinion on improvement of system and policies is relatively low. There was no big opinion conflict on setting comprehensive strategic standards between technology and economy experts from the expert group. ∙Securing economic feasibility: They addressed that operating costs and revenue increase are the most urgent issues of all followed by decrease in construction costs and improvement on productivity and product quality. ∙Technology development: It is revealed that the cultivation technology is the most important factor whereas nutrient solution technology is the lowest. The technology expert group insisted that the technology development in light source and lighting shall be firstly conducted whereas the economy expert group answered the development of crop cultivation technology shall come first. ∙Improvement on policy and system: It is surveyed that the support on initial investment is pointed out as the far most important issue followed by reorganization and relief of relevant laws and regulations.

◦Development of maximum profitable model for each item of plant factories: Analysis on practices of example companies - In order to maximize the profits for plant factory, it is important to ① sell products with highest possible price by adjusting shipping time of each item, ② sell entire stocks by expanding sales channel, and secure stabilized selling prices by contract-based cultivation ③ develop relevant technology for cost reduction. - Securing high selling price by adjusting shipping time of each item - Even though it is impossible with current technologies to cope with all the shipping time for every item, just it is assumed that the 10 cultivatable items under plant factory can be produced, and compared the volumes and prices by their shipping time. For crown daisy, the period from March to June, and October record the highest shipping volume to wholesale markets while the relative prices mark low due to the abundant supply. For celery, the shipping volume during the period from April to December continue to increase, and the relative prices gradually decrease after marking the highest on March. - The production volume for the example company is 1,400 heads (80g) per day, and 504,000 heads (40.3t) for a year while the selling price for each 80g pouch is KRW 959. ∙In the foregoing case, the profits can only be created if 80% or more of production volume is sold. It is also revealed that it would be profitable only when the product is sold with KRW 760 or higher which is 80% of the conventional selling price KRW 950 per head.

◦ Development of management model for each crop: Management analysis program for plant factory (Excel 2010 Microsoft Visual Basic) - It is separately analyzed for the 4 different light types including A type (complete artificial light: LED), B type (complete artificial light: fluorescent light), C type (Mixed: natural light + LED), and D type (Mixed: natural light + fluorescent light) while lettuce is selected as the basic crop and romaine as a selective crop. - In all types, the production volume increased when changes in crops, light sources, production cycle, and spacing thus the profits were increased as well. However, the level of profits increase for LED is better than the fluorescent lights. - For mixed type, profits increased by a relatively small margin since the use of LED or fluorescent light is not significant.

◦ Trend of plant factory in major advanced countries - In Netherlands, the total cultivation area of plant factory was already 4,700ha in 1975, which is close to that of Korea in 2008. The country accomplished large scale, facility enhancement, and so forth as well increase in production volume resulting in ongoing systematic production. - Japan, whose level of operation for plant factories is lower than that of Netherlands, is expected to expand its market for plant factories. ∙It is expected that the market size would increase from JPY 13.8 billion in 2009 to JPY 31 billion in 2015 which is 2.2 times higher than that of 2009, and reach JPY 64 billion with 4.6 times increased in 2020. ∙The plant factories using sunlight are expected to increase due to major participation from large scale companies and enhancement of previous facilities. The relative market size would increase from JPY 10 billion in 2009 to JPY 19 billion in 2015, and JPY 34 billion in 2020.

◦ Development trend of plant factory in Korea - Promoting plant factory can positively effect both related front and rear industries along with development of its market. ∙High efficient energy material industry: LED artificial light, solar battery, solar energy, natural lighting, geothermal, wind power, secondary battery ∙Environment/process control industry: intelligent robot applied industry, indoor environment detection, electric power energy management system, utilization of RFID/USN ∙Food bio industry: specialized crops with nutrients and functional elements added, antibiotics for stability and special purpose, biomass, bio-energy industry - Plant factory is one of the proactive measures for preparing future climate changes, and furthermore a new growth factor, in which factory facilities can be globally exported. ∙Through plant factory, Korea as a IT advanced country could upgrade agricultural technology and induce participation from advanced countries to facility agricultural area. - The domestic relevant research institutes and private sectors need to strive for lowering the high initial investment, one of the biggest demerits of plant factory. ∙Standardization of plant factory facilities creating mass production of related equipments can lead to lower the initial investment. ∙It is in need to establish cooperation system among agricultural research institutes, which is responsible for breeding and cultivation technology, electric research institutes for environment control functions, and machine research institutes for facility and equipment technology. ∙In order to secure economic feasibility of plant factory, identification of market demands and private sectors' management marketing technique shall be adopted from the beginning of business. - It is needed to operate plant factories focused on high value added crops in order to secure competitiveness of the products. - Along with the foregoing, it is needed to establish that plant factories produce highly value added and outstanding seeds that are suitable for domestic circumstances in a short period of time, and supply them to conventional agricultural facilities such as facility houses or cultivating grounds for further cultivation.

Researchers: Yean-Jung Kim, Jong-Jin Kim, Hye-Sung Han Research period: 2011. 2. - 2013. 12. E-mail address: yjkim@krei.re.kr