How can we make the most of our farming techniques to grow more with what we already have?
Sydney agtech company LLEAF has created a film to improve how crops grow by adjusting the light they receive! Their prototype film shifts the wavelength of light as it passes through it, giving plants more of the light they need to grow.
We supported LLEAF’s research through the Research and Development Tax Incentive (R&DTI). The R&DTI helps promote investment in new research around Australia for the benefit of all Australians.
Find out about more innovations at National Science Week 2024: [ Ссылка ]
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TRANSCRIPT
Hi, I'm Alex, I'm the co-founder and CEO of LLEAF.
LLEAF stands for luminescent light emitting agricultural film.
Basically, what we are doing is we create a material, a luminescent material that shift the wavelength of light, in this case, sunlight. We take some of the green part of the sunlight and change that into red, because we know that the red part of the spectrum is more beneficial for the plant to grow.
So in the very beginning, first is we need to create the luminescent material. So we do that research to look at the libraries of possibilities. The next step is then to make it into a prototype, to make it into a product that can be applied in the field.
And then the bit that we are doing right now, we are in a greenhouse, or in a glasshouse environment and that's where we are testing our prototypes to see what is the effect on the crop.
In the industry, you already optimised nutrition, you optimised water, you optimised energy, and we see that sunlight, or light in general, is this next frontier that has the opportunity to be optimised. So being able to modify the light or engineer the light will allow production of certain crops closer to where the demand is.
For our company, the benefit to the environment is embedded in the products. So allow us to grow, I believe that that's our goal is to make a product that's good for the environment.
