On July 29-31, a delegation of the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) headed by Mr. Melvin CHOW, Senior Director of the Urban Food Solutions Division at SFA, visited the Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development in Agriculture, CAAS (IEDA). Based on the previous visits and exchanges between IEDA and SFA, this visit aims to further implement the spirit of the meeting between CAAS President Wu Kongming and Singaporean Minister for Sustainability and the Environment, and deepen research cooperation between China and Singapore in areas such as vertical farming and speed breeding of horticultural crops.

Achieving food security and sustainable development of agriculture is a common concern to both sides. As Singapore has set a "30 by 30" goal, the country presents an urgent need for food production in a productive, resource-efficient and climate-resilient way. The two sides introduced the background and foundation of their respective work, and exchanged views on vertical farming, environmental control strategy for speed breeding of vegetables in plant factory, and efficient production in protected agriculture. They hoped to strengthen joint research through international cooperation project planning, scientific and technological talent exchanges and capacity building cooperation to address common challenges and help realize agricultural development goals.

During the visit, the delegation visited the experimental plant factory, speed breeding lab and other experimental facilities at IEDA's scientific research base in Shunyi, and learned about the progress in relevant experiments.

Responsible officials and experts from the Division of Bilateral Cooperation, Department of International Cooperation, CAAS and IEDA's Department of Research Management and International Cooperation as well as Plant Environmental Engineering of Protected Agriculture Team attended the discussion.